Who can make an injury claim?

You need to be able to answer this question before you make a claim against the insurance company.

Injury claims can be made if there is a vehicle accident caused by some else's fault.
This statement is simple enough, but does not really cover everyone that can make this claim.If you are driving and you cause an accident, the people on the other vehicle will be able to make a bodily injury request or claim against you.

Also, your passengers can each make a bodily injury petition against you. This includes anyone, even if that person is also a policy holder. So if you are in a vehicle accident and your spouse is injured, your spouse would have a bodily injury claim against you. It would not matter that both spouses are listed as policy holders.

Your kids can also have bodily injury petition against you, the driver. If your kids are injured because you cause and accident (or you were partially at fault), then they would have a bodily injury petition or claim against your policy.

There are other circumstances where you can make a bodily injury claim against your own policy. You can make an uninsured motorist bodily injury claim (explained in detail here), or you can be a passenger of your own auto.

Remember that the insurance policy defines �insured� as anyone driving the vehicle. Therefore, if you are a passenger of your own auto, and you are injured because of the negligence of the driver, you can have a bodily injury request against your own policy. Your insurance company would have a contractual duty with the insured (the driver).

Since what the insurance company is doing is buying a lawsuit for less money than they think you would get in a court of law, then they would depreciate or evaluate this type of claim for a lesser value. Why? Because how many people would actually present a lawsuit against their spouse, parent, or friend.

Insurance companies will try to offer settlements by paying the medical bills (which are covered by Personal Injury Protection Coverage �PIP� anyway), and give them a few dollars to sign a release. Many times the release will be in the form of a recording, or simply in the back of the check. You must sign the release if you want the check.

This offer of settlements is often for much less value than they should be. The reality is that the insurance company knows that the injured party will not present a lawsuit against the driver.

A more curious situation occurs when the children on belong to the driver of the car that caused the accident. If this is the case, then the insurance company would have settled the bodily injury claims that the children have with the same person that caused the accident.

You cannot make a bodily injury petition against yourself. Someone else must be at fault for your injury for you to have any recourse of compensation. Equally the person driving must be at least 1% at fault before any one can make an injury claim against her/him.

Every single person that can make a bodily injury claim against the driver will be considered as an exposure against the policy. This means that the insurance company will put money in reserve to settle the bodily injury claims.

Get a great Bodily Injury E-book for more key information.

Read about injury claim reserves and how they affect your settlement evaluation.

Injured? Request a free personal injury case evaluation right now!