CAR ACCIDENT? HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR INSURANCE.

From: New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx; Bronx accident lawyer)

Many car owners don't give much thought to automobile insurance coverage when they buy it. Frequently, they buy what their insurance broker or salesperson recommends, with little consideration of the consequences of an accident. If you or someone else is hurt or injured in a car accident, do you know what protection or benefits your insurance policy provides?

Car insurance can include different types of coverage and the different coverages can be compared to ice cream flavors; you can have chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, or rocky road. Furthermore, where more than one vehicle is involved, it's not always clear which car's insurance policy should pay. And complications arise where buses or trucks are involved, or motorcycles or bicycles or pedestrians injured while crossing the street. And what if an accident is caused by a condition or defect in the roadway, or a defective traffic light, and so forth and so on. Coverage limits vary considerably.

LIABILITY INSURANCE: Protects the owner and driver of the car (assuming the car was operated with the owner's permission) against claims by other claiming injury to person or property from your vehicle. Likewise, your own liability insurance will protect against claims made by people hurt by, or who suffered property damage from, your vehicle. The amount of coverage purchased and how it applies can vary considerably from policy to policy between different companies and even within the same company.

MEDICAL PAYMENT COVERAGE is known in New York as "No-Fault" insurance and in some of our neighbor states as Personal Injury Protection (PIP). No-Fault coverage is very complicated but, simply put, your own car insurance pays your medical and hospital bills regardless of who caused (or is at fault for) the accident. Now the bills are NOT paid without limit and they are NOT paid indefinitely and they are NOT paid because insurance companies may employ nice people.

First, Where more than one insurance company is responsible for paying benefits for an accident, they will get together privately (secretly) and adjust the payments so the at-fault company ends up reimbursing the insurance company that paid benefits to the innocent (or more innocent) accident victim.

Second, what No-Fault giveth, it taketh away. For you can get No-Fault benefits without starting a lawsuit or even hiring lawyer. You just fill out a form and send it in and your doctor directly bills you insurance company. However, should you decide that you're injury is serious enough to warrant hiring legal counsel and considering a lawsuit, the No-Fault law provides that - in exchange for the insurance carrier nicely paying your medical bills - you must have a "serious injury" as defined by New Yore's insurance law, or else your case can be thrown out of court. Now this area of New York personal injury law is complicated stuff and changing and evolving frequently.

For more information, a good place to start would be to request a FREE copy of my book: WARNING! Things That Can Destroy Your New York Car Accident Case (And the Insurance Companies Already Know These Things).

UNINSURED and UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGES They're related, like second cousins. They are cheap coverage add-ons that can, under the right circumstances (such as a horrible accident) pay a big benefit. So insurance brokers and salespeople don't like to offer them for sale. New York State has passed a law forcing insurance brokers to offer these coverages up to at least $100,000, when they sell liability coverage of $100,000 or more. If this insurance crap sounds complicates, that's because it is. If in doubt, better get yourself a competent personal injury or accident lawyer who knows insurance law cold. This is tricky stuff.

Uninsured motorist coverage: protects you under your own policy when the other car has no insurance. The driver of the other car may have been convicted for drunk driving (DUI or DWI), which may cancel his or her insurance coverage; or maybe the insurance bill was just not paid by the car owner; or the car was stolen. Plus, there's also a whole funky crazy area of emerging law surrounding staged accidents. You don't have to be one of the people behind the scheme but possibly just an innocent victim and, "Watch out." You can be hurt with broken bones yet end up with no insurance coverage. Like I said, "Tricky stuff."

Underinsured motorist coverage: applies where you have more dollars of insurance coverage available than the other car. An plaintiff's personal injury attorney with knowledge of insurance law would have to review your policy to see if the coverage is available. Sometimes we even need to check the insurance polices of household members who own cars - even if those cars had no involvement in the accident at all. Remember, to protect you, the injured and hurt accident victim, we look for as many insurance company pockets to put your hand in as possible.