Auto Insurance Claims: Can we expect to be sued for daughters accident, magic answer, coverage limits

Question
We are residents of Indiana.  Our 21 year old daughter is a full time student, and is named on our insurance policy.  She had an accident.  No tickets were issued, but she is being held responsible for the accident.  The other driver broke his wrist and his medical, lost wages, pain & suffering is going to exceed our coverage limits.  We were just notified of this in the mail.  The letter was addressed to my husband.  We are so worried.  Can we be sued for the additional amount.  Do they have to sue our daughter?  Who will be responsible?  Thank you so much.  I have not slept in couple nights.

Answer
Hi Debra,

If the coverage on your policy is not sufficient to cover the amount of their demand, then yes they can sue you for the difference. The will actually name both your daughter since she was the one responsible for the damage and you and your husband since the insurance is in your name. Your insurance company will defend you up to the limits of your policy. If it is obvious to your insurance company that the injured party has a legitimat claim that exceeds your policy limits they will likely offer to pay your policy limit and you will have to hire an attorney to defend you against the balance of the claim. You should begin interviewing attornies as soon as possible.  It is possible if you do not have any assets that the injured parties attorny will simply accept the amount of your policy limits. However if you do have assets, this is unlikely. There is no magic answer I can give you. You will just have to deal with things as they come up.

Now that you know what can happen when you do not have enough coverage, you should call your insurance agent and have them increase your coverage to a limit of 100/300/50.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh