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Have You Been Hit by an Uninsured Motorist in Texas? You May Have Ways to Recover Damages

The state of Texas requires all motorists to have some basic level of vehicle liability insurance. This required amount can often not be enough to cover the expenses of an actual car crash. A driver in this situation is called an under-insured motorist. If a driver chooses to have no insurance despite the law requiering it, we call them uninsured motorists.More on this webpage
By law, your insurance company must offer additional coverage for accidents with uninsured and under-insured motorists (UM and UIM, respectively). This coverage comes in two types: bodily injury and property damage.

Bodily injury insurance covers your hospital or medical bills, any lost wages you may incur, and compensation for any pain and suffering or disfigurement as a result of the accident. There is no deductible associated with this coverage.

Property damage insurance covers damage to your vehicle or any property within your vehicle. It also includes the price of a rental car while your car is being repaired. A $250 deductible is associated with this coverage. More on this webpage

Even if you have no UM/UIM coverage, there may be ways to recover some damages if you are in an accident with an uninsured or under-insured motorist. If you are in a collision with a UM/UIM, contact the uninsured auto accident attorneys at our Texas Law Firm and let us make sure your injuries are fully compensated. Understanding these kinds of “budget” insurance providers helps you also appreciate just how difficult this road can be. It should also illustrate why you (if you take on these insurance companies by yourself), or an inexperienced attorney who quotes you a great “rate,” will cause you more problems than they solve; and make you a victim in this auto accident a second time.

A Brief Primer on Auto Insurance Companies and “Budget” Insurance Provider Amounts

We have a few words about the liability insurance business in general. If you’ve never had to deal with one, you haven’t experienced their greedy practices first-hand, and you’re in for a surprise. Contrary to their commercials and public relations campaigns that assure you that claims are happily paid, the real story is that most insurance companies are making money off their policyholders and payout as little as possible in claims. They have many ways of doing this, which we will discuss briefly.

At the bottom end of the auto liability food chain are the “minimum coverage providers.” You see these guys on television a lot, and at all hours of the day or night, marketing their “affordable” auto insurance services to you. If you look at the fine print in their ads, you’ll notice they must tell you the state in which their corporate offices are. Remember this point as it could become crucial in your particular case.

Minimum Texas auto insurance coverages are known as “30/60/25.” Each number is in thousands. The 30 (thousand) is for bodily injury per person: the 60 thousand covers bodily injury per accident (as in the total amount paid for all bodily injuries per-accident). The 25 thousand covers property damage (the vehicle’s value and all its contents) to the insured motorist and the vehicle he or she hit. The average price of most cars on the road for three years or less is seldom less than $25 thousand. Notice there are no explicit requirements to pay for an injured victim’s pain and suffering, lost wages, or survivor damages if anyone dies in the accident. Just because the money is theoretically available through the negligent driver’s policy doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be able to easily recover it the value of your damages and other losses if the negligent driver carries minimum coverage.

It’s easy to sign-up for minimum coverage auto insurance. Just go to the payment portion of the insurance company’s secure Web site, give them your credit card number, print out your “proof of (minimum) coverage” document, and “voila.” You’re “street legal.” But make that “low” payment every month or your coverage is dropped. Sometimes, if you try to go back and re-up your account, it might cost a few dollars more. Or maybe you allow them to “dip their hand” in your bank account monthly, but you don’t have enough to pay the day they do. Guess what? You’re dropped. Repeat the re-purchase process or go to some other “budget” insurer and repeat THAT same process. Those who get their auto insurance this way can be referred to as “gypsy policyholders.” Unfortunately, so can some of these companies. They can open and close their doors at a moment’s notice. What happens if a couple of these “gypsies” are the ones who pay your insurance? And what happens if you’ve fallen into that coverage trap yourself?

The auto accident lawyers at our Texas Law Firm have effectively handled car accident litigation for decades. We’ve won favorable verdicts and settlements against nearly every major auto insurer in the state. Insurance companies recognize our name. The reputation that precedes us is beneficial in securing special attention to our client’s claims from these insurers. Our goal is to make sure that you recover as much as possible for your injuries and make this sometimes complicated legal process as easy as possible for you.

Put our years of experience to work for you. Know your rights, how to proceed with your claim, and how much compensation you can secure from your auto injury case. Call our Law Firm now at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free) for a free consultation and find out how we can help you recover the full fair value of the damages you have suffered through another driver’s negligence.