Auto Accident – - I Was Found At Fault And Claims Exceed My Policy Limits!?
My car was heading south making a left heading eastbound. The vehicle I hit was heading north also making a left heading westbound. At the moment, the flow of traffic facing westbound was brought to a traffic halt, due to a red light at the intersection. While traffic remained stopped, I was inching along forward waiting for a safe opportunity to proceed east onto my direction of travel , the other vehicles on both sides to me facing westbound were completely stopped. While approaching my safe opportunity to merge east, the driver from the first vehicle on the inside (number one) lane who was stopped, was waiving at me granting me the path of right of way indicating that it was safe to proceed ahead.
Prior to merging east with my vehicle, I noticed a large white vehicle also making a left hand turn heading west coming from the opposite direction from south. As I proceeded ahead, I was about 75% into executing my left turn when suddenly the large white SUV dashed across in front of my path making a last minute turn west. Before I realized, we were already both engaged in a auto collision.
At that point, I felt very scared fearing that with my 2 year old child in the car, other vehicles in the opposite flow of traffic might also collide into me. During the accident I was able to immediately drive my vehicle off the road to a safe location where I parked on the northeast corner. I remained parked at that location for a while attending to my daughter who was very scared and crying hysterically. I then called my husband who came to meet me to attend to our daughter while I took the photos. I am found 100% at fault and my policy insurance limits have been reached. What do I do now? I’m scared to get sued by all the 3 parties. My insurance company has informed me that all 3 parties have retained attorneys and claiming bodily – soft tissue – injuries, which will exceed my policy limits. Help!
May 20th, 2010 at 6:10 am
NEVER, NEVER make a left turn when somebody waves at you to do it. It is not worth it. I have handled so many claims over the years from when people make their left turn after somebody waves them on. It is incredibly dangerous as you just learned.
On to your question. This type of thing happens a lot more than you think. Way too many people have insurance policies with woefully inadequate policy coverages. You don’t say what state you are in or what your limits are but having that info would help us give you better answers.
You might want to double check with your company on the 100% at-fault thing. Frankly, if the person who waived you on is known I would put some of the fault on the. (approx 10%). I have successfully attributed “comparative negligence” to the idiot waving on the left turning driver in MN and WI. To be honest I have lost this argument more than I have won it but it can be done IF the waving person is known and insured.
The letter you received is commonly known as an “excess letter.” The first thing you need to know is that receiving the letter does not automatically mean that the claims will exceed your policy limits. The insurance company has to send that letter to cover their butts. The letter probably says something about you might want to high a lawyer. It is too soon to do that.
I suggest the following to help you and your family deal with this.
-Keep in touch with your adjuster. Don’t be a pest and call every week but calling every 3 weeks or so is OK. Tell the adjuster that you will be calling them so you can keep informed about where things stand. Ask them how many people are presenting claims against your policy. Also ask them if they think the claims will exceed your limits. They will probably not want to answer the question but tell them you won’t hold them to the answer and that their answer is “off the record.”
-Many cases where the excess letter is sent are actually settled at or below the policy limits. Your insurance company has a legal duty to do everything they can to settle the claims at or below your limits.
-Depending on the size of the injury claims and how much coverage you have, the injured people may make an underinsured motorist bodily injury (UIMBI) claim to their own company. If they do this the injured persons insurance company will notify your adjuster. Ask your adjuster to let you know right away if this happens. If you don’t have enough coverage the injured people can use their UIMBI coverage to collect from their own company. Then their company will have a right to collect that money back from you. So this is another reason it is very important that you keep in touch with your adjuster.
I hope this helps a bit.
–EDIT–
Your limits are very low and if you have 3 or more injured people with decent sized soft tissue injuries you could have problems with the whole 30K being depleted. You can ask your company to reconsider the 100% but they don’t have to. Ask them for the specific reasons why you got the 100%. It is unusual to get 100% for an intersection accident. California is a “pure comparative negligence” state which means that if the accident was a 90/10% with you being the 90% you could collect 10% from the other party. Something else for you to talk to your adjuster about.
May 20th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I hate to say it but once your policy limits are reached your on the hook for the excess damages. If you own a home or have alot of liabilities you could be in for a world of hurt. If you have very little assits you may be okay. The attorney’s well advice there clients there is no money to be had suing you and they’ll look for “deep pockets”, like suing whoever designed the intersection or the miunicaplity where the intersection was located saying it was unsafe. This is why its always a good idea to have higher limits then the state required minimums. I even carry a 2 million dollar umbrella policy on top of all my other insurances. This way if something ever happens and my auto or home owners policy maximum is exceeded I have back up coverage. Its very inexpensive for a large umbrella policy. mine costs about $500 a year and is worth every single penny. Wish you luck and remember no matter how bad the finacial loss may be the fact you and your child are fine is the most important thing.
May 20th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Now that you’ve turned it in to your insurer, let them handle it; they have experience and resources that you don’t, and that’s what you’re paying for. From your description, there may be mutual blame, but you need to let your company work it out with the others, and chances are, it will wash out under your policy limits.
Then get your limits increased; if you carry state minimums, that’s not nearly enough in any US state.
May 20th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
The attorney’s well advice there clients there is no money to be had suing you and they’ll look for deep pockets, like suing whoever designed the intersection or the miunicaplity where the intersection was located saying it was unsafe.