Pennsylvania Injury Law Report : Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Stuart Carpey Law Firm : Auto Accidents & Product Liability : Pennsylvania Injury Law Report

PennDOT doesn’t say much in terms of helping consumers decide how much car insurance coverage to purchase. That's a problem for consumers.

We’ve always recommending buying more than the minimal limits!

Every state has a minimum required amount of auto insurance. Depending on the state, the costs will vary. In Pennsylvania, the state required minimums for liability auto insurance are $15,000 of coverage for injury or death of a single person, $30,000 of coverage for injury or death of multiple people, and $5,000 of property insurance.

According to the PennDOT website, "you are in compliance" with the law if you have liability insurance in the following amounts:
• $15,000 for injury or death of one person in an accident
• $30,000 for injury or death of more than one person in an accident
• $5,000 for damage to property of another person

Simply put, you should purchase more than the minimum coverage required by law. You should buy as much as you can afford.  Some insurance companies, although surely not all,  do a better job  than PennDOT does of explaining the coverages you need. It's inexcusable that PennDOT's web site is so lacking in this regard, particularly since the Pennsylvania Insurance Department does is somewhat better job of explaining to consumers the various different types of coverage you can purchase when buying car insurance. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department web site even goes on to state "having the right insurance coverage may prevent you from suffering a large financial loss in the event of an automobile accident."  We couldn't agree more.

In other words, don't skimp on your car insurance coverage.  We would only hope that someone from PennDOT would look at the Insurance Department's web site. Changes to PennDOT's website are needed to give consumers something more than "buy the minimum legal insurance coverage." That's just bad advice.

Optional, yet highly recommended additions to the state minimum are full tort coverage, rather than limited tort, as well as uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This is separate and apart from liability coverage. For more information about these coverages, go to the Insurance Department's web site or order my book on the subject.

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Since 1984 bodily injury limits (BI) on a typical automobile insurance policy has been mandated at $15,000/$30,000. BI coverage is the coverage that provides financial protection to the at fault driver in an accident. 

The $15,000 number reflects the maximum amount of coverage the injured party can collect from the at fault driver's policy of insurance (if their injurIes warrant that amount). The $30,000 figure is the amount that any combined number of injured people can collect; for example, if the at fault driver injures more than one person in the same car accident.

Maryland has just increased their limits to $40,000/$60,000, up from $20,000/$40,000. This change was long overdue for Marylanders. Our hope is that the Pennsylvania legislature will pay heed to what their colleagues in Maryland have done and increase Pennsylvania's mandated BI limits. In fact most states have limits above Pennsylvania's $15,000/$30,000 amount.

To put the $15,000/$30,000 BI limits into perspective, consider what a dollar bought you in 1984.

• Average Cost of new house $86,730.00
• Average Income per year $21,600.00
• Average Monthly Rent $350.00
• Movie Ticket $2.50
• 1 gallon of gas $1.10
• Dodge RAM 50 Truck $8,995.00

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What's the first thing the other guy's insurance company representative will want from you after a car accident?  He'll want to take your recorded statement about the accident and your injuries.  He'll also want you to sign a medical authorization so that the insurance company can get all of your medical records all the way back to when you were in elementary school. He might even offer you money to settle your case, and in exchange he'll want a "full and final release."

Some  Pennsylvania accident victims are catching on. When the adjuster asks them for a statement, they turn it around on the insurance adjuster and ask if they can take the statement of the insured driver who was at fault . (Of course the insurance company won't allow that). 

One of my clients (who came to me after she got tired of the shenanigans of a State Farm investigator) told me that when the State Farm investigator started asking her about prior accidents and  injuries, she insisted upon knowing how much bodily injury coverage limits the State Farm insured carried. Now that's clever.

I have another client who told me when the Nationwide adjuster insisted that his car be repaired at a "certified" Nationwide repair shop, my client began asking what type of money on used parts Nationwide would save if the car was repaired at the "certified" repair shop as compared to another auto repair shop not "certified" by Nationwide. At that point the Nationwide adjuster backed off and explained that my client could get the car repaired where he wanted and Nationwide would have to pay no matter what the cost.

Here's the jingles we all hear on television and see in print media.

Allstate: "You're in good hands"

State Farm: "State Farm is there"

Nationwide: "Nationwide is on your side"

Geico has the gecko and the Neanderthal.

Progressive has the catchy TV commercials with Flo. All Flo promises is what the Progressive policy provides for; that is, what the insured paid for.

But, now more than ever consumers need to realize that these companies have no interest in protecting you following an accident. They are profit driven, nothing more and nothing less.

If you're not sure what to do if you've been involved in an accident and the insurance adjuster is knocking at your door, seek out the advice of a qualified personal injury attorney, whether it's our firm or another firm. There are plenty of good law firms in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas who handle personal injury cases. The point is, be smart. Don't rely on what the insurance company is telling you.

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Anybody who is crazy enough to lie on their car insurance application about where they live in order to get lower rates has to read this article written by Diane Marshall of the Philadelphia Inquirer this week. In Ms. Marshall's words,

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett's continuing investigation into insurance fraud has resulted in another round of arrests - 24 people accused of falsely claiming to be state residents in order to obtain lower rates on their automobiles.

Using a phony address for lower rates is known as "rate evasion." Urban areas like Philadelphia have higher rates than suburban areas, because of more accidents. So, the insurance companies can charge higher rates.  In the Inquirer article, most of those arrested were from the New York City area claiming suburban Philadelphia addresses. 

A better idea for getting lower rates on your auto policy? Shop around. Start by going to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department website and taking a look at all the insurance carriers who write auto insurance in Pennsylvania. Then give them a call to see what their rates are for the geographic area where you live.

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