As healthcare and automotive prices rise, it is more important than ever to understand how your insurance coverage limits work. These limitations often affect the results of your Los Angeles California auto accident settlement or judgment.
For the most part the vast majority of California car accident damages do not meet California minimum insurance requirements. As prices increase for medical care, and vehicle repair, the Gap between the mandatory minimum, and actual damages is almost close to completely closing. In other words, we’re real close to having the average car accident damages exceed the California mandatory minimum liability insurance limits.
At the present time California car crash claims for bodily injury average approximately ,000. The average California property damage claim in a Los Angeles Car Accident case was roughly $4000.
These figures are dangerously near the minimum required insurance amounts for California residents.
Below we investigate how policy limits function, and how they impact your own settlement or judgment.
INSIGHTS INTO CALIFORNIA INSURANCE POLICY MAXIMUMS
Insurance companies have different maximum coverage rates which determine how much they might pay out in a California car accident case. For instance, let us say you got hit and had a passenger in the vehicle. You have to learn how much the at fault person insurance policy covers for both parties health care and automotive damages.
It is totally possible to have medical bills that exceed the policy limits of the at fault person, but have room to spare for the automotive property damage claim.
Insurance companies call these two Kinds of car insurance related to what they cover: Bodily Injury Liability (BIL), and Property Damage Liability (PDL). Each are different types of insurance you can purchase to cover liability for your vehicle
Bodily Injury Liability
BIL policies cover accidents to the drivers, passengers, and other crash victims. This liability has two elements. The initial portion covers how much each person receives in out-of-pocket expenses, and non-out-of-pocket expenses related to the bodily injury claims, and the second type of BIL policy is the accumulative amount they pay for all crash participants. Another term for the accumulative amount that will be paying is “amount per occurrence.”
For instance, your BIL policy max might be $20,000/$50,000 while the defendant’s limit is $100,000/$300,000. Meaning your policy reimburses one individual around $20,000 for their medical fees. The defendant’s plan maxes out at $100,000 per person.
The second number represents the total amount per occurrence your insurance company covers for the entire accident no matter how many people are involved. Your coverage per occurrence, in the case above would be $50,000, and the negligent persons would be $300,000.
California’s requires a minimal BIL coverage of $15,000 per person and $30,000 per occurrence. To put this in perspective, let us assume that your passenger, the at fault person, and you each had $150,000 in BIL claims. Their insurance wouldn’t have sufficient money coverage in the policy to cover the medical bills for your passenger and yourself.
Property damage liability
The most property coverage is the next component of your coverage limits. By way of example, California requires all drivers carry a minimum of $5000 in property damage liability.
However, as we mentioned earlier, the average property damage claim is $3,493. The challenge as automobiles continue to get more expensive as the minimum amount of property damage of $5000 required in California remains stagnant.
Therefore, you have a large amount of drivers who do not carry adequate property damage insurance to cover ever increasing expensive accidents. Underinsured drivers are one of the reasons why more accident settlements exceed the policy limits.
You may call The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez at 800-816-1529, two determine what that coverage maximum is to acquire the highest settlement from your accident.
If the defendant does not have enough liability insurance to cover your total damages, you could be in trouble in California, unless you have underinsured insurance coverage, and if you do you might need to use your insurance policy to become whole, i.e. recover the full amount for your damages. Hopefully, you won’t exceed the policy limits on both insurance coverages, and otherwise remain un whole.
The Law Office of Norman Gregory Fernandez are experts at handling car accident cases and insurance issues related thereto, do not mess around without an attorney and potentially blow your case, call us at 800-816-1529.
WHAT DO YOU DO IF THE DEFENDANT DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH INSURANCE TO COVER YOUR LOSSES?
When most clients want to find out when an uninsured or underinsured driver strikes them, whether the policy insures the accident. The answer depends on the circumstances.
However, you may not want to go after the defendant for an amount past their insurance policy limit, unless they have substantial assets to cover your damages or there is minimal risk of them going bankrupt.
You’ve the right to request the defendants’ insurance policy limits to cover your liabilities to the maximum amount in the plan.
Frequently, we represent clients who are in effect going after a defendant’s insurance policy.
Regrettably, one out of every four California drivers doesn’t carry enough insurance to pay for a significant accident. It is therefore in your very best interest to get sufficient coverage to protect you from larger injuries.
One of the most popular products to assist you with this really is an umbrella policy. An umbrella policy covers you in case your primary insurance is not sufficient to pay for the losses.
As its name suggests, the umbrella policy covers all your personal property. They even extend the limits in your auto and homeowners’ policy.
While you cannot get more insurance to cover an accident after the accident happens, you can purchase more insurance coverage for your future.
It is relatively cheap to purchase an umbrella policy. Ask your insurance provider to discover how much they cost.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Every motorist must have car insurance. However, in the current world of rising prices and increasing danger, make certain to get enough uninsured and underinsured insurance to pay for your requirements in case you are in an accident in Los Angeles, California.
Otherwise, you could lose out on compensation money from uninsured and underinsured drivers. Obviously, uninsured drivers will transcend the settlement limit if you have uninsured motorist coverage, but underinsured drivers pose a financial danger after the crash if you do not carry underinsured coverage.
If you confront a situation where your accident could transcend the settlement limit, call us now at 800-816-1529. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyers supply you with a free consultation where we can discuss your alternatives.
