Any policyholder understands how the insurance company could play a part at the conclusion of a car accident case. Some insurance company must pay any settlement or court judgment. What happens before a case reaches that endpoint? What role do insurance companies play during that period of time?
Does the person that has been named responsible for a given accident have any type of coverage?
If the answer to the question is “no,” then the driver that collided with that uninsured motorist may be unable to obtain any funds for helping with a recovery effort. If the accident happened in a no-fault state, then the driver’s own insurance should supply the needed funds.
If the accident did not take place in a no-fault state, then the extent of the driver’s own insurance might offer some hope. Did that same driver purchase an uninsured motorist option? That option makes the policyholder’s company responsible for a certain extent of the damages, if the policyholder collides with an uninsured motorist.
To what extent would the policyholder’s company need to cover the damages? Would it be responsible for all of the damages? No, it would have to pay up to the limit of the purchased coverage. That limit should be stated in the policy’s terms.
Suppose that someone with no uninsured motorist coverage got hit by an uninsured motorist; what would happen then?
Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga know that unless that unfortunate individual had the accident in a no-fault state, he or she would need to sue the responsible party, with the hope of obtaining some of that party’s assets. Of course, those drivers that fail to buy any type of car insurance seldom have much in the way of assets.
Still, there was a time, just over 50 years ago, when no insurance company sold an uninsured motorist option, and no state had a no-fault policy, with regard to car insurance. At that time, just about anyone that got hit by an uninsured driver proceeded to file a lawsuit.
As a result, the court system had to deal with a flood of cases. The courts were not happy with the lack of coverage by the insurance companies, and the insurance companies got complaints from their customers. Hence, the insurers and the states instituted some changes.
The insurance companies began to provide their customers with the chance to buy the uninsured motorist option. At about the same time, some states decided to introduce a no-fault, statewide policy. As a result, insurance companies stopped standing on the sidelines, whenever a driver that had failed to obtain some type of auto insurance coverage hit one of their policyholders. Instead, each of those companies became a source of some much-needed financial assistance.
