Make sure you have as much available insurance coverage as possible when riding a motorcycle.

Paul D. Hux, Petersburg motorcycle accident lawyer

Attorney Paul D. Hux

There are two kinds of people that ride motorcycles: those that have been in a wreck and those that are going to be in a wreck.

As personal injury lawyer who handles motorcycle accident cases in the Petersburg area, I have received many calls from people who have been involved in motorcycle wrecks.  Just in the last month, I have spoken with the spouses of two husbands killed in motorcycle crashes and the family of a young man paralyzed from the chest down due to a motorcycle wreck.  What all three accidents have in common is that there was not enough insurance coverage to adequately compensate the families of the deceased drivers nor the injured rider.

According to the DMV website for Virginia, there have been approximately 2,000 motorcycle riders injured each year from 2005 until 2009.  There have been approximately 70 motorcycle riders killed each year during this same period.  The average age for the majority of riders injured or killed during this period is 21-35.  The minimum limit of insurance coverage a bike rider must have on his bike is $25,000.00.  This is the same amount for a car also.  I know this is the minimum amount one must have, but wouldn’t it just make more sense to have significantly more coverage when you are operating a vehicle on the roads of the Commonwealth and this vehicle has no doors, no roof, only two tires and you are literally inches away from being thrown to the pavement should something happen?

Your motorcycle policy has three kinds of coverage that may be involved.

• First, liability coverage – which covers you in situations where you, the driver may have caused an accident.
• Second, uninsured motorist (UM) coverage – where another driver who causes a wreck has NO insurance, your carrier steps in and provides coverage to the rider on behalf of the at-fault party.
• Third, under insured motorist (UIM) coverage – which applies when the at-fault person has insurance, but the amount of their available coverage is not adequate to properly compensate the bike rider for the tangible and intangible damages they have caused and the injured driver has higher limits of coverage than the at-fault driver.

I would like to focus on the last two kinds of coverage (UM and UIM) for the rest of this discussion.[1]

As we all know, motorcycle safety is something we must all keep in mind.   We must constantly be on guard for bikes on the road way.  Riders wear helmets, leather jackets, leather pants and boots to protect themselves in the event of a wreck.  Why not protect yourself by also investing in as much UM/UIM insurance coverage as you can possible afford?  Clearly, you are more likely to sustain more significant injuries when you are riding a motorcycle at the time of the wreck versus being in a car.  The more serious the injuries are, the more significant the treatment and in turn the larger the medical bills are likely to be.  If both the at-fault driver and the bike rider have only minimum limit policies in Virginia ($25,000.00), then generally no matter what the injuries are, what the treatment involved or what the medical costs are, there is usually never any way the bike rider would have more than $25,000.00 he could use to resolve his case.

But if the motorcyclist had as much coverage as he could possibly get, maybe $250,000.00 or even more, he would have that much higher amount to use for his case, over the other driver’s policy, and not have to hope for higher coverage on behalf of the wrong doer.  This UM/UIM coverage is for you, the motorcyclist’s, own protection.  The more coverage YOU have on your own policy, the more YOU are protected.

You may ask why I write this article.  Well, I do so because of the three people I mentioned to you above.  The young man that was paralyzed and who was in the hospital for 2 months and then in an extended care facility had only $75,000.00 in motor vehicle insurance available to him.  His medical expenses alone are several times that amount, and he will be unable to return to work for a long time.[2]

In the deaths of the other two hard-working men, both of whom had a wife and children, one man had only $50,000.00 in available coverage and the other had only $100,000.00 in available coverage.  These riders were not at fault at all in their accidents.  Certainly these riders and their families deserve better than this.  I hope this article will motivate other riders to increase their insurance coverage as much as possible.  You take so many other steps to protect yourself, please heed this warning and take this step.  You will be glad you did should something unforeseen occur.

I urge you to contact your insurance carrier and discuss raising the coverage limits at your earliest convenience – if, God forbid, something bad happens, you will be glad you did.

Mechanicsville Car Accident Attorney

Author: Attorney Christopher A. Meyer

Most people know that their motor vehicle insurance policy covers them for accidents due to their fault when they are driving the car on the policy.  Many of us also sometimes  drive someone else’s car.  Do you know whether, when you are operating someone else’s vehicle, you are covered by either the insurance on that car or by your own insurance at home on your car – or both?

Under Virginia law the answer is almost always both, provided that the driver has the permission of the owner.  If I own a car, I will of course be covered by my insurance when I am operating it.  But if I lend the car to another person, they will be also be covered because the insurance policy covers “any person…using…said automobile…with the express or implied permission of the named insured and within the scope of such permission.”  And they will be covered by their own insurance, too, on top of mine.

The limitation that the use of the vehicle must be “within the scope of such permission” simply means that if I loan my car to a friend to go to the store and get me a six pack of Diet Pepsi, and instead the friend decides to go on a jaunt to Florida for Spring Break without telling me or asking my permission, then the friend will not by covered by my automobile insurance policy on that trip as he has exceeded the scope of the permission I gave him.

My friend’s own insurance policy will not cover him either in that circumstance.  When driving a vehicle that is “non-owned” as my car would be to my friend, my friend is covered by his own policy only “… while using such automobile, provided his actual operation…is with the express or implied permission or reasonably believed to be with the permission, of the owner and is within the scope of such permission.”  When my friend, who has been given permission to go to the store and get me some diet drinks, instead heads for Florida then he has exceeded the scope of the permission I gave him and will not be covered by his own policy either.

What is I loan my car to a friend and the friend then loans the car to a third person.  Does my policy cover my friend’s friend (the third person)? Does the third person’s own policy also cover him driving my vehicle?  In short, does the friend have the right to give permission to drive a car he doesn’t own but has borrowed?  In Virginia the answer is generally yes.  For many years, Virginia law said that a person who borrowed a car could not give greater permission than he had.  So if I lent my car to a friend but told the friend that he could not lend it to anyone else, then if he did lend then the third person was not covered even though the third person didn’t know I had given my friend only limited permission to use the car. However, a few years ago Virginia law was changed to state that if the third person reasonably thought he had permission of the owner, then he was covered even if the person who lent it to him had been forbidden to lend it to anyone else by the owner. In other words, for purposes of being covered by the owner’s policy – and his own policy, the driver can rely for permission on the word of the custodian of the car.  For example, if a person owns a car and lets his son use it at college, and the son lets a roommate borrow the car, does the roommate’s own automobile policy cover him?  The answer is yes.

However, Virginia law on insurance coverage is very complicated and individual fact situations can change the answer to coverage questions.  The best advice is to make sure that you have the permission of the owner of an automobile before operating it.  That way you will be sure you are covered both under the owner’s policy and your own.  If you have any doubts about insurance coverage, consult an attorney.  At Allen and Allen, we have many attorneys who are very knowledgeable about insurance law.  One of our attorneys, W. Coleman Allen, Jr.,  has literally written a book on Virginia automobile insurance coverage, and many of our attorneys lecture regularly on insurance topics.

About the Author: Chris Meyer is a car accident attorney in Mechanicsville Virginia with the personal injury law firm of Allen & Allen. He has developed a reputation on the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct and annually lectures on Virginia Legal Ethics. He also lectures regularly on recent decisions of the Virginia Supreme court.

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Claims Consultant Robert L. Mertig

I have read many articles recommending that consumers cancel the collision coverage on their vehicle’s car insurance policy once it reaches a certain age.  However, my many years spent in the field of insurance has shown me that this is almost always a bad idea.  Authors often present cancellation as a way to save money, arguing that there is no reason to carry collision coverage on an older model vehicle.  They reason that, due to the lower value of an older vehicle, the vehicle’s worth does not justify the coverage cost.   However, this is a half truth; it means nothing unless you are able to absorb the loss if the vehicle is wrecked and you are the at fault party.  For instance, you may be able to pay a few dollars a month more in your auto insurance bill for collision coverage, but if your vehicle was destroyed in an accident that was your fault, you may not be able to afford the several thousand dollars needed to replace the vehicle. In my experience, collision coverage does not greatly increase the cost of your policy.

Comprehensive coverage, which offers protection from fire, theft, vandalism, flood and broken glass, also does not cost much more per month.  If your windshield was broken, however, the cost to replace the windshield could easily be in the hundreds of dollars, outweighing the relatively minor cost for comprehensive coverage.

Unfortunately, many of us are “penny wise and pound foolish”, and are tempted to drop the collision and comprehensive coverages on an older vehicle.  I urge all insureds to reconsider dropping this coverage unless they are prepared to pay in full for the consequences.

About the Author: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident lawyer Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims.

Robert L. Mertig

R. Clayton Allen

Authors: Bob Mertig & R. Clayton Allen, Esquire

When you purchase auto insurance in Virginia(1), there are several types of coverage on the policy that are optional.  One of these is Medical Payments coverage.  Medical Payments coverage is a “first party coverage” which you may purchase in addition to the basic liability coverage when you insure your vehicle in Virginia.  By law, the insurance company must offer this coverage to you.[2] Medical Payments coverage reimburses you for medical expenses even if the bill has been paid by your health insurance provider, as long as the treatment was for an injury involving a motor vehicle.[3]

By law, the medical payment coverage will pay, up to the limit of the coverage, for those expenses incurred for services rendered within three (3) years from the date of the accident.  It applies to anyone who may be occupying your vehicle with permission.  The coverage also applies if you are struck by an automobile while as a pedestrian, a bicyclist, or even as a passenger in someone else’s car or on a motorcycle.  However, if you are operating another vehicle that you own that is covered by a policy that does not have medical payments coverage, then you are not covered.  Medical payments coverage also pays regardless of who is at fault or any other insurance coverage that may applies to the same expenses.  So even if you are driving down the road, fall asleep at the wheel, run off the road and hit a tree, medical payments coverage will pay your medical expenses for any injuries you sustain.

Medical payments coverage is good coverage to have for a lot of reasons.  First, auto accidents are the most common cause of serious injuries in the United States today.  Second, many times health insurance has deductibles or co-pays, so that you may still owe a significant amount after health insurance pays their part.  Medical payments coverage will help pay most or all of that, so that you don’t end up having to pay out of your pocket. Third, medical payments coverage is relatively inexpensive. Often a limit of two to five thousand dollars may cost less than fifty dollars a year. Fourth, medical payments coverage covers not only you but your spouse and children who live with you also.

Check the Declaration Page of your auto insurance policy to see if you have medial payments coverage.[4] If you don’t, then discuss purchasing this coverage with your insurance agent.  You can add this coverage at any time.  Many of our clients who don’t have this coverage wish they did.[5]

About the Authors: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident attorney Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims. Clayton Allen is a Richmond accident attorney and is a seasoned litigator. He has successfully handled all types of personal injury cases including brain injury, car accidents, trailer trailer accidents and wrongful death.

[2] See Va. Code §38.2-2201, at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+38.2-2201 .

[3] The form Personal Auto Insurance Policy in Virginia states the injury must be caused by an accident and either while “occupying” a motor vehicle or being struck as a pedestrian. “Occupying” is defined as “in, upon, or getting in, out or off” of a motor vehicle.  (There are further exclusions limiting coverage to only four wheel motor vehicles and those designed for use mainly on public roads).  See Personal Auto Insurance Form Policy at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/webpages/auto/PP00010105.pdf.

[4] The “Declaration Page” is the page that shows your name and address, the policy number, what vehicles are covered, what coverages you have, and the premium for each overage.  Normally the word “Declarations” appears somewhere on the page.

[5]This article attempts to summarize what medical payments coverage is and what it covers. There are a number of conditions, exceptions, and limitations which apply and are beyond the scope of this article. For more information, consult with an attorney who specializes in Automobile Insurance claims.

Robert L. Mertig, Claims Consultant

Author: Claims Consultant Robert L. Mertig

In Virginia, we see many instances where the at-fault party has only minimum limits of automobile liability insurance coverage, and the injured party also has only the minimum limit of $25,000.[1] Under these circumstances, often the most you can recover — no matter how serious your injury or loss – is only $25,000.

Increasing your liability and UM (Uninsured Motorist) limits protects you in two ways.  If you are the at-fault party there is more money available to compensate injured parties and obtain a release on your behalf.  This increased coverage also comes into play to compensate you if the other driver (liable party) only had minimum limits of liability and your injury or damages exceeded his/her coverage.  If this happens your policy would afford coverage up to your limits less the $25,000 of the at-fault party.[2]

It is extremely important for an individual to have more than the minimum limits of 25/50 liability coverage as mandated by law in the state of Virginia.  Based on my experience as a former insurance company adjuster and with the Allen Law Firm, I would urge all Virginia motorists to increase their liability coverage to a minimum of 250/500 on their automobile insurance policies.

You may want to ask your insurance agent about adding a personal liability umbrella policy for one million dollars.  This type of policy, called a PLUP (Personal Liability Umbrella Policy), is in addition to your basic liability coverage of 250/500 and provides peace of mind if you have the misfortune to cause a serious accident that results in multiple or catastrophic injuries to another person or persons.  Unfortunately, most umbrella policies do not also include UM (Uninsured Motorist) coverage.

Please do not hesitate to call the personal injury law firm of Allen & Allen if you have any questions about your auto policy coverage.

About the Author: Bob Mertig is a claims consultant working under the supervision of Petersburg accident attorney Paul Hux. Bob assists clients in resolving their personal injury claims.

[2] See “Auto Insurance: Having ‘Full Coverage’ Doesn’t Mean You Have Enough Insurance”, at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance-2.html.

Attorney Priscilla R. Woody

Author: Attorney Priscilla R. Woody

When I first meet a client who have been injured through no fault of their own, one of my first questions is: “How much insurance do you have?” Most clients answer, “I have full coverage.” However, when we review their declaration page and policy, the clients are surprised to learn that they have minimal insurance coverage on their vehicles. The confusion comes from a misunderstanding of what the terms “full coverage”, liability coverage and “amount of coverage” actually mean.

The situation becomes more difficult when we learn that the person that injured the client either doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. The high cost of new automobiles, automobile repair work and health care often means the minimal limit required under the Commonwealth of Virginia laws ($25,000/$50,000/$20,000) is not enough money to cover the clients’ damages and pain and suffering.1

Although you can never be certain that a driver who injures you will have insurance or enough insurance, your ability to buy additional uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist coverage gives you control over your own financial security. The amount of UM/UIM coverage you purchase will equal the amount of liability coverage unless you specifically request a lower amount.

UM/UIM coverage protects you in the event you are injured by a driver who does not have insurance, a driver with liability coverage less than your total uninsured motorist coverage, a driver whose liability limits are not enough to cover your losses or a John Doe (hit-and-run unknown driver). If you can afford more than the minimum required limits, you should buy more insurance to protect yourself against others you may injure or those that may injure you.

Liability Only Car Insurance

Within the auto insurance field, the terms “full coverage”, liability coverage and “amount of coverage” mean different things and there are many levels between “full coverage” and “liability only”. Automobile insurance can best understood by first fully comprehending the differences between “full coverage” and liability only coverage.

Liability coverage is insurance that covers damage you cause to other people and their property. As suggested above, it may be wise to carry coverage in excess of the minimum limits. For example, if in Virginia you were in an accident that caused $100,000 in bodily injury damages to another motorist, your insurance would only cover the first $25,000. For the other $75,000 the injured motorist could come after you personally! But we often see the flip side – if you were injured person with over $100,000 in bodily injury damages and the motorist who caused the accident only had a 25/50/25 policy; if you also had minimum limits you would not be fully compensated for your loss because you could only get the $25,000 limit from the at fault motorist’s insurance company. However if you had a $100,000 UM/UIM policy, you could collect $75,000 from your insurance company for your damages; or if you had $50,000 a UM/UIM policy, you could collect $50, 000 from your insurance company.2

In Virginia, the required minimum insurance limits by law are liability coverage for bodily injury or death of one person in the amount of $25,000; bodily injury or death of two or more persons of $50,000; and property damage coverage of $20,000.3 When referring to liability limits, the insurance industry uses an abbreviation that can be confusing. The required minimum limits are designed as $25,000 / $50,000 / $20,000 or 25/50/20; these designations refer to the maximum amount that an insurance company will pay out under the three basic liability coverages. Some policies have a single limit of liability where some insurance companies sell a policy that covers bodily injury liability per person, bodily injury liability per accident, and property damage liability but does not have separate limits. The single limit must be at least $70,000 to satisfy the financial responsibility laws although limits up to $1,000,000 can be purchased. This limit of liability applies to all bodily injury and property damage liability losses that occur as a result of any one accident for which the insured is legally liable.
Full Coverage

The term “full coverage” can be misleading because there are a number of optional coverages – in addition to liability coverage – that you can buy. Generally “full coverage” includes collision coverage and comprehensive coverage. Collision coverage is an optional add-on to comprehensive – although it isn’t optional if you still owe money on your car because the finance company or bank usually requires this coverage. Collision coverage can be a required part of your car insurance coverage if your vehicle is financed or leased.

Finance companies require borrowers to carry full car insurance coverage on their vehicles- collision and comprehensive – because they want to be assured that if the car is damaged or destroyed, they can recover their money back. Comprehensive insurance coverage help pays for damage to your vehicle not covered by collision. Examples include damage or loss due to theft, vandalism, falling objects, fire, storms, flood, and certain other natural disasters. Collision coverage helps pay for damage to your vehicle if you hit another vehicle, another vehicle hits you, or your vehicle rolls over. The insurance companies confuse the issue by including accidents with animals as part of comprehensive coverage, rather than collision.4

Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage helps pay for damage to you and your vehicle if there is injury and property damage in an accident caused by an uninsured, underinsured, or unidentified driver.

Medical expense benefits pay for medical costs for you and your passengers in the event of an accident regardless of who is at fault.

Loss of income due to injuries from an automobile accident is important if you do not already have some short term or long term disability benefits.

Rental car reimbursement pays for rental car and other transportation such as a bus or subway if you car cannot be driven due to an at-fault accident or comprehensive claim.

Towing and labor reimburse for towing and roadside assistance charges if a vehicle with car insurance coverage is disabled. Typical services include battery jump starting, tire changing, and locksmith services.

How Much $$$ Should You Spend

So having “full coverage” may not be the same as having an amount of coverage which covers your potential risk. The amount of coverage you need is correlated to the amount of assets you have and the amount of money that you can afford to pay for coverage. But higher limits of coverage also protect you in case the driver who injures you does not have sufficient coverage to compensate you for your injuries and losses, because you can use your underinsured coverage when that happens. The key is to decide how much you can pay in the event of an accident without causing financial hardship.

If you do not have insurance, anything of value that you own including your home, savings, future wages and other assets, may be taken to pay for those losses. Liability insurance will protect you so this does not happen. Liability insurance pays for a lawyer to defend you against any claim or lawsuit.

You should purchase auto insurance in case you cause an automobile accident and you may be responsible for losses of other people involved. A claim may be made or a lawsuit filed against you for those losses. You may have to pay not only for the property damage you cause, but also for the medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses you cause to someone else. The amount of money you may have to be pay could be substantial.

You should also purchase auto insurance to cover your injuries or damages to your vehicle. These optional coverages will pay you for your losses whether or not you caused the accident.5

About the Author: Priscilla Woody is a car accident attorney with the law firm of Allen & Allen. Priscilla works primarily in the Richmond office of the personal injury law firm.

2 – For more information, see blog articles “Auto Insurance – The Coverages You Should Have BEFORE You Are Involved In An Accident “ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance.html, and “Look Out For The Other Guy – Uninsured and Under Insured Motorist Coverage’ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/look-out-for-the-other-guy-uninsured-and-under-insured-motorist-coverage.html.

3 – See Va. Code sec. 46.2-472 at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-472.

4 – For a fuller explanation of what these coverages are, see blog article “Auto Insurance – The Coverages You Should Have BEFORE You Are Involved In An Accident“ at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/auto-insurance.html.

5 – See also blog article “How Much Insurance Coverage Should You Buy?” at http://www.allenandallen.com/blog/how-much-auto-insurance-should-you-buy.html.

Attorney R. Clayton Allen

By Attorney R. Clayton Allen

While talking to a client today about their auto insurance, I was reminded of a number of misconceptions and misunderstandings many people have about motor vehicle insurance. Here are four of the most common ones I hear.

Myth #1. “The better known insurance companies offer better coverage, so it’s safer to be with one of those.”

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Bureau of Insurance issues a form “family automobile insurance policy”. (1) All consumer family auto insurance policies sold in Virginia must provide the coverage specified in the form policy. If a policy offers less, Virginia law provides that the policy is “deemed” to conform to the requirements. In 25 years of practicing only personal injury law in Virginia, I’ve only seen one insurance policy that offered more than the required minimum, and that difference would only apply in an obscure situation unlikely to ever occur. So, in terms of what the policy offers in the small print, buying an auto policy in Virginia is kind of like buying a bag of sugar in the grocery store. One bag might be Domino and another might be Imperial, but let’s face it, a bag of sugar is a bag of sugar. Insurance policies are the same. The real differences between companies are price and service, not what they are selling.

Myth #2. “Insurance companies are regulated, so one company is about the same price as another.”

Auto insurance companies are regulated in Virginia as to what the policy offers, and they have to have a “charter” to be able to sell insurance in Virginia, but family auto insurance policy rates are not regulated. The insurance companies can charge whatever they want. Some years ago I heard the state Commissioner of Insurance say he was frustrated because consumers in Virginia pay too much for their auto insurance, but the reason they do is because they don’t shop around. “The same person who will go to one grocery store over another because they can save 50¢ on a loaf of bread won’t pick up the phone and shop around to save themselves hundreds of dollars on their insurance policy.” (He also said that auto insurance is kind of like religion for some people; they have what their parents have, and don’t really think about it). In fact, to encourage people to shop around, the Virginia Bureau of Insurance offers a free booklet that has an “Automobile Insurance Quotation Worksheet” in the back to help people shop for insurance. (2) They also offer “Sample Premium Tables” that show rate quotes they received for a person of a certain age with the same driving record. In the 2006 pamphlet, it shows that quotes for the same 45 year old married adult living in Richmond varied from $778 to over $3,440! (One warning about the quotes; whatever company was low when that booklet was prepared may not be among the lowest now, because companies adjust their rates year to year based on their claims experience, sales goals, and many other factors. The best way to check is to shop around).

Myth #3. “All the companies are regulated as to how they do business, so the service they provide is about the same.”

Although insurance companies in Virginia are regulated as to some aspects of how they do business, they are not really regulated as to the level of service they provide. My experience is that when it comes to handling claims, they are all at best rather poor. There are a handful of companies that are really bad, but if you do as the Bureau of Insurance recommends and shop around, you are not likely to end up with one of the really bad ones. Why? Because the bad ones tend to be among the ones that advertise a lot, and since all that advertising costs money, they tend to be more expensive! As with most things you buy these days, you need to be a sophisticated consumer. If you are not happy with the price you are paying or the service you are getting, shop around. (On the other hand, how often are you likely to use your auto insurance or make a claim? The average person is not likely to use their insurance more than once every 5 or 10 years, so if you can save $100 a year with one company over another one, how much worse does the service have to be every 5 or 10 years when you actually use it? And remember, all of them are pretty bad. So the service is about the same, which means it’s all the more important not to pay too much.) The American Association for Justice named their “Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America” in a recent report. Click here to read more.

Myth #4. “I don’t have a lot of assets, so I don’t really need more than the minimum limit.”

The limits you buy of liability coverage on your auto insurance policy serves two basic purposes. First, if you cause an accident, then the limits of insurance protects your personal assets. If the amount of the damage or injury you cause is greater than the limit on your policy, then after your insurance company pays the limits then you are personally responsible for the amount greater than that limit. An injured person could sue you and get a large judgment. So you can protect your assets by purchasing a sufficiently high limit.

The second purpose for having a sufficiently high insurance policy limit is because, under Virginia law, you automatically have an equal limit of “uninsured motorist” and “underinsured motorist” coverage. (3) If you, a family member who lives in your household, or a passenger in your car is injured, and the person who causes the injury has no insurance or a limit less than yours, then your own company will pay up to the difference. For instance, if you have a policy with limits of $100,000 and are seriously injured, and the person causing your injuries only has a policy with the minimum limits of $25,000, the at-fault driver’s company would pay their $25,000 and then your company would pay up to the difference (that is, up to $75,000 more) to equal the limit you have of $100,000. So higher insurance policy limits not only protect you and your assets, they also protect you and your family against a driver how has no insurance or not enough.

About the Author: Clayton Allen is a Richmond car accident attorney with the law firm of Allen & Allen. He has over 25 years of experience handling personal injury cases protecting plaintiffs’ rights against the auto insurance industry.

(2) “Auto Insurance: Consumer’s Guide”, Prepared by the Commonwealth of Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Bureau of Insurance, available free by calling 804-371-9185 or tollfree 877-310-6560. If you call, be sure and ask for the companion “Auto Insurance: Sample Premium Tables” pamphlet for the most recent year.

(3) You can choose to make your UM and UIM limits less than your liability limit, if you request that in writing, but that’s rarely done and is a very bad idea.

Attorney P. Christopher Guedri

As a lawyer who specializes in the handling of personal injury claims, I often encounter clients that have been injured in serious motor vehicle accidents. Over the years, I have found that many clients don’t know what types of coverage they have on their vehicles, the amount of the coverage they purchased, or how the answers to these questions may impact their case or our handling of it. In this article, I will attempt to generally outline the types of coverage that are typically available to purchasers of auto insurance and how to best protect yourself and your family in the event of a motor vehicle accident.

Bodily Injury Liability Coverage
Bodily Injury (BI) Liability Coverage protects the owner or driver of a vehicle for all sums which the insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of bodily injury to an injured third party. This coverage also pays defense costs against legal actions. Bodily injury liability limits are often split. The first figure is the limit of payment to a single person per accident and the second figure is the limit of payment in total for all persons injured in a single accident. For example, bodily injury liability limits of $100,000/$300,000 means the maximum amount that an insurance company can be called upon to pay on behalf of its insured is $100,000 to any one person injured in a single accident. This limit also means the insurance company will pay no more than a total of $300,000 to all persons injured in a single accident, regardless of how many persons are injured. This type of coverage will protect you and members of your family from being personally liable up to the limits of the coverage, should you or a family member negligently cause an accident that results in bodily injury to another.

Property Damage Liability Coverage
Insurance policy limits are often cited with three numbers. The third number is the Property Damage (PD) Liability Coverage. This coverage is similar to Bodily Injury Liability Coverage but is limited to damage caused by you to another person’s property, such as an auto, fence, telephone pole, garage or dwelling. As the name indicates, this coverage is limited to damage caused to property, and does not include injury to persons. This coverage will protect you or a family member who negligently causes damage to or destruction of another’s property.

Collision Coverage
Collision Coverage, if purchased, protects your vehicle against direct and accidental loss or damage as a result of a collision with another vehicle or fixed object. This coverage is optional. Collision Coverage obligates your insurance company to repair or replace the insured vehicle if damaged or destroyed by a collision with another vehicle or fixed object.

Comprehensive Coverage
Comprehensive coverage, also known as “other than collision coverage” obligates your insurance company to repair or replace your vehicle for damage or destruction resulting from an event other than a collision with another vehicle or fixed object. For example, damage is covered resulting from vandalism, riot, flood, wind and hail, fire or theft. This coverage is also optional.

Medical Expense/Medical Payments Coverage
Medical Payments (MP) Coverage is insurance coverage that pays up to a specified amount for medical expenses incurred as a result of a motor vehicle accident. This coverage pays regardless of who is at fault. “Med pay” and “med expense” coverage is typically provided in increments of $1,000, $2,000, or $5,000. In Virginia, a statute requires that med pay/med expense coverage is automatically “stacked” to provide the policyholder with the stated benefit multiplied by the number of vehicles insured under the policy up to a maximum of four (4). For example, if you have a limit of $2,000 and three vehicles on the policy, you actually have a limit of $6,000 available to you.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Uninsured Motorist (UM) Bodily Injury Coverage protects you and any occupants of your vehicle for bodily injury up to your policy limits as a result of an accident with a legally liable uninsured motorist or hit-and-run driver. This coverage protects an “insured” under the policy in the event that one of them is injured as a pedestrian. It also covers an “insured” while occupying a motor vehicle who is injured as a result of the negligence of a driver that is uninsured, or a driver who leaves the scene and is never identified. In Virginia, for example, a person who buys automobile insurance receives the same amount of uninsured motorist (UM) coverage as they have purchased bodily injury liability insurance unless they specifically request uninsured motorist coverage that is less than the liability coverage they purchased. The theory for this is that a policyholder should have the same rights to collect from their own insurance company if they are injured as a result of the negligence of an uninsured motorist as they have protected themselves against liability to a third party that may be injured as a result of the policyholder’s negligence.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage
Underinsured Motorist (UIM) Coverage is very similar to uninsured motorist coverage except that it provides coverage to an “insured” under the policy who is injured by someone who does have auto insurance but whose liability insurance limits are less than the uninsured motorist (UM) limits that the policyholder has secured. For example, if you, the policyholder, have purchased uninsured motorist (UM) coverage of $300,000 per person and are seriously injured by a motorist who has only $100,000 per person of available liability insurance, then you can make a claim against your insurance company for the difference between your uninsured motorist limits and the at-fault driver’s liability limits. In this example, you could collect $100,000 from the negligent driver’s liability insurance company and then collect up to $200,000 from your own company under the underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage you have.

Towing and Labor Coverage
If your vehicle is temporarily disabled on the road, this coverage will pay your actual expense up to the amount of coverage you select and pay for to have your vehicle towed or for roadside labor to repair your auto.

A Word To The Wise . . .
With skyrocketing medical expenses, the costs associated with a serious injury can be very high. Medical expenses for a routine hip surgery, for example, can exceed $75,000 when the total costs of a four day hospital stay, the surgical fees, anesthesia costs, post-operative follow up care, and physical therapy are added together. Since an injured person’s medical expenses are a large part of what they are entitled to collect when injured as a result of the negligence of someone else, we often encourage clients to obtain at least $300,000 of liability insurance. This amount of coverage will protect you or a family member from liability to a third party up to a maximum of $300,000.

Unless specifically rejected, with that limit you will automatically receive the same amount of uninsured and underinsured (UM & UIM) protection for injuries and losses that you or a family member may receive as a result of an accident involving an uninsured or underinsured motorist. We also encourage our clients to secure the optional med pay or med expense (MP) coverage as this coverage will reimburse the policyholder and its family members for medical expenses incurred as a result of an accident regardless of who is at fault and, in Virginia, independent of whether the person also has hospitalization insurance which will pay the health care providers directly.

Collision coverage, comprehensive coverage, and towing coverages are optional. We would suggest that you consult with your insurance agent regarding the cost of this coverage to determine if it is protection that you want and are willing to pay the premium for.

I hope this article is helpful to you and your family in making your coverage decisions regarding your auto insurance. Being well insured is your best protection against the consequences of a serious accident – whether you are at fault or you are the victim.

About the Author: Chris Guedri is a personal injury attorney in the Richmond office of Allen & Allen. Since joining the firm in 1991, Chris has focused his practice on car accidents, trucking accidents, products liability, and premises liability litigation.

Attorney Elizabeth M. Allen

How much automobile insurance should you buy?

The answer is easy: As much as you can afford.

The primary reason to buy automobile insurance, both liability and uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, is to protect you and your assets. Your insurance company will almost never pay more in damages, to you or to a person you negligently injure, than the dollar amount of the coverage you paid for, no matter how high a verdict there may be either against you or for you. Sound complicated? I’ll illustrate with two hypothetical examples, one involving liability insurance coverage and one involving underinsured motorist coverage.

Liability Coverage Example
Suppose you buy a policy with limits of $25,000/50,000 in auto liability insurance coverage.2 As a result, you would be personally responsible for payment of the remaining $50,000! The injured person would likely seek to recover this amount from your savings and other assets. This is a harsh result, I am sure you would agree, and one you would want to avoid.

What would happen if you had purchased a policy with higher limits of $100,000/$300,000? Since the verdict is less than your limit, your insurance company would pay the injured person the entire judgment amount of $75,000. Consequently, you would not be obligated to pay any part of the judgment yourself. To sum it up, the more insurance coverage you buy, the less likely it is that you will ever be called upon personally to pay any part of a legal judgment against you.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) Example
Your purchase of high insurance limits can also help you or your family members when one or more of you are injured through the fault of another driver. This might occur if you and/or relatives who live with you sustain serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident, and the negligent driver who caused the accident has less insurance coverage than you do.

How does this work? Suppose you were in an auto accident that was someone else’s fault, and you were injured. Suppose your injuries and losses are serious, and your medical bills and lost wages are substantial. In your lawsuit against the driver at fault, a jury awards you $100,000 in damages. /Now suppose the driver at fault has purchased an auto insurance policy with $25,000/$50,000 limits, and you have an auto insurance policy that provides $100,000/$300,000 limits in UM/UIM coverage. The at-fault driver’s insurance company will pay you only $25,000, which is the maximum amount of liability coverage the defendant bought which can be paid to one person with respect to one accident. (When limits of insurance coverage are stated as “$25,000/$50,000, the first number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to any one person injured in an accident, and the second number is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay to all claimants in a single accident, regardless of how many injured persons there are).

However, you can look to your own UM/UIM coverage to see if there is underinsurance coverage (UIM) available to you. Under Virginia law, if the limit of the UM coverage available to you is greater than the limit of the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, then he is considered “underinsured” with respect to you and you will have underinsurance coverage on your own policy to give you extra coverage.3 The availability of underinsurance coverage depends on a comparison between a specific at-fault driver’s total liability coverage, and the total limit of UM coverage on the injured person. (Sometimes either the at-fault driver or the injured person may be able to add together or “stack” several insurance policies). In the example above, since the verdict is $100,000 and the at-fault driver only has $25,000 liability coverage, his insurance company would pay the first $25,000 of the verdict. Then your insurance company would pay you $75,000 under you UIM coverage, because that’s the amount by which your own UM motorist coverage exceeds the at-fault driver’s liability coverage limit of $25,000. By adding your $75,000 in underinsurance coverage to the defendant’s $25,000 liability limits, the entire $100,000 judgment you won in court would be paid in full.

Now suppose instead that you had only purchased an auto insurance policy with a $25,000/$50,000 limit in UM coverage. In the accident described above, your insurance company wouldn’t pay you anything because your UM insurance coverage of $25,000/$50,000 is not any higher than the at-fault driver’s own $25,000/$50,000 liability limits. Yes, you can still pursue the at-fault driver personally through collection after trial. However, the average at-fault driver has few assets and collecting on a judgment can be a long, expensive, and often futile endeavor. In the end, it is always better to carry high liability/UM insurance limits yourself and ensure that you and your own family are protected in the event one or more of you sustains severe injuries caused by the negligence of a driver with low automobile insurance coverage limits.4

2 When you see a figure like $25,000/$50,000 in relation to an auto policy, it means the limits are “split”, that is, one injured person can recover a maximum of $25,000 under the policy while $50,000 is the most coverage the insurance company will pay out to all injured persons regardless of the number of people injured in the same accident or how badly they may be injured.

3 In Virginia, you may be entitled to undersinsured motorist coverage under more than one policy, and these policies can sometimes be “stacked” to give you more coverage. Va. Code § 38.2-2206. This is a complex area of law, and it is wise to consult an attorney to explore whether there is underinsurance in your case.

4 In Virginia, you cannot buy UM coverage in an amount that is higher than your auto
liability insurance limits.

About the Author: Elizabeth Morrell Allen has been engaged in the practice of personal injury law for over 30 years at the law firm Allen & Allen. From 1988 to 2004, Beth served as a branch manager of the firm’s Petersburg, Virginia office.

There’s not much you can do to prevent a car crash caused by someone else, but there is a lot you can do to protect yourself from the consequences of being hit by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

The economic downturn has increased the number of uninsured cars on the road. According to The Insurance Research Council, in 2003 14.9% of cars on the road were uninsured. As the economy improved, that dropped to 13.8% by 2007. However, as the economy has weakened, the percentage of uninsured cars on the road has started back up. For each 1% increase in the unemployment rate, the Insurance Research Council has found a ¾% increase in the uninsured motorist rate. By 2010, 16.1% of all cars on the road are expected to be uninsured.

So what can you do to protect your family against an uninsured motorist? The first thing you can do is to find and read the Declarations page of your family automobile insurance policy. The Declarations page is often the opening page of the policy. It has the name of the insurance company at the top, your name and address as the insured, and a listing of all the vehicles insured by the policy. Near each vehicle listed you will find the coverage provided by the policy.

The next thing to do is to determine whether you have sufficient limits of insurance coverage on your policy. The two basic coverages on every policy are Liability Coverage and Uninsured/Underinsured Coverage. The first listed is Liability Coverage, usually listed in an amount such as 25/50, 50/100, or 100/300. This means that if you are at fault and hit someone, the company will pay up to these limit amounts multiplied by $1000. For example, 25/50 means your insurance company will pay up to $25,000 for any one person injured in the accident, and up to $50,000 total for all persons injured in one crash. 25/50 is the minimum limits required by Virginia law and the minimum you can have, but $25,000 does not go very far in these days of expensive medical care.

The other required coverage is Uninsured Motorist and Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UM/UIM). Your insurance company must provide UM/UIM limits equal to the Liability limits, unless you choose lower UM/UIM limits. That is a terrible idea; you don’t want to do that. UM/UIM Coverage is all that stands between you and possible financial disaster if you or a family member are seriously hurt in a car crash.UM/UIM coverage obligates your company to step in and provide insurance up to your UM/UIM policy limits if the other driver who causes injury has no insurance or has a lower limit than you do. UM/UIM coverage covers every member of your household even if you or another member is hurt as a passenger in someone else’s car.

So look at your UM/UIM coverage. What if you were badly hurt in a crash and couldn’t work for several months? Is the amount of your UM/UIM coverage adequate to compensate you for your injuries and losses? If not, call your agent and ask about increasing the limits. The cost of additional coverage is surprisingly little when you consider the next out of control car may not be insured.