Insurance Articles

by Michael McBee © 2004

When can an auto accident become a spectator sport? I know any accident can be a tragic stressful occurrence. However what I am talking about is when you had nothing to do with the auto accident, you were not there, you were not involved, and you witnessed nothing.

Let me explain, a couple years back, MY TRUCK was involved in an accident. My wife at the time loaned the vehicle to friends to move a few things. Of course I asked if they had insurance and I was assured they did. Little did I know at the time how little I was going to need their insurance.
You see it was a rainy day and they were following too close, (two second rule people, 4 if raining or wet road), the "victim" stopped and the driver of my truck could not stop in time, rear ended and totaled the other vehicle. The accident also caused $3,000.00 damage to my truck.

My understanding was the "victim" was not hurt, just the automobiles. No big deal, right? Wrong. I was now into the world of policy coverage and state law (Florida), meaning that the drivers insurance was not the policy that was going to cover the other drivers damage, mine was!
I was wondering how that could be? I called my insurance company and it was explained to me and I am paraphrasing here, "the vehicle is insured not the driver."
Ok no big deal; my policy would cover the "victims" damages. But wait, I wondered who is going to fix my truck? Well luckily the driver of my truck was insured as I was told his policy will take care of that damage and did. Whew! I did not have comprehensive coverage on the truck.

It turns out Florida like most states required that the vehicle owner's policy is the primary policy and if the driver of the vehicle is not the owner then their policy would kick in if they have any insurance at all. Helpful tip, do not loan your vehicle to an uninsured driver.

Now one might think that was the end of it. No No No…. You see I received a phone call from my insurance company to tell me I might be sued. WHAT?! It seems the "victim", you know the one, that clamed he was not hurt, realized he was hurt a few days after the accident (not an uncommon occurrence). He incurred some medical bills; lost time at work and now wanted one hundred thousand dollars for medical bills, lost time at work not to mention pain and suffering. I called my insurance carrier, I asked how could I be sued, I was not even driving the truck, I was not at the scene? If you remember from above, I was the policy holder of the truck; the truck in a way was being sued.

Yup, you guessed it I was on the hook or should I say my insurance company was. I was being asked for financial data and other personal information by the victim's attorney. I was told by my insurance provider not to volunteer unless I wanted to, of course I took the stance "I know nothing and can prove it…just ask me." My past military experienced kicked in too, never volunteer!

Ok now you may be wondering why this article was titled "An Auto Accident, a spectator sport?" What I meat by that is I just became a "victim" of a possible civil action and I now get calls or letters from my insurance company giving me blow by blow descriptions of the negotiations of this possible civil suit. The letters that fly back and forth between the other driver's attorney and my insurance company are interesting to say the least.

It turns out that the hurt driver had many pre-existing conditions and the accident exacerbated his previous conditions. I am all for someone getting just compensation for something they did not bring on to themselves, however trying to take advantage of some poor guy a third party by-stander, ME, just irritates the heck out of me. Can someone say tort reform? Ok, I'll leave that for some other discussion.

The negations between the lawyer and my insurance provider are still going on to this day, $75,000.00 down to $50,000 down to $25,000.00, last I heard was the last offer was for eight thousand dollars which was rejected by the "victim" and it will be heading for binding arbitration. I am confident that my insurance provider will do what is in their best interest and in the end mine as well.

So what is the moral of this story you might ask?

* Do not loan your truck to an uninsured driver, you may end up on the hook.

* If your insurance policy has just state minimum insurance coverage and you have assets, like a home, stocks or other valuables that could be used to satisfy a judgment, increase policy limits now, do not wait. You never know when the victim will make you one! You see if you have $25,000 in coverage and lets say you own a home worth $100,000.00 and they win, they are coming after you!

* Make sure your insurance provider will fight for you in pre-trail, arbitration or at a civil trial heaven forbid it gets that far. When shopping for insurance ask about auto accident litigation, it is a fair question.

* Think about getting automobile uninsured motorist coverage

* Look into an umbrella policy that goes beyond you standard automobile liability coverage.

* Every year review your auto insurance coverage, read those little things you get in the mail entitled "Policy Change."

* Take a cab, just kidding!

I hope you never have to go though my ordeal, it is stressful and a very long process. However, if you have a good auto insurance provider with good limits it lessens the jolt.

Drive safely,

Michael McBee

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Michael is the founder of The-Best-Insurance.com.
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