What Happens If You Are A Passenger in A Car Accident

The question is what happens if you were the passenger in a car accident? What are your options? I would like first to point out that you may be entitled to obtain financial compensation for loss of wages, medical bills, emotional distress and future treatments. I will also give you some tips when attempting to claim compensation through the insurance company if you were the passenger in a car accident.

3rd party insurance claim

It depends on who’s fault it was in the car accident, a good rule of thumb and two components which enable you to file a claim against a liability insurance company are as follows:

• The insurance of the person of the vehicle you were in when the accident happened.
• The insurance of the person of the car that was involved in the crash.

In this case, none of these claims are classified as a 3rd party; the reason is that you are not the person under the insurance. Thus, it is not yours because you do not own an insurance.

You can make several claims, to elaborate more on this. If the owner of vehicle A’s insurance does not cover you for all of your damages, you have the option of filing a claim for the insurance of Driver B to cover the damages in monetary value. This example took into consideration that both drivers were part of the accident.

To break it down even further: You suffered a car crash as a passenger, and you have about 45,000 of Medical bills. The owners of the car you were the passenger of has 20,000 of insurance coverage. You would be 25,000 short to pay your medical expenses under that insurance policy. In this case, you could file a claim for one of the policies that were in the accident for the amount that is missing (this would only happen if the policy has the financial capacity to pay what you are short of).

Quick note, you will not be able to obtain more than what your claim is worth.

What happens if the passenger is a family member?

If you live with or is a relative of the passenger who suffered an accident, he or she will be covered under your insurance policy.  Consequently, you may not be entitled to file a lawsuit against the insurance company. People who are insured by the insurance coverage can not claim liability insurance vs. the insurance that insures them.

Medical pay insurance coverage

It is long and tedious to make a claim vs. someone else’s insurance. If you have to pay medical bills and your insurance claim is still pending you can be entitled to file a claim to pay your medical bills. This type of request is known as med pay. Many people are unaware that this kind of insurance falls under car insurances.

“Med pay,” regardless of who is a fault can be applied for the car crash. When med pay is being implemented to the claim, it processes much quicker. What “med pay” does not cover is the loss of wages, pain or suffering, or any other expense which is not related to medical. Mainly, know that med pay is strictly for medical related.

Like the limit in the insurance policies, it has restrictions; they are low regarding monetary compensation. The most basic coverage of med pay is approximately in 10,000 of medical.  If med pay is not sufficient to cover your medical expenses, you are still entitled to file a claim under the other(s) insurance policy who were involved in the accident.

This article is made by Percy Martinez, a personal injury lawyer who practices in the city of Miami, FL. For more information, please seek the attorney of your state.