Auto Insurance Claims: Policies and limits, garnishing wages, two choices

Question
I was involved in an accident where someone failed to yield and ran into my vehicle and totaled it. The insurance company is well known and have ads every where but I am having a problem with them paying me for pain and suffering. I would like to know is there anyway that they pay more than what the policy limit is, and how would I know if thats truely the policy limit that they have given me?

Answer
Hi Ryan,

In most cases an insurance company is not required to tell you what their insured's policy limit is. However, if they have offered you that information, they are more than likely telling you the correct amount. If they were to lie to youand you settled the claim based on that information and you later found that they were lying you would be able to sue them for millions of dollars.

So assuming they are telling the truth, the amount of the policy limit is the maximum the insurance company will pay out in a given claim. You must remember that your claim is actually against the person responsible for your injuries. That person bought an insurance policy to cover them for this type of claim. But when you buy auto insurance, you determine the amount of coverage that you want to purchase. If your total claim is for more that the amount of the available coverage then you only have two choices. You can either settle the claim with the insurance company for the amount of available coverage in exchange for a signed release form. That release form means that you are accepting the settlement as payment in full and will not pursue the at-fault driver for any more. The second choice would be to hire an attorney to sue the at-fault driver for the total amount of your claim. If you win more than the amount of the insurance coverage you will be paid the initial amount by the insurance upto the limit of coverage and you will then have to pursue the at-fault driver for the balance. This is done by placing a lien on any property he may own, siezing assets or garnishing wages. However, you need to know that if the person only had minimal coverage, it is likely because they did not have any assets or income worth protecting. So the process may not be worth while, especially considering that your attorney will likely take upto 40% of the total amount of your award.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh