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5 Things Every Driver Should Know About Car Insurance

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5 THINGS EVERY UTAH DRIVER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CAR INSURANCE

SAINT GEORGE INJURY LAWYER EXPLAINS WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AUTO INSURANCE

Auto insurance can be a pretty tricky thing because everyone has to have it and most people don’ t know that much about it.  Typically, when you ask people what kind of coverage they have on their car, they often respond with, “Oh, I have full coverage.”  They seem to think that full coverage means that their insurance will pay 100% no matter what happens with anything related to an accident in their car.  This seems to be the impression that some people are under.  This is simply not true.  Any auto insurance policy is going to have completely separate lines of coverage.  What those are, is separate contract language that applies to a given situation that will trigger the application of one of those contracts.  This article will explain each separate line of coverage and what it covers.

#1  Comprehensive and Collision Coverage

The first line we will discuss is the coverage of property.  There is collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.  This is for damage to your own property.  Collision coverage is used when your car is damaged by another vehicle.  When you have collision coverage on your car, it doesn’t matter who is at fault in the accident to use that benefit. You can go through your own insurance whether someone hits you or you hit someone else.  There will likely be a deductible that applies with the most common being $500.  However,  the deductible could range from no deductible to several thousand depending on what you choose.  If you do use your own collision coverage to pay for the damages on your auto and the other driver is found to be at-fault, their insurance will reimburse your insurance company those expenses.

Comprehensive coverage is very similar in that it doesn’t matter who is at fault and it covers the damage done to your own vehicle.  This covers all of the other hazards that could happen to your car other than a collision with another car.  An example might be a tree falling on your car, or vandalism of your car or a fire.  This is also the line of coverage that covers when a rock hits your windshield.  There is usually a deductible on this coverage also.

#2  PIP Coverage

The second type of coverage that we have in the state of Utah is PIP.  This stands for Personal Injury Protection.  It is a special form of med pay coverage.  Med pay coverage is a line of coverage for medical payments for yourself.  So if you get hurt in a car accident, your med pay would be the first policy to come in and pay for your medical bills.  So they would pay for your ambulance ride or your emergency room visit, or visits to your chiropractor and so on.  Your own insurance would cover the bill.

In the short term, some people will say, “Well, why would my insurance cover that bill?  The accident wasn’t my fault. The other guy ran a red light. Why is my insurance paying anything?”  This answer to that is that in Utah we have a PIP law, a statute, that says that every single auto insurance policy sold to an individual in the state of Utah, must have a minimum of $3,000 in PIP coverage.  Everyone must have at least this much.  There are also other coverages that you must have unless you sign a waiver to get out of them.  Your PIP coverage also includes service that you may need if you are seriously injured in a automobile accident such as household services.  Let’s say you were injured  and you were laid up, you unable do your own dishes, you can’t raise your arms up above your head, or mow your own lawn.  You need someone to come by and help you manage those things.  PIP coverage requires a minimum of $20 a day to be available to you to pay for those types of services.  This coverage will pay to have someone come in and  help you take care of your house while you are recovering.  PIP coverage also includes some wage loss.  So the $3,000 in medical coverage, plus the household services, plus the wage loss in part of the PIP coverage.  The loss of wages will be either $250 per week or 85% of your normal weekly wage whichever is lower.  The insurance company can pay you the lowest of the two.  Those figures are minimums.  You may be thinking that you make a lot more than that and that’s not going to cover you.  No, it’s not,  but it is something to help tide you over and ease the pain short term until you can make a claim for lost wages against a bodily injury liability policy that may apply on the at-fault driver’s insurance.

We have this PIP requirement in place in Utah for a couple of reasons.  This PIP coverage can be both good and bad for Utah drivers, mostly good.  If you get hurt in a crash, you don’t have to wonder who was at fault, was it him or was it me, when deciding to seek medical treatment. You don’t have to ask yourself  those questions before getting medical attention in Utah because your PIP will pay for your treatment automatically whether you are at fault or not and that is a very good thing.  We value people being able to get medical care even if they can’t afford it.  Nobody is expecting to be involved in a car accident and they shouldn’t have to think about how they will pay for medical care for an accident that they didn’t cause.  One of the tradeoffs to PIP coverage is that if you don’t reach the minimum threshold of $3,000 in medical expenses claimed on your PIP portion of your policy, you are actually precluded from making a claim against the at-fault driver’s liability policy.  So, if you are a car accident victim and you get hurt and go to the emergency room  for treatment and you have minor injuries such as bruises and stitches and your bills total $1,500 and then your injuries heal and  you are fine. . . you cannot make a claim against the liablitiy policy of the driver that hit you.  Even though you are not made whole under the law.  Clearly no one would say, “Hey, go ahead and hit me as long as you pay my medical bills.”  That is not a fair trade, clearly no one wants to be hurt and go through physical pain and then the hassle of seeking medical treatment until they recover.  So the driver that caused your injury may owe you more than the cost of your medical bills but you have no right to seek any further resolution in your case if your medical bills are less than $3,0000. That will bring us to the next type of coverage we will discuss.

#3 Liability Coverage

Liability coverage really breaks down into multiple coverages.  In Utah,  the state minimum limits for liability are 25/65/15.  What that means is that you have $25,000 in coverage per person that you hurt and  up to $65,000 for all the people in the vehicle that you hurt and $15,000 to apply to property damage that you cause. Liability coverage protects you from lawsuits from other people.  So when you hurt someone else, you have a duty to make them whole.  And because most people don’t have twenty grand sitting around but we could easily cause $20,000 worth of injury to someone, we are required to carry liability coverage.  When you make a claim against a liability portion of someone else’s insurance because they are at fault for the accident, your own PIP coverage, that paid out your medical bills for the short term, actually gets paid back.  Your insurance gets the money they paid out, back for your medical expenses.

Within the limits of liability, there are specific circumstances that each amount would be used for.  Our example is 25/65/15.   The last amount listed is the amount of coverage that you have for property damage.  This amount would be your coverage if you were to damage someone else’s property.  For instance if you were the at-fault driver in a car accident and you totalled an $55,000 SUV, you would need much more than the property damage limit in our example of $15,000.  Considering the value of many cars on the road today, a person may want to increase the amount of property damage that they carry on their auto policies.  If the current limit is exhausted in a lawsuit, the claimant can then sue the individual policy holder for the remaining damages.  It would be wise to consult with your insurance agent and make an informed decision about the amount of the liability limits in all three areas within your auto policies.

In the above example, the first amount, $25,000, is the amount of liability coverage that your policy would offer for payment of someone else’s injuries.  In a serious accident, that amount could be used up quickly.  What if someone loses a limb or is disfigured or loses the ability to work for the rest of their life.  Or even worse, what if someone loses their life as a result of an accident where you were the at-fault driver?   The second amount, $65,000, is the global figure for all medical expenses.  This means that the limit for medical expenses that your insurance will pay for all persons that you injure while driving your car is $65,000. What if the other car had four to six passengers and they were all injured?  In a serious accident, this would simply not be enough coverage.   You would probably be sued for much more than your limits provide.

Auto Accidents

Auto Accidents

#4  UM Coverage

The fourth line of coverage is called UM coverage, which means uninsured motorist coverage.  You might be hit by someone who is carrying no liability coverage.  They are driving illegally with no insurance or perhaps, for whatever reason, the policy on their car does not apply.  It can happen. The best person to insure against your own risk while you are driving is you.  You don’t know what kind of coverage  the other driver that hits you will be carrying.  So if you get uninsured coverage you will  have the necessary  insurance available to make a potential claim against.  You treat it just like it’s the liability coverage of someone else.  It is triggered within your own policy by the fact that your were hit by someone without liability insurance.

#5  UIM Coverage

The last line of coverage that you should be aware of is underinsured motorist coverage.  This kicks in when you have exhausted the liability limit of the other driver.  It’s a secondary type of coverage.  So let’s say that you got hit and you suffered a terrible back injury that required a $50,00 surgery, but the at-fault driver may only have the state required minimum limit of $25,000.  You still wouldn’t have enough coverage to pay for the surgery that you need.  This is where your underinsured coverage would come into force.  It would fill in the gap so you could get the care you need.

This article was a brief summary of the individual coverages contained within an auto policy in the state of Utah.  Collision and comprehensive coverage are not required by law.  However,  if your car is financed through a bank or a credit union, they will require that your carry it in order to cover their financial interest in the car.  Some insurance companies also offer specific towing coverage to their policyholders for a small fee.

Andrew Spainhower McMullin Injury Law

5 Dangers of Driving with Utah State-Minimum Insurance

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5 Dangers of Driving with Utah State-Minimum Insurance

Utah State Minimum Insurance

The State of Utah requires people to have at least some car insurance in order to drive legally on Utah roads. That is why you show proof of insurance when you get pulled over. The amount that is required is referred to as “state-minimums.”  They are not recommended amounts.  These are minimum amounts. They are not advised amounts.  They are minimum amounts to be legal.  Usually when people choose them, they do so because the amount of premium that they pay will be lower.  Just because you have barely enough to not be committing a crime does not mean you have enough to be safe and responsible and protect yourself and your loved ones. In reality,  the premium is not affected that much to increase the limits to a much safer, more responsible limit. Motorcycle drivers have even more incentive to be aware of their insurance limits.

Choosing the lowest limits can compare to the situation where if you have only one drink of alcohol you may still be below the blood alcohol level that would register you for a DUI, so its legal, however drinking alcohol and then getting behind the wheel of a car is not advised.  Even if you are below the legal limit.  Everyone knows that this is not recommended but some still try to beat the odds and do it anyway. Carrying low liability limits on your auto insurance is a similar risk in that although it is legal it is still not advised.  It is dangerous to carry low amounts of coverage on your car and this article will explain why.

Southern Utah Personal Injury Lawyer Discusses Car Insurance

The information below is written by a St George Ut Personal Injury Attorney. Auto Accident Attorneys in Southern Utah deal with auto insurance policies everyday, so at McMullin Injury Law, we know how these policies work. If you are looking to buy more insurance, don’t call us, we don’t sell it, we just help people deal with claims.

1. The Danger of carrying only 25/65 in bodily injury liability coverage. 

Bodily injury liability coverage is the type of insurance that protects it’s own insured when they injure someone else in a car accident.  That is why it is called liability coverage.  If you hurt someone and you are responsible for their bodily injury, they then have a lawsuit against you.  Because they have a valid  case against you, your liability policy on your automobile insurance then steps into your shoes and has the contractual duty to you to protect you from this personal injury claim.  Your insurance company will either need to settle it or resolve it or pay for legal defense to defend you against the suit.  Either way,  they indemnify you or protect you from having to pay for your own attorneys or having to pay out of your own pocket to settle the case.

When you have the state minimum requirements for liability coverage which are 25/65, that means that you have coverage for up to $25,000 per person and $65,000 per incident.  The incident could be that you seriously injure a family of seven in a huge van.  There is only $65,000 now to protect you against the claims from all seven of those injured claimants.  It’s very likely that that family is not going to be happy with that amount.  It is likely not even going to be enough money to cover their hospital and therapy bills let alone any general damages.  They will have no recourse but to file a lawsuit against you.  They would probably get a judgment against you for well above the amount of $65,000 and your insurance will only pay up to that limit.  Now you will be personally liable for the difference.  The court can order that your wages be garnished.  They can put liens on your property.  They can potentially take away your life savings and everything that you have worked to achieve for an accident that happened in a split second.  That is the danger of carrying low limits of liability on your car insurance.  You should always be insured up to an amount that is more than enough to protect you even in the case of very serious injuries that one day you might accidentally cause.  No one intends to hurt other people.  People will be upset when they get sued but the truth is, when you hurt someone and your insurance is terrible, you are really giving them no meaningful choice other than to sue you.  Otherwise they will be left bearing the brunt of the costs of all of their injuries that they did not cause and they did not choose to have. It is your fault.

2. The dangers of having only $15,000 in property liability coverage

This is another form of liability coverage.  It protects you from being sued when you damage someone else’s property while driving a car.  It is the limit that your insurance will pay to someone else should you damage their vehicle in an accident that is your fault.  Let’s say that you smash into a $40,00 SUV and you total it.  Now their vehicle needs to be replaced but you only have the state minimum requirement of $15,000 for property damage.  You are now responsible for the balance of $25,000.  They will have little to no recourse but to sue you for that difference.  $15,000 worth of damage can happen with a lot less of an impact in a crash than people think.  If you have an expensive vehicle, and your cause a significant amount of damage to it, you can hit that $15,000 limit pretty easily.  Especially if the damage bends the body frame and renders the vehicle non-drivable or affects the engine.

3. The dangers of having only the required $3,000 in PIP

PIP is the abbreviation for Personal Injury Protection.  PIP is Utah’s form of what is called med pay insurance.  Med pay insurance is no-fault insurance.  It exists on the policy to pay the initial medical bills for anyone that suffers an injury regardless of fault.  So this covers your own injuries on the insurance of the vehicle that you are in.  You might not be at fault for the accident but your PIP will come in and pay any of your medical bills.  In Utah it is required that you carry only $3,000. In many states they don’t require that you carry any coverage for med pay at all.

          *Motorcycle Accident –

If you drive a motorcycle, Utah law does not even require you to have PIP, but it should.

Unfortunately, it is dangerous to be carrying the state minimum requirement because $3,000 can be gone extremely quickly.  Let’s say that you were to get in an auto accident and hit your head and then you were having problems at the scene of the accident.  You were not feeling well enough to drive your car, so an ambulance takes you to the emergency room to make sure that you are going to be ok.  Head injuries can be extremely scary.  Now you will have a bill from the ambulance and a bill from the emergency room.  You were treated for a head injury so they probably ran a series of very expensive diagnostic tests to make sure you are ok.  You will probably already have exceeded your $3,000 in PIP coverage.  Now, if your were at fault for the crash, the balance of the medical bills falls to you to pay out of your own pocket.

This PIP coverage also applies to each person that you have in your own vehicle.  A separate $3,000 per person in coverage.  So if you are driving around four friends and you lose control of your vehicle in snow or ice and go off the road into an embankment, you are now responsible for their medical bills.  Each passenger would only have a total of $3,000 for medical costs and anything above that, you would need to pay for.  This type of thing can happen even to very good drivers.  That would be a terribly stressful and sad situation to have your friends injured and not have adequate coverage to pay for their medical expenses.

4. The danger of not having comprehensive and collision coverage for your own vehicle

The danger of not having comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy is that you would have no coverage on your own vehicle should it be damaged in an accident.  In Utah the only coverages that are required on your auto insurance are the liability limits of 25/65/15, meaning $25,000 per person, $65,000 per accident, $15,000 for property damage  and PIP coverage of $3,000. You are not required by law to have comprehensive and collision coverage for your own vehicle. I guess law makers don’t feel like they have to protect you from yourself. They just want to protect other people from you.

Collision coverage covers the damage to your own car in the event of an accident whether you are at-fault or not.  It is by contract so it doesn’t matter if you are at fault or not.

Comprehensive coverage is what is sounds like.  It is comprehensive coverage for your property damage.  It applies to damages caused by things other than collisions.  As in the Allstate commercials when mayhem strikes and something falls on your vehicle, like a tree branch, then comprehensive coverage is what will cover that damage.  Other acts of nature would also be covered such as hail storms or wind storms that blow things on top of your car.  Vandalism and fire are also situations that are covered by comprehensive coverage.

You don’t have to have either of those coverages unless you have a loan on your car.  If you do have a loan on your car, your lienholder, the lender, will require that you carry both comprehensive and collision coverage on your vehicle.  They will require that your insurance send them proof of that coverage.  If your insurance ever lapses, your insurance agency will notify your lender that is has lapsed.  If this happens, your lender can add their own insurance on to your loan amount and this is very expensive.  They are smart and they want to protect their asset.  They understand that if your car is wrecked, you are not going to want to pay for it.

People who do not have loans on their cars are not required to carry this insurance on their vehicles.  The danger of not having it is that in the event you are in accident and it is your fault, you will not have any coverage on that vehicle.  You will need to pay for the repairs or replacement yourself.  You will need to decide if you can afford to replace your vehicle yourself should something happen to it.

You could have a situation arise where your vehicle is damaged but it wasn’t your fault but no one else’s insurance will cover the damages either.  You could have your car parked at a mall and when you finish your shopping and return to it you could find the whole side dented in. Someone could hit your car and drive away.  Now you have significant damage to your car and though you are not at fault, it would be your collision coverage that would pay for it.

These coverages tend to be the expensive ones to carry on your policy.  This is because the premium for these coverages is based on the value of your automobile.  The newer and fancier your car, the higher the premium for these coverages will be.  Both of these coverages carry a deductible amount.  You can choose the deductible amount and the higher the deductible the lower the premium for the coverage.  A $250 deductible would be more expensive than a $500 deductible.  Were you to have a loss of $1,200, your deductible of $500 would be subtracted from the amount due to you for the repairs and you would receive $700 toward your expenses.

5. The dangers of not having any UM or UIM coverage

The last danger we will discuss is not having UM or UIM coverage on your policy.  Both of these are optional to your policy.  Um refers to uninsured motorist and UIM refers to underinsured motorist.  Underinsured motorist applies when you are hurt by another driver and they are not carrying insurance on their vehicle or it may be a hit and run situation and you don’t even know who hit you.  Underinsured motorist coverage applies when you are hurt to an extent where your case is worth in excess of the amount of liability coverage that the at-fault driver carries. The dangers of not having those forms of coverage is that you can be hurt by a hit and run or by one of the thousands of Utah drivers that carry inadequate insurance on their vehicles.  Think about it, the best person to protect your interests and your body is you. Don’t count on somebody else to do that.  The very people who are irresponsible enough to choose the lowest possible limits on their policy to save a few bucks are probably the very ones that will be driving irresponsibly on the roads and causing accidents.  You don’t want to rely on some bad driver out there that they will be wise enough to carry proper limits on their policy.

Attorneys see auto injury cases all the time where the injured person has sustained life-changing injuries and the at-fault driver has the lowest possible limits or liability or was driving illegally with no insurance.  This is where the UM/UIM coverage can make all the difference. This coverage is really very inexpensive and well worth the few dollars that it adds to your premium.

Take the time to discuss each of these coverages with your insurance agent and be sure that you have adequate insurance for your needs now and in the future. Don’r drive with Utah State minimum insurance.

McMullin Injury Law is in Southern Utah and we are here to help. Give us a call at 435-673-9990. Our primary focus is helping car accident victims in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.

This article and others on this site do not constitute a legal opinion or advice. Interactions on this website do not create an attorney-client relationship and do not serve as a replacement for consulting with an attorney. McMullin Injury Law expressly disclaims all liability relating to actions taken based on contents of this site. This article is for general education purposes, if you are seeking legal advice, contact an attorney. 

St. George Attorney: What Happens to the Person who Hurt me?

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St. George Attorney: What Happens to the Person who Hurt me?

Question:  What happens to the person, persons, or company who caused my injury?

St. George Attorneys Answer:

After your injury occurs and your claim is filed, the person or entity that is responsible will be contacted by their insurance company as part of the initial investigation.  Either the responsible party or a representative of the company that caused your injury will give statements to the claims adjustor for their insurance carrier. These statements are recorded and transcribed so that there are written records to be accessed later.

After this first investigation, there is little to no contact between the insurance company and the entity that caused your injury. The insurance company does not keep their insured informed day to day about the progression of your claim. The person or entity that caused your injury is likely going on about their daily life, knowing that the case will likely be settled by their insurance company with no further information needed from them.

What happens to the person who caused my injury if the case does not settle?

If you, your attorney, and the insurance company do not settle the case, it will proceed to litigation or lawsuit. At this point, the insured will be contacted by the insurance company again. The insurance company will assign an attorney to represent the tortfeasor (person, persons, or company that caused your injury). The tortfeasor will participate in the litigation process and must cooperate with the attorney assigned to defend them.  In this case, keep in mind that the lawsuit is brought against the entity that caused your injury, not the insurance company. However the insurance company will likely pay the verdict.

What if the tortfeasor was not honest or accurate about how the incident happened?

It is unfortunate that in many cases, the person responsible for an injury may fabricate or exaggerate some details about the incident. Many people will deny liability even when blame, negligence, or wrong-doing is clearly apparent. It is just human nature. You can rely on your attorney in this circumstance. Your attorney has dealt with many cases where the tortfeasors were not truthful about the facts of the incident. Sometimes, the insurance carrier will believe their insured or their witnesses and deny your claim, no matter what evidence you have collected and presented with you attorney’s help.  In these cases, a lawsuit is necessary. Your attorney will help you through the process of litigation and perhaps even trial.

However, in most cases, the truth comes out eventually. Your attorney will be sure to provide the insurance company with all of the needed evidence so that your claim will settle.

Can I contact the person or entity that is responsible for my injuries?

Again, the simple answer is No! Any contact with the tortfeasor could ruin or jeopardize favorable settlement of your case. Even an innocent comment made off hand could be misinterpreted and ruin your credibility.  Any statement can be used against you. Never contact the tortfeasor, even if they have not told the truth about the incident.

St. George Attorney: What will happen with the insurance policy on the driver that hit me?

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St. George Attorney: What will happen with the insurance policy on the driver that hit me?

Question: What will happen with the insurance policy on the driver that hit me?

St. George Attorney Answer:

Once the other party’s insurance company has been made aware of your claim, the will create a file about you and the details of your case. A claims adjustor will be designated for your file, but a claims manager or supervisor may assign different adjustors to your claim throughout its duration.

Your attorney will keep in contact with the adjustor for your file with the insurance company. In addition to the investigation done by your St. George lawyer, there will also be an investigation made by the insurance adjustor regarding:

  • The party at fault in the case.
  • Your own fault (if any) in your injuries, otherwise known as comparative or contributory negligence.
  • The scene of the incident.
  • Police reports, DMV reports, and any other reports by experts that pertain to the case.

After investigating the facts of your case, the insurance claims adjustor will contact your lawyer and request any medical reports and reports from other professionals regarding your injuries.  The claims adjustor will also review documentation about your lost wages in relation to your injury.  Mainly, the adjustor will need to obtain accurate records of your medical bills, pharmacy bills, and any other bills in relation to your injury and healing. For this reason, it is crucial for you to keep careful records of your medical bills, lost wages, and any out-of-pocket expenses due to your incident or injury.

How can a company decide how much my pain is worth in cash?

The answer to this question is a bit complicated.   Initially, the claims supervisor or claims manager will determine a set amount that will be reserved for your case’s value.  This number is called the “reserves” for your case. This value may change as your case progresses and other information is gathered. In serious cases the reserves value may equal the limits of the policy of the insured, or “policy limits.”  Policy limits are the maximum liability limit detailed in the insurance policy of the person or entity that caused your injury.

As your case is prepared by your St. George attorney, the insurance company will keep records of your medical expenses, lost income from work, and other information, just as you and your lawyer will. In addition, the insurance company will take into account the quality of the evidence you and your attorney have provided against their insured client. This includes the quality of the testimony of all witnesses, the amount of any liability on your part, and any other factors such as existing injuries.

If you have experienced any injury to the same part of your body in the past, the insurance company will require medical documentation regarding that injury and its status prior to the incident.  Throughout these communications, your attorney will stay in contact with the insurance carrier so that you are aware of all important information relevant to the case, and everything that the insurance carrier is considering.

Do I talk to the other driver’s insurance?

The short answer is no! You should never under any circumstances communicate with the insurance company once you have an attorney.  Contacting the other party’s insurance company could ruin your entire case with one simple question or comment, however unintentional. Your lawyer should communicate with the insurance for you using their expertise.

Additionally, it is against the law in most states for the insurance company of the other party to contact you once you have legal representation.

Do I talk to my own insurance?

There may be some times when it is appropriate to communicate with your own insurance company, whether it is health insurance, medical spending insurance, or automobile insurance. But you should always check with your attorney first about making contact with your insurance carrier. Never contact your insurance company without getting approval from your lawyer first.

What if the other driver’s insurance denies my claim?

If liability clearly falls on the insurance carriers’ insured, and all the facts are well established and reliable in your case, the company will try very hard to settle your claim.  But your case may be disputed if it meets these criteria:

  • If the fault rests with an outside party, or someone other than the company’s insured. For example, if you or anyone else involved in the incident contributed to your injuries, the insurance company will make a dispute.
  • If the insurance company does not believe you are injured, or injured as severely as you claim to be. This is why all medical records, hospital bills, and lost income are crucial to demonstrating the extent of your injury and its impact on you.
  • If you or your witnesses have falsified any testimony, exaggerated, or fabricated the nature and extent of your injury or the way the injury occurred when the incident happened.

How do I make sure to win my case?

Most importantly, you must do all you can to recover and heal from your injury as quickly as possible.   An insurance company is more likely to find you credible if you are active in trying to recover from your injuries.  You must follow all doctors’ orders, advice from your physical therapist, and any other medical professionals that are consulted to help you recover.

Additionally, the insurance company is likely to believe you and your claim if you have careful documentation of your injuries and treatment.  Exact and accurate medical bills and reports, and reports of wage loss information from your employer that is not exaggerated or open to interpretation will be of utmost importance in settling your claim.

Furthermore, insurance companies often settle claims more easily and efficiently with clients that have an active attorney on their side. If you are active in cooperating with your attorney’s advice, the insurance company is likely to find you and your claim credible and settle it as efficiently as possible.