Following your involvement in a motor vehicle collision, your car will be evaluated by the insurance company. If this results in your car being declared a total loss, there is a chance that you will not agree with this ruling. Thus, what do you do when that happens? How did the insurer come to this ruling in the first place? And who will pay for the damages? These and other questions will be answered below.
Who will pay out the damages?
One of the first things you may be wondering about is who will come up for the damages done to your vehicle. Will it be your own insurance company? The defendant’s? The answer will ultimately depend on where you live, aka whether you live in a no-fault state or not, and what coverage is utilized to cover the damages.
If you live in a no-fault state your insurance company has to pay for a certain portion of the damages, no matter who is found liable for causing the accident. Additionally, some of these no-fault states have declared vehicle damage claims to be separate from no-fault rules which means you will still be entitled to file a claim against the at fault driver.
If you don’t live in a no-fault state everything will ultimately come down to determining fault. This means proving one of the involved drivers guilty of negligence. For you, this means that you will only receive coverage by your insurer if somebody is found liable for causing the accident. That is, unless you have purchased collision coverage for such instances.
If you have purchased collision coverage then your vehicular damages will be covered regardless of who is at fault, or if anyone is at fault at all. It should be noted that collision coverage is rather expensive, however, it does allow you to file a claim against your insurance company in the event that you are liable for an accident.
In conclusion, if you do not live in a no-fault state, then your vehicular damages will only be covered by the other party’s insurance company if said party is found liable for causing the accident. If they weren’t responsible, then your only chance of obtaining coverage is to have purchased collision coverage in the past since that will obligate your own insurer to cover the damages. If you do live in a no-fault state, then you can contact a personal injury lawyer in Trenton to help you navigate your state laws and find out which insurance company will need to cover your damages.