Miami Injury Lawyer

To register a motor vehicle in Florida, you must show proof of car insurance. When I ask someone what car insurance they have, they say "full coverage." There is no such thing as "full coverage." Maybe they are saying they have the amount required by law. Unfortunately, the automobile insurance required to register a car in Florida is minimal. Florida law only requires $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection coverage and $10,000 of Property Damage coverage. The law does not require Bodily Injury, Uninsured Motorist, Collision or any other type of automobile insurance coverage.

If you don't know exactly what coverage you have, you don't know what you are paying for. Automobile insurance may cost several hundred, or several thousand dollars each year. Few people would buy a product at a store for that price without making sure of what they were buying. For some reason, many people pay very little attention to the type and amount of their insurance. Here are the basic types of insurance coverage in Florida: Personal Injury Protection (PIP), Medical Payments (Med-Pay), Comprehensive and Collision (COMP/COLL), Bodily Injury (BI) and, Uninsured and Underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage.

Most people find out what coverage they have only after an accident, of course it is too late at that point. Personal Injury Protection pays approximately 80% of your medical expenses arising out of an automobile accident. If you have a deductible for your PIP, you will have to pay the medical expenses that fall under the deductible out of your own pocket, even if the other driver was at fault and you have health insurance. Florida law allows a deductible as high as $2,000 on your PIP coverage. The monthly premium savings from having no deductible compared to a $2,000 deductible is often not that substantial. If you are in just one accident during your entire life, you will likely pay more money because you chose the high deductible, than if you had paid a slightly higher premium for no PIP deductible.

Medical Payments coverage generally pays the 20% of medical charges that PIP does not pay. If you selected PIP and Medical Payments coverage with no deductible, you would be sure that your initial medical expenses after an accident would be fully covered by your automobile insurance.

Continue reading "Automobile Insurance in Florida - What Do I Need, What Do I Have?" »

A common issue in bodily injury or wrongful death vehicle accident claims is who pays for the damage to your car? If you have Collision Coverage as part of your automobile insurance coverage, you usually have the option to choose either your insurance, or the at fault driver's insurance to pay for your vehicle damage.Collision Coverage is optional in Florida, in fact, most insurance coverage is optional in Florida. The minimum automobile insurance requirement in Florida is only $10,000 of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 of Property Damage (PD) coverage. Remember, the mandatory Property Damage coverage only pays for damage to other people's property, not damage to your own car.

I often help client's choose the best method for getting the vehicle damage resolved while handling their personal injury claim. There are several factors that influence my recommendation on the choice between your insurance or theirs.

Fault is the key factor in the choice of which insurance to use. If you caused the accident, it was your fault, the other driver's insurance has no obligation to pay for your vehicle. In that case, your only option is your Collision Coverage. If the accident was your fault and you have no Collision Coverage, the unfortunate fact is that you pay your own vehicle damage out of your pocket.

When the other driver is clearly at fault, you can consider using the other driver's insurance to resolve your vehicle damage claim. If fault is not clear, I strongly advise clients to use their own insurance. The other driver's insurer only has to pay your vehicle damage when the crash was their fault so if fault is unclear, they may refuse payment, or offer some compromise amount based on the disputed fault. On the other hand, your Collision Coverage pays regardless of fault. It is important to remember that determining fault is not as simple as who received the ticket. In Florida, the crash report and ticket are not admissible in a civil trial per Florida Statute § 316.066(4). For fault to be clear, it usually requires physical evidence, like skid marks, or independent eyewitnesses.

It is my practice to encourage people to use their own Collision Coverage in all instances. Typically, using your own insurance is faster and easier. Using your own coverage also avoids any discussion or debate about who was at fault. If you use the other driver's insurance to pay collision damage, this may obligate you to give a statement to the other driver's insurer. You are already required to by contract to give your own insurance a statement.

Continue reading "Who Pays for the Damage to Your Car After a Florida Accident - Your Insurance or Theirs?" »