I was in a car accident around Christmas of last year. Both Airbags in my 1996 vehicle deployed and the car was totaled. I have been greatly inconvenienced. I’m concerned about being stuck for thousands in bills caused by an at-fault driver. The driver of the 2015 model car that hit me had no insurance. He was operating the vehicle with a revoked driver’s license. My insurance provider has proceeded resolving matter with Uninsured Motorists. Furthermore my UM Coverage covers up to $30k Bodily Injury and up to $50k Property Damage. My leg has been hurting for the last several weeks. It feels like an Achilles tendon. My first ER Visit after accident saw a bill for under $300 as the Triage team did no X-Rays. However my second, most recent ER visit saw bills exceeding $3600 for X-Rays (Leg & Chest), Ultrasound and meds. My Med-Pay on my auto policy is for $2000. I surmise my attorney will arbitrate a settlement against my UM with insurer. Does anyone experienced in law care to chime in?
Not that it helps at the moment but let this be a lesson to everyone
Have higher limits. Don’t just carry low/minimum coverages.
What was broken? Was the achilles torn? I would think that once they check you over, you need to let time do its part. Bruises and muscle trauma just takes a few weeks to mend. Why did they need to do an ultrasound?
Why keep going to ER for treatment? You will be paying a lot more there than going to a provider at their office?
Good luck with your claim and your recovery.
hello,
and thank you good folks for kindly replying. definitely a lesson learned. i’m in my 50’s but dont want to deal with this pain.
anyhow, my lower area of right leg is hurting with swollen ankle and pain around achilles. the ER doctors did the xray which did not find broken bone. they did ultrasound on leg to determine condition of veins.
You will collect from your UM coverage, then they will chase the other driver to see if he has assets from which they can recover the costs of the claim. WIthout a license and without insurance it’s reasonable to think that he does not have much with which to pay but that’s your carrier’s problem, not yours. Agree with another poster - keep your own limits up just for situations like this. And don’t ignore that leg- get it diagnosed and treated and be sure that’s promptly made part of the claim.
Do you have health insurance? All of the bills should be submitted through your health insurer.
this is a wonderful forum. i appreciate feedback from those that replied. we are oft oblivious until an accident happens. that pains can start days, weeks even months after accident. and granted i’ve read a few horror stories, my UM insurer (allstate) is sending a check for my salvaged, total lossed car. they confirmed it wont be final and are also awaiting my lawyer to negotiate some type of settlement.
And as a general piece of advice to anyone reading this thread, max out your UIM/UM coverage. You don’t buy car insurance to protect your car, you buy it to protect yourself. Get the most you can get. The premium is almost all for the minimum. You will be surprised by how little your premium increases when you increase your coverage from something like $25,000 to $500,000. And when I say “your coverage”, I mean UIM/UM. Increasing your liability coverage without increasing your UIM/UM is not a good idea.
Everyone should increase their limits to the maximum. There isn’t a single reason not to do so. If you suffer a serious injury by the fault of another and there is insufficient coverage on the other side, you will quickly learn how small an amount like $500,000 is. Especially considering that when you have serious injuries and a large claim, it is almost impossible to navigate the system without the assistance of an attorney and attorneys are going to charge you.
Hello,
That is excellent advice. Admittedly I fell into trap over years of only having “Liability on an Older Model” car.
that stated, I plan to do as you recommend in future and bite bullet to have Full Coverage from now on.
And as a general piece of advice to anyone reading this thread, max out your UIM/UM coverage. You don’t buy car insurance to protect your car, you buy it to protect yourself. Get the most you can get. The premium is almost all for the minimum. You will be surprised by how little your premium increases when you increase your coverage from something like $25,000 to $500,000. And when I say “your coverage”, I mean UIM/UM. Increasing your liability coverage without increasing your UIM/UM is not a good idea.
Everyone should increase their limits to the maximum. There isn’t a single reason not to do so. If you suffer a serious injury by the fault of another and there is insufficient coverage on the other side, you will quickly learn how small an amount like $500,000 is. Especially considering that when you have serious injuries and a large claim, it is almost impossible to navigate the system without the assistance of an attorney and attorneys are going to charge you.
Strongly disagree. The right level of insurance depends on many factors. In many cases the state minimum limits may be perfect. A lot of people end up overlapping their coverage and paying for what isn’t going to help them. Low insurance and save the balance is often a great plan.
Ok, fair enough. I’ll concede that the advice might not be perfect for everyone. I won’t concede that this advice is something that should be “strongly disagreed”. I haven’t done a survey of the law in all 50 states and should have thought of that before making my post. There might be states that have laws in place that prevent people from recovering from each of the insurance premiums that they pay. I guess everyone needs to research their specific state to see what insurance coverage rules are in place. Call a PI lawyer in your state for an easy answer. I would gladly spend 10-15 minutes explaining this stuff in my state to anyone who called in with questions.
Let me try my post again. It’s a very good idea for people to have high UIM/UM (or its equivalent) on your vehicle. If one chooses not to have high coverage, there should be a specific reason why that decision was made and a contingency plan in place to ensure that adequate coverage is available. If you suffer a serious injury in a car wreck, you are going to want to have coverage available and you will be kicking yourself for making the decision to save $50-100 a year.
Call a lawyer in your state and ask. Most PI lawyers will give you a free consult on a question like this. One of the problems with living in a country with a different set of laws in every state is that it is hard to give advice that will apply to everyone.
Do you have health insurance? All of the bills should be submitted through your health insurer.
THIS! Obviously might be a little too late in this situation, but this is great advice. Only provide health insurance to the hospital, don’t mention it was an auto accident if possible, at least not to the people that come around and take your info.
Could you expound a bit on what the relevant regulation is in VA?
Do you have health insurance? All of the bills should be submitted through your health insurer.
THIS! Obviously might be a little too late in this situation, but this is great advice. Only provide health insurance to the hospital, don’t mention it was an auto accident if possible, at least not to the people that come around and take your info.
Yes, Insurance Fraud is always the best course of action.
If you have hired a lawyer and plan on pursuing litigation I would refrain from discussing this case on all internet forums until a resolution is reached.
OP, your medical payments coverage is a per person coverage that covers you, your passengers, and anyone else in the vehicle, it is primarily meant to cover small injuries and/or pay health insurance deductibles. In a more serious accident the liability and UM/UIM comes in. In your case your UM is going to take care of you. The unfortunate thing for you is your limits are very low. You said later on you got into the “liability only” trap, that is not necessarily accurate. When someone asks for “liability only” that means they get liability coverage, medical payments, uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist. “Full coverage” would add on comprehensive, collision, towing, rental car reimbursement, etc. You can stick with “liability only” just get higher limits, the cost is minimal.
Another great reason to bump up UM/UIM and medical limits is because these coverages often apply to accidents where you are biking and hit by a car. Our companies policies say the injury just has to be the result of an uninsured vehicle. So a car hitting you while you are biking and being uninsured or underinsured, your auto policy will help you depending on your form. Ask your agent about it.
As to the guy who recommended state min limits? That is horrible advice for anyone. I can’t think of a single situation where a state min limit would be preferable.
I was in a car accident around Christmas of last year. Both Airbags in my 1996 vehicle deployed and the car was totaled. I have been greatly inconvenienced. I’m concerned about being stuck for thousands in bills caused by an at-fault driver. The driver of the 2015 model car that hit me had no insurance. He was operating the vehicle with a revoked driver’s license. My insurance provider has proceeded resolving matter with Uninsured Motorists. Furthermore my UM Coverage covers up to $30k Bodily Injury and up to $50k Property Damage. My leg has been hurting for the last several weeks. It feels like an Achilles tendon. My first ER Visit after accident saw a bill for under $300 as the Triage team did no X-Rays. However my second, most recent ER visit saw bills exceeding $3600 for X-Rays (Leg & Chest), Ultrasound and meds. My Med-Pay on my auto policy is for $2000. I surmise my attorney will arbitrate a settlement against my UM with insurer. Does anyone experienced in law care to chime in?
I used to work on bodily injury claims for a large insurance company.
UM Coverage essentially takes the place of the missing coverage from the at fault party.
They are actually not allowed to see the file, or share information with the people handling the 1st party coverage you have on your policy (collision, med-pay, etc.)
If you already have an attorney assisting you with this claim, there is no need to ask these questions on a public forum, they should be answering any and all of your questions regarding the accident, that’s what you are paying them for.
Your Med-Pay coverage will cover the cost of all reasonable medical care for your injuries related to this accident up to the policy limit.
Any medical bills in excess of your Med Pay Limit, are covered under UM coverage in addition to any claims for temporary disability, lost wages, pain and suffering.
This is all subject to your $30,000 policy limit, so if your have a documented broken bone, or another severe injury, it might be in your best interest to simply file a claim for the policy limit as the rehabilitation time, and associated pain and suffering resulting from this injury would almost certainly exceed the policy limit. The downside of having an attorney involved in a case where it is clearly going to exceed the policy limit is that they generally are going to charge their 33% fee even though you would have received the same amount without their assistance.
The plus side is that they might be able help in filing a lawsuit against the at-fault driver, if they have any assets to go after. If they were driving a brand new car they might have some cash, but it’s a lot harder to go after someones personal assets then getting a payment form their insurance company.
Do you have health insurance? All of the bills should be submitted through your health insurer.
THIS! Obviously might be a little too late in this situation, but this is great advice. Only provide health insurance to the hospital, don’t mention it was an auto accident if possible, at least not to the people that come around and take your info.
Yes, Insurance Fraud is always the best course of action.
Ha - don’t worry, the insurance companies get it all straightened out in the long run. Just helps the medical bills get paid at the pre-negotiated rate your health insurance (likely) has, vs paying the full billing rate since (usually) auto insurances do not have a pre-negotiated “discount.”
Unfortunately most people don’t know how to handle this kind of situation until it’s too late. I am certainly no expert. I had no clue what you’re supposed to/not supposed to say/do. Just learn as it happens.
In Virginia, you recover on all your insurance policies. So, let’s have an example where A is involved in a wreck with B and B is at fault. B has $50,000 liability policy. A has health insurance policy and $5,000 in med pay from his auto insurer. Let’s assume that A’s medical bills are $50,000. A will be able to make a claim against B for the $50,000 in medical bills. A will also be able to submit his $50,000 in medical bills to his health insurer. A will also be able to submit his medical bills to his auto insurer for the $5,000 in med pay.
In Virginia there is a statute in place that prevents his health insurer from demanding repayment for any of the medical bills submitted to it for payment. This will be a different analysis if there is a valid ERISA policy in place and some would argue a different analysis if a FEHBA policy in place.