Understand
No Fault Car Insurance
by SolveYourProblem.com
If you’re fortunate, or depending on how you
look at it, unfortunate to live in one of the twelve states
that are under a non-fault auto insurance system, you can cause
an accident, yet your insurance company won’t pay for the other
parties’ damages.
If
you live in a No-fault state (DC, FL, HI, KS, KY, MA, MI,
MN, NJ, NY, ND, PA, UT) that means you live in a state that
both requires drivers to carry insurance for their own protection
and places limitations on their ability to sue other drivers
for damages. Your auto insurance company will pay for your
damages (up to your policy limits), regardless of who was at
fault for the accident. Any other drivers involved will be
covered by their auto insurance policies. Since all are required
to carry insurance, in theory, there should be no uninsured
motorists in those states. Stop laughing; the term “in theory”
was used!
These
states opted for the no fault insurance system because
it guarantees every driver immediate medical treatment
in the
event of an accident. Further, it's intended to reduce the
legal and administrative fees associated with insurance claims.
Again, in theory, this should equate to lower premiums. Unfortunately,
often times the liability issues that still remain will actually
drive premium costs up.
However, because no state is pure no fault, drivers can always
be held financially responsible for the cost of injuries they
cause in certain circumstances – that’s the loop hole. Some
states allow injured parties to sue if their injuries meet
certain standard for severity, while others allow it when total
costs reach a certain dollar level.
Below
is a classic case of a no-fault situation. Neighbor
lived in a four-plex apartment building. It had a 4-stall garage
along with a 4-stall wide driveway. Because the driveway was
so wide it was second nature for the tenants to pull out of
their parking spots and turn around in the driveway instead
of backing into the street.
One Sunday afternoon, one of the tenants decided to go visit
a friend. She got into her car and began backing out of the
driveway in her normal manner. When all of a sudden she felt
a bump and heard a scream. At first she thought she ran over
her cat who would occasionally escape. She opened her car door
and found half of a body. Scared half out of her mind, she
shut the car off and ran into the house and immediately called
911.
The driver was too scared to go outside at that point. As
far as she knew, the half body, belonging to one of her neighbors,
was still under the car and the driver was certain the injuries
were serious. Her left rear wheel had crossed her body from
her thigh on one side on the diagonal to above her pelvic region.
The driver later learned that some strong man from across the
street came over and picked up the car so she could get out
from underneath.
The neighbor announced that she was feeling fine and didn’t
want to go to the hospital. But the police and ambulance didn’t
feel the same way so they took her the four blocks to the hospital.
Turns out the neighbor was sunbathing behind her car and somehow
the driver didn’t see her when she walked to her car. She ended
up with no broken bones, no internal injuries; just a tire
track from her right thigh across to her left stomach.
The driver felt absolutely terrible, accepted full responsibility,
wanted to do everything and more to make it up to her. The
next day, the driver phoned the insurance company to explain
to them what had happened. They asked her two questions. #1
Does she drive? (yes) and #2 Does she own a car? (yes). The
insurance company informed the driver that due to No Fault
insurance the neighbor’s own car insurance would have to cover
the medical costs. The driver was clearly at fault, yet the
driver’s insurance wouldn’t cover the damages even though it
was her fault.
The driver went as far as to tell the neighbor to sue her
since it was her fault and she felt totally responsible. The
neighbor merely responded, “It was just an accident.” The lesson
here - next time lay on the grass, instead of the drive way
to sunbathe and risk the doggy doo.
Interesting No-Fault system, wouldn’t you say?
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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