As you learn about filing car accident claims and the importance of being legally represented by law advocates who specialize in this area, here are terminologies you may encounter along the way.
Basic Car Accident Terms And Phrases
1. Liability
A person who is deemed “liable” for a car accident is linked to the assignment “responsibility”. After investigations of the scene of the accident, the driver who is liable is one who carries a larger percentage of being responsible for said accident.
In many cases, “shared liability” is a phrase that states how both (or all) of the drivers involved in the road accident shall be held accountable for it. Here, more than one driver and/or person is tagged as the cause and/or perpetrator of the crash. A shared liability is also referred to as “comparative negligence”.
2. Coverage (Insurance)
“Coverage” or “insurance coverage” talks of what an insurance agency will take charge of due to “loss”. And “loss” can range from anything between hospitalization costs, automobile repairs, loss of job (spanning your time in hospitalization and recovery), property damages, etc.
3. Full Coverage Or Full Insurance Coverage
“Full coverage” is among the most misunderstood phrases in car accident cases and their related proceedings. Your Kansas City car accident attorney will help clarify this with you further. But summarized briefly, “full coverage” does not mean that all of your expenses, being a victim of an accident, shall be paid for. Not at all.
Full coverage insurance is about how your policy includes every coverage category. Collision coverage, motorist coverage, medical payments coverage, personal injury, and more. Yet these do not necessitate wholly recompensing for your expenses. Each one is usually enlisted under the minimum amount per insurer, and yes, per category.
Note: There is no such thing as insurance coverage that will always pay for injuries and damages in total. There will be excesses that can go far beyond the limitations of an insurance policy, regardless of what kind of premium an insurer is signed up for.
4. Minimum Insurance Limit Or Minimum Limits
This limit is specified by the ordinances of each region and/or state indicating the lowest minimum (in monetary form) you are to mandatorily receive. At the same time, this may be limited to persons who presently carry any form of insurance coverage.
The minimum amount varies from state to state and may change according to circumstance. For instance, let us say that you are registered with an insurance company in California yet find yourself in a car accident in Virginia. The minimum limits as declared by the state of Virginia can be added atop your personal insurance coverage, raising the latter, as a result.
5. Uninsured And/Or Underinsured Coverage
In the event that the at-fault driver does not have any form of insurance, uninsured coverage is your protection for subsidy. Often interchanged with the terms Underinsured Motorist (UIM) or Uninsured Motorist (UM), it is an alternative so that you are still able to receive an amount that can be allotted to accident-related payments (i.e. medical bills, damages, etc.).
