If you’ve been damaged in a car wreck by someone else’s negligence, you probably have a personal injury claim. The types of insurance and their limits vary widely:
✦ North Carolina requires personal vehicles (cars, trucks, SUVs) to carry only $30,000 of liability insurance. This is what covers damages for personal injury: medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering;
✦ You may see this written as $30,000/ $60,000, meaning one person can recover up to, but no more than, $30,000 in a single wreck, and no matter how many claims there are, the insurance company doesn’t have to pay more than $60,000 total for one wreck, and those numbers can be divided in any way, so long as no one gets more than $30,000 and the total payout is no more than $60,000 for everyone combined;
✦ North Carolina only requires $15,000 of coverage for property damage, regardless of the number of claims involved;
✦ North Carolina only requires $30,000 of uninsured motorist coverage;
✦ There is NO requirement in North Carolina for any underinsured coverage or medical payments coverage
✦ It is possible to purchase MUCH more insurance coverage, but you must actually ask to buy it, and you need to ask around both for rates and for how much coverage you may need;
✦ If the defendant doesn’t have enough insurance to pay for all your damages, your own underinsured coverage can “stack” on top of the liability coverage, which is true for both personal injuries and property damage;
✦ While you can buy underinsured property damage coverage, you can’t buy uninsured property coverage, so if the other driver has no insurance, your own collision coverage will have to pay for your property damage;
✦ “Gap” coverage makes up the difference between the available property damage insurance and the debt for your car; for instance, if you owe $20,000, the defendant has minimum limits of $15,000, and you have gap coverage, then that will make up the difference of the remaining $5,000. HOWEVER, gap coverage is not required by law, and is a separate policy of insurance that is NOT included in standard automobile policies
Insurance for commercial vehicles can be much more, or shockingly less, depending on what the vehicle is used for, what it hauls (if it’s a truck), and whether it’s used in interstate commerce. Liability insurance information is not a public record, so it can be very difficult to get all the information you need, unless you hire an attorney. The lawyers at the Miller Law Group have over 50 years of combined experience in handling personal injury claims and lawsuits. Contact the firm today for a free consultation. We’re the Miller Law Group, and we’ve got your back.
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