A motor vehicle collision could cost the people involved tens of thousands of dollars or sometimes even more. Property damage costs alone could exceed someone’s annual salary, and medical bills combined with lost wages can drive up the price tag for the wreck even higher.
Typically, those injured or needing to repair their vehicle or purchase a new one will turn to the other driver’s liability insurance policy to pay those costs. If you recently got hurt in a crash, you will likely depend on the at-fault driver’s insurance for many of your basic needs.
What can you expect from insurance following a collision in Louisiana?
There are minimum coverage rules
You should be able to depend on a bare minimum standard of insurance coverage. State law in Louisiana imposes liability insurance requirements on everyone with a registered vehicle, although anyone has the option of carrying extra coverage.
Typically, a crash where one person gets hurt should have a minimum of $15,000 in bodily injury coverage to pay for someone’s wages and hospital bills. A minimum-coverage policy would also provide up to $30,000 per crash when the wreck leads to more than one person suffering injuries. Every driver should also have $25,000 or more in property damage coverage.
In some cases, you may also have the option of making a claim against your own coverage. If you have underinsured motorist coverage, you can make a secondary claim for costs that go beyond what the other driver carried.
What you receive depends on your losses
The insurance company doesn’t just write a check for the full value of the at-fault driver’s policy when someone files a claim. They need information about it the damage to the vehicle and the injuries that someone suffered to evaluate their claim and arrive at a reasonable payment amount.
In some cases, the process of finalizing the amount of someone’s claim payout will require extensive negotiations. The average driver might have a hard time handling that process without support, especially when they already have the stress of a painful injury limiting their daily functions.
Having the right help will make it easier for someone seriously hurt in a recent collision secure and appropriate payout from the insurance company.
