Buying Auto Insurance (Part 2)

• You Get What You Pay For
• Think Preventive—Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Passengers
• Purchasing Underinsured Motorist Coverage
• Be Honest
• Table of Insurance Coverage Requirements, by State

Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter

Hello!! Welcome to the May edition of Settlement Central’s Newsletter. We are pleased to share this newsletter with you, as our business is helping people get satisfactory settlements for their personal injury claims.

In this issue, we will conclude our two-part series auto insurance guide, including tips to understand why it is essential to think preventative before you buy, purchasing underinsured motorist coverage, and the best ways to protect yourself, your family, and your passengers.

As always, we will post our articles on our website as they are sent out in the Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter. Our readers will have a rich resource available to them that should aid them much more than the Internet advice of some so-called “financial experts”, who have never had to encounter the courtroom-face of the insurance industry. Our hands-on battles with the insurance companies translate into useful and accurate information for our readers.

How to buy Motor Vehicle Insurance, Part Two

For Part One, please see the April Newsletter at this link:(www.settlementcentral.com/page8006.htm). This month we will complete our tips on buying motor vehicle insurance with some advice to seek quality in order to protect yourself, your family, and your passengers.

You Get What You Pay For

You have heard the advertisements that one auto insurance company is the least expensive, etc. Understand that truth of the old adage applies to insurance policy purchases: you get what you pay for. The best company is probably not the cheapest. Company policies that save premium costs can have adverse impacts upon your wallet.

• If you caused an accident your chances of having to go to court will increase because more of their claims end up in litigation.
• Being a defendant in court is no fun and can cost you wages and frustration.
• You will someday claim against your own company for medical payments or underinsured motorist coverage (UIM).
• A cheap company will not so readily offer fair payments to you for all your bills or for your pain and suffering under UIM.
• It is in these circumstances that many first party carriers become aggressive and literally cheat their own insureds out of legitimate payments through the ruse of a “records review” by a so-called “independent” medical examiner.

Do you have the right to choose arbitration in UIM? Is your company deceiving you with a clause that removes your rights to arbitration? Here is a Specific Question for the Sales Representative Regarding Forcing You to a Jury Trial

Please check your policy and ask the sales representative to be sure that your carrier does not reserve the right to a jury trial in its UIM disputes.

The tricky little phrase used in policies issued in recent years was to the effect that “disputes hereunder will be resolved by arbitration, unless either of the parties elects to have the dispute resolved as in other civil matters”. You probably would not see anything wrong with that phrase, but it is deceptive in its apparent innocence. It is a powerful tool and will only benefit the insurer.

That little phrase was intended to give the insurance company the right to a jury trial in resolving your UIM dispute with your own company. If you and they disagree, you will not have the right to an arbitration; they will just tell you to go file a court action. And the insurer will always ask for a jury trial.

Why don’t you want a jury trial?
• you will have to pay to use the court system.
• there is likely a much longer wait than an arbitration panel of attorneys.
• it is tremendously more expensive than any other forum for resolution in your time and your costs.
• At a jury trial, you must present some live testimony from your doctors, instead of just their records. So please consider this an important issue in selecting your company.

Think Preventive—Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Passengers by Purchasing PIP/MedPay and UIM

We’ve seen far too many cases where the insured, in an effort to save a dollar up front, has left himself, his family, or his passengers exposed with no coverage at all for medical bills.

Here are two examples of places where we have seen insureds deprive themselves of necessary coverage: PIP/MedPay and UIM.

• Your HMO, good medical plan, or military benefits afford no coverage to your passengers.
• What will you tell your co-worker or the parents of the children who were riding with your child on an outing when you cannot cover their medical expenses because another person hit you?
• You will get no wage loss payments available under PIP.

Think About it: You Need to Buy Insurance to Protect Yourself, Family Members, and Passengers by Purchasing Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM)

One serious mistake is to decline UIM coverage. Click on the link below to learn why UIM is probably the most important place to spend money.

• What if the tortfeasor is uninsured or has too little insurance?
• Without UIM, you will receive no pain and suffering payments.
• Purchase as much UIM coverage as you can.

Be Honest in Answering the Application Form Questions

A word of caution in dealing with your insurance company: don’t try to fool them on any of the information requested, or by insuring only one driver for each of the family vehicles. We have numerous cases holding that one family member is not covered because he or she was not named as a driver of another family vehicle. A contract entered into with materially fraudulent representations can be voidable by the company under some circumstances. In that case, you would have no coverage at all.

For a more thorough discussion of these topics, and to view a convenient table of Insurance Coverage Requirements, by State—simply click on the link below.

Click Here: (www.settlementcentral.com/page8008.htm)

Thank you for your interest in our site; we hope you will find us to be an excellent source for your own personal injury needs!!

Jeanine Steele
Publisher, Settle-It-Yourself Newsletter

SettlementCentral.Com has a wealth of information and special tips for members who wish to arm themselves with the best advice for dealing with insurance companies. Our Negotiation section is filled with fresh and effective ideas on how to approach a company to ensure a successful settlement of your case.
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SettlementCentral.Com has a wealth of information and special tips for members who wish to arm themselves with the best advice for dealing with insurance companies.