Car crashes can wreck your vehicle and your day by leaving you with whiplash, a broken bone or even a concussion. People can incur thousands of dollars in personal expenses after a car wreck because of medical costs, lost wages and damage to the vehicle or other personal property.
There is usually a presumption that car insurance will cover all of the costs someone has after a collision, and for many people, that will be the case. However, compensation through car insurance is not always a given after a major wreck in Georgia. When might drivers wind up with expenses that insurance won’t cover?
When the other driver doesn’t carry enough insurance
Every vehicle on the Georgia roads or registered with the state has to have a liability insurance policy on it. That way, if a driver causes a wreck, the people whose property they damage or bodies they injure can make a claim against that coverage. Unfortunately, many drivers only have the amount of coverage required under state law.
Every driver should have at least two kinds of liability coverage. The state requires at least $25,000 worth of property damage liability coverage, as well as bodily injury coverage. If one person gets hurt in a crash, the minimum coverage is $25,000, but that amount goes up to $50,000 if two or more people get hurt in a collision.
Drivers can carry higher amounts of liability protection, as well as insurance that protects their vehicle from collisions, theft and uninsured drivers, but many will just have the cheapest coverage they can find, which leaves gaps in their protection if they cause a collision.
What happens if the other driver’s insurance is inadequate or inactive?
You might have protection on your own insurance policy that will cover some of your losses if the other driver doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t carry enough coverage. Uninsured and underinsured driver protection is optional coverage that can reimburse you for expenses not covered by the driver at fault for a crash.
If you don’t have that coverage or if your losses are still higher than the insurance available, Georgia law does not permit you to seek compensation with a personal injury claim against the driver responsible for the collision. Understanding what options are available after someone without enough insurance causes a car crash will help you better protect yourself and your family.