Slowly look at your Declaration Page until you find the information about the vehicles listed on the policy. Each vehicle on your policy will have the following information in or near this area. The year, make, model of the vehicles covered on your policy, as well as the name of the lien holders on these vehicles. Your lien holder will require their information to be provided to your carrier so the loan on your vehicle can be protected up to the value of the vehicle. Note the value of your vehicle may be less than the balance of your loan leaving you owing money to your lien holder. The policy will also list the Vehicle Identification Number also know as the VIN for each of the same vehicles. A VIN is a unique serial number given to each vehicle. No two vehicles will have the exact same VIN numbers. The only vehicles covered by your policy are the ones listed on this page!
Now, we are going to discuss the types of coverage that you can purchase for your vehicle. Your insurance carrier will charge you for each of the coverages I list. The price for each of these coverages will be itemized on the declarations page, by vehicle.
Liability
Look at Liability insurance as the foundation which the other coverages you purchase are built on. Texas requires liability insurance to be on all vehicles driven on a public road. Liability insurance protects people who are injured and property that is damaged from an accident where you are at fault. In all the years I have handled insurance claims I rarely ever heard anyone say they are at fault for an accident, even a lady that hit the concrete pillar supporting a sign in a parking lot thought it wasn't her fault, which is why adjusters and the courts decide this issue.Your policy has limits which usually look like 30,000/60,000/25,000 or 30/60/25. This first number, $30,000.00 is the most amount the policy will pay out to any one person injured in an accident which you are at fault. The second number, 60,000.00 is the total amount your policy will pay out if there are two or more people claiming injuries in an accident which you are at fault. Regardless of the amount of people injured in an accident which you are at fault for, no one person can ever get more than $30,000.00, and your policy will not pay more than a total of $60,000 if two or more people file claims The last number, $25,000.00 is the most your policy will pay on property damage. It usually involves the other vehicle(s) which were damaged as a result of your at fault accident, but it can include buildings, fences, grass, etc. If it belongs to someone else and you damage it, your policy will pay up to the max limit of $25,000.
Texas requires a minimal coverage of 30/60/25, but you can elect to purchase more coverage to protect yourself. The following point is extremely important, if the costs of any bodily injury claim(s) or property damage claim(s) are more than your policy limits, those claimants have the right to sue you directly for the amount above your policy limits! This will involve an accident that results in death, dismemberment, disfigurement or a permanent impairment, really serious stuff.
You notice Texas requires that vehicles have liability insurance not the driver. Drivers are only required to have a valid drivers license from their state of residency. Something to be aware of; In Texas, an at fault driver can not collect against the liability portion of their own auto policy for their injuries or damage to their vehicle. The insurance company had this put into effect to entice you to spend more on the additional coverages, which are optional in most cases.
Comprehensive
Sometimes called comp for short, this usually covers damage to your vehicle where you are not at fault. These might include things like hail, vandalism or Dorothy's house dropping on your car. Your policy will list the events that are covered under this portion of your policy (this list is NOT on the declarations page but is listed later in the actual policy language). If your vehicle has a lien on it (you will know this is the case if you are sending someone a payment on the vehicle) you are required to carry comp on the vehicle along with Collision, the next coverage discussed below.
Collision
Collision is coverage that has nothing to do with fault, neither yours or another parties. You can have your vehicle repaired minus your deductible. Deductibles are the amount you will contribute toward the repairs of your vehicle or if your vehicle is not repairable and totaled you will receive the value of your vehicle minus your deductible. If you are in an accident and the other party is at fault but their carrier is giving you the run around you may elect to have your vehicle repaired through this coverage on your policy, so your vehicle can get repaired sooner. If this is the case you must pay your deductible, but you can pursue the at fault carrier for the reimbursement of this expense.
Uninsured Motorist
Property Damage
If you are in an accident and the at fault party does not have any auto insurance to pay for damage to your vehicle, your carrier will take the place of the at fault person and pay your damage claim minus that good 'ole deductible. Even though Texas requires drivers to carry liability on their vehicles The Texas Department of Insurance estimates that 17-26% of drivers do not carry any auto coverage. Click here if you want to read more about this. This is a good reason to at least look at adding this coverage to your policy.
Bodily Injury
If you are in an accident and the at fault party does not have any auto insurance policies to pay for the medical costs for your injuries from the accident, your carrier will take the place of the at fault person and pay to settle this claim, minus that good 'ole deductible. As a Claims Adjuster, take my word on this; if you do file a Uninsured Motorist claim of any type, you MUST call your assigned adjuster regularly, speak with them directly and ask for detailed updates on your claim. If you do not, the adjuster will do little with your claim. Underinsured Motorist
As the name implies Underinsured Motorist covers your vehicle if an at fault party does not carry enough coverage to repair your vehicle. Lets say a driver from Arkansas hits you and does $18,000 in damage to your vehicle but they only carry $10,000 in coverage their insurance will only pay $10,000 leaving you with $8,000 to pay out of your own pocket. Underinsured motorist relieves you of this burden and picks up the tab, minus your deductible. Some carriers put uninsured and underinsured motorist together in one package, others split the coverage so be sure to ask your carrier specifically about this. Do you have a headache yet? I know I do.
Rental
If your vehicle is not working due to something covered under your policy, you can get temporary transportation. This coverage pays a max of X dollars per day usually for a total of 30 days. Your policy will show you the daily rate your carrier will cover. You can sometimes get more on the daily rate allowance but you will have to pay more in premium on your policy to get it, make sure you have enough to cover the cost of what ever vehicle you will need. Please take care of this before you are in an accident, otherwise you will be stuck at the lower per day amount. For example, we drive a minivan to haul around our large family, we could never fit into a compact car so we have rental coverage at a rate that will get us a minivan or SUV while our vehicle was being repaired. Also, most policies will not allow you to use all 30 days, if your vehicle is totalled. The policy usually says after your carrier has made you an offer to settle your collision or Uninsured Motorist Property Damage claim, they have the right to end your rental coverage. On a third party claim (a claim against someone else's insurance company) you are entitled to a same/similar vehicle. You do not have to accept their offer of a low end vehicle if you drive a higher end vehicle. The carrier may tell you they do not pay more than X dollars a day for rental coverage, however Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) views this matter otherwise. Test them on this by requesting a copy of the language on the policy that confirms their daily rental rate, if they won't or can't do this, let the adjuster know you will be filing a complaint with TDI and in most cases they will cave in and you will win.
Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, examine your auto policy and determine the amount of the deductible you will be responsible to pay when someone decides that they want your car combined with theirs. Then examine your finances and see if you have this money readily available when this blessed event occurs.
And remember, when the day that you are involved in a car accident (whether you are the driver or as a passenger) please don't hesitate to contact us,. We will be glad to assist you in recovering the largest settlement you are entitled to. Why hire an attorney when we can assist you and you wind up with more money in your pocket?!
Visit us at VillarrealInsuranceServices.com to learn more about our services and be sure to like us on Facebook at facebook.com/villarrealinsuranceservices or follow us on Twitter @VIStheInsGame.
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