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Someone hit my car – Now what?

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It is my firm belief that motor vehicle collisions are avoidable. They are almost always the result of someone’s carelessness or misstep somewhere along the way. Whether a crash resulted from a vehicle not being properly maintained, or a sleepy or fatigued driver, car crashes can be avoided. However, what if you do everything right and still your vehicle is hit by another car in a situation that was entirely not your fault?

You can imagine a driver going the speed limit or even slower, or with the flow of traffic, and then that driver stops after a light ahead of them turns yellow then red, or other cars slow down or stop because of traffic backing up. This is an extremely common scenario. It is so common, in fact, that most people don’t even give it any thought. It’s just part of the world we live in. No one thinks about it unless someone traveling through this transportation system we are all accustomed to doesn’t pay attention, or looks at their phone when they should be looking at the road, other cars, or hazards up ahead, and hits someone or another car. This of course, disrupts everything. It disrupts movement on the roads, people’s schedules, and worst of all, it can cause someone to be seriously injured or killed. In Illinois alone, over 1000 people died in traffic crashes in 2019. Each one of those people lost, should be alive and with us today, yet sadly, they were lost in preventable tragedies. When this occurs, the victim or their family is left to pick up the pieces.

I’m writing this series of blog posts about the aftermath of motor vehicle crashes to let people know what they might expect to encounter if they were unfortunate to have been involved in a collision that was no fault of their own, and so that people can better understand how things work with car insurance, traffic tickets that are issued when a crash occurs, medical bills, and the legal system, or the system of justice where people seek to make themselves whole. Although when faced with a permanent injury or the death of a loved one, that isn’t actually possible because we simply can’t change the past, but we try our hardest to make things right.

Some people may be surprised to learn that in Illinois, the person who was injured by another driver who was actually at fault for a crash will be responsible for securing their own medical treatment. In other words, although the person responsible for the damages caused in a crash should ultimately compensate the person who they injured for reasonable medical treatment related to those injuries, this doesn’t happen right away, or while the injured party is getting care. Compensation from the responsible party in this case would happen when the case is finally resolved by settlement or a verdict, if the case were to be decided in court by a trial.

Additionally, even though a crash was not your fault, you may benefit from opening a claim with your own insurance company relating to medical payments or possible coverage if the other driver who caused the collision had no insurance or not enough insurance. In reality, there are numerous aspects of the aftermath of a motor vehicle crash that many hard-working people, who have had little to no experience with the legal system might be surprised to learn about, or just wouldn’t have known how best to navigate.

To be sure, all the answers to the question of what to do if you’re the victim of a crash can’t possibly be contained in an online article, or even a whole series of them. There is no substitute in these cases for a consultation with an experienced professional. I highly recommend seeking advice from an experienced attorney with a good reputation who practices in the area of personal injury as soon as is reasonably possible after a crash. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the information contained here and the posts that will follow will give people more of an insight into how the system works in Illinois. Please stay tuned and be safe.

When you’re buying car insurance make sure to read the fine print

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Have you ever bought a car you could barely afford, or thought you paid too much? Nobody wants to drive around in a piece of junk, and for many Americans, your car is part of your identity. So, picking just the right one is important. But then you have to figure out how you’re going to pay for it. Maybe you’ve saved up enough cash to purchase your dream ride. Perhaps, you just want to lease. A lot of us get financing from a bank. You put some amount down and drive away with a payment you have to make every month. But that’s not the end of the story. Now you have to get insurance. Everyone knows, you can’t drive off the lot without insurance coverage. Yet, it might not be the first thing on your mind when you’re excited about a new car, or one that is at least new to you. 

In Illinois, it’s mandatory to have at least $25,000 in liability coverage. That is, if you cause a crash, you have to have at least that much coverage on your policy. To be more precise, it’s $25,000 per person and a total of $50,000 per incident. In other words, supposing an Illinois driver caused a crash that resulted in three people being injured. If none of those people bore any responsibility for their injuries, there would have to be a determination on how to divide the $50,000 insurance policy limits of the at-fault driver. If the damages those three people suffered combined to an amount in excess of $50,000, that determination can be complicated. 

We haven’t even mentioned property damage yet. If that car you just bought gets wrecked, how will you pay to get it fixed or to buy a new one if it’s totaled? Illinois doesn’t require you to buy collision coverage. So, if your car is damaged in a crash and you only have liability coverage, you may be left to fend for yourself. However, even if you do have collision coverage, it may not be enough to cover your loss. 

Back in 2008, the mortgage foreclosure crisis was in the news and we all kept hearing a lot about people that were underwater in their homes. What that meant was that people had borrowed more money to buy a house than the house was now worth. So, if they couldn’t pay the monthly note, selling the property wouldn’t fix the problem because they wouldn’t’ get enough from the sale to pay all the money they borrowed back to the bank. They would then be left with no house and an unpaid debt they were still responsible for. 

The same principal works with cars. Only, the reason why you could be left paying back the bank for a car you no longer have isn’t because you didn’t pay your bills. You could have paid every single bill on time and been the most responsible and safe driver. If someone else causes a crash that isn’t your fault, for example, you get rear ended at a stop light after you have been waiting at the red light for three minutes and the person behind you smashes into your rear bumper because he was looking at his phone, having a car that is worth less than the amount you owe the bank will leave you having to pay off a debt for nothing. 

This is because most auto collision policies only cover the value of the car. Supposing you buy a used car that you really wanted, but you don’t have the cash to buy it outright, so you borrow the money from your local back. The bank paid the dealer so you can have use of the car, but the bank still owns that vehicle until you pay them back. Add interest to the deal and the fact that your car continually depreciates in value and you could get into a situation where the fair market value of that car is less than how much you still owe the bank. If that car gets totaled, even if you pay all your bills on time and the crash was not your fault, if your insurance company contract says you only get how much the car was worth at the time of the crash, you still owe on that loan from the bank. 

So what do you do? The obvious answer is to buy a car you don’t have to borrow a ton to get. However, if you’ve already found yourself in the situation described above, talk to your lender. See if you can cut some kind of deal. Talk to the dealership too and see if they can either roll the existing loan into a new finance deal or come up with some other solution within the allowable rules that will allow your bank to help you out. Most importantly, is read your insurance contract and know your money. Educate yourself on exactly how the payment structure will work, how much the car is actually worth, and what your insurance policy covers. Some insurance companies may offer a policy that will allow you to replace your car. Find out. And if you have questions, ask. And lastly, be safe. 

Hidden Dangers of Construction Zones

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The holidays are approaching. If you’ve spent any time in the Woodfield Mall area recently, you would know that there is a lot of road construction going on, making an already heavy-traffic area even more congested, especially on the weekends when the shopping faithful are out in full force. If that isn’t frustrating enough, you may have also heard about the driver who crashed his car into the mall and drove around a bit before being taken into custody by police. It just goes to show that there are some things in life that you can’t control, like the actions of others. When it comes to traffic safety there are things you can look out for that will hopefully make your next trip to the mall safer and more bearable. 

Avoid Road Rage

Everyone has seen people lose their cool while driving. Maybe you’re guilty of it yourself.  Remember, even if people can see your hand signals, they likely can’t hear what words you are screaming at them. If you have kids in the car, they will certainly hear them. Sometimes hand gestures are appropriate while driving, like waiving thank you to another motorist who lets you merge in front of them, or letting someone else know you are waiting to let them through. However, expressing your disdain for someone probably won’t help them learn any kind of lesson and will only cause your own blood pressure to rise. The best bet is to try and stay calm. Focusing your attention on one guy you think might be a jerk can leave you at risk of getting distracted and might make you miss other hazards. It’s much better to keep your cool and keep your attention focused on avoiding collisions.

Look for Construction Vehicles 

There are all kinds of dump trucks, backhoes, pickup trucks, and other heavy machinery roaming around construction areas. Sometimes they leave the coned-off sections of the road and meander through traffic. If you’re not looking, suddenly a bulldozer can jump out in front of you. It’s worth it to scan the portions of the road that are blocked off to normal traffic as you look forward in anticipation of other vehicles maneuvering in front of you. Often times, workers will signal to drivers to let them know when a work vehicle is attempting to cross or enter the road. It would be a mistake to always rely on that. You can’t expect everyone else to always do safe and reasonable things, but you can take steps to help ensure your own safety. This is one of them. 

Take Your Time 

Eventually, we all get where we’re going. It’s best to plan for the worst and take your time. This is especially true for shopping trips. The value of your life and limbs far exceeds any stuff you can buy. If you put things into perspective, parking spots are not worth fighting over. Merging ahead of that one guy who has been irritating you since the last stop sign isn’t worth it. Plus, (parents will get this one), if you are less stressed out from your perilous journey to the mall, you are less likely to lose it when your child inevitably begs you to buy another worthless piece of plastic they will forget about five minutes after returning home. You may show up a little later, but you’ll glide through the mall, sipping your latte, skillfully deflecting your kids’ outright obnoxious demands to get them more stuff they don’t need. Take solace in knowing that even if you have to sit in the car longer you can always drop a few quarters into one of those mall massage chairs and let those automated rollers knead the frustration away. 

Why cheap car insurance hurts you in the long run

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Each month, we take stock of the most popular posts on our blog. Invariably, one is more popular than all the others: “Here’s why your car insurance is going up in 2016.”

Granted we’re not living in 2016 anymore, but based on the evidence we can assume that people remain interested because the cost of auto insurance continues to rise each year.

Unfortunately, that means consumers make short-term decisions to save money, and that’s what brings us to the issue of substandard insurance policies.

We’ve written quite a bit about state mandates, which requires all drivers in Illinois to carry minimum liability coverage of $25,000. Substandard insurance is primarily defined as a policy that offers the bare minimum at relatively low premiums. The problem with that, however, is that substandard policies are designed to make you believe the minimum is enough to protect you when it isn’t.

One reason is bodily injury, which is practically impossible to predict. Depending on the severity of the injury, you could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, where $25,000 is barely a drop in the bucket. We’re talking the cost of an ambulance, emergency surgery, a long hospital stay to recover from injuries. Those costs can be significant and financially paralyzing.

Another reason is related to your long-term health, such as your ability to perform a job, whether you’ve lost work, whether you actively participate in the community, and whether you suffer from a terminal injury.

In situations like the one above, insurance is about the only thing protecting you and others from dire situations, both health-wise and financially. You’re also making it easy for insurance companies to simply walk away from the situation when it’s no longer a legal responsibility.

Take this example. A man with a substandard policy crashes into a minivan hauling three kids. Two of them become seriously injured. As the at-fault driver with the substandard policy, your insurance is responsible for picking up the medical bills. But based on your policy, only $25,000 is collectable. Now let’s imagine that the kids’ medical bills cost upwards of $200,000. If attorneys get involved, you could be responsible for the $175,000 difference (and possibly much more) depending on the circumstances of the crash.

Let’s say you lose that lawsuit. Then it’s a matter of duking it out with your insurance company to make up for the difference, which means you’re fighting two battles, both of which you could end up losing. Badly. The above is just one example of the pitfalls of opting for substandard insurance policy.

People often ask us what types of insurance policies we recommend and whether it’s enough to protect them in times of crisis. It’s hard to give a good answer because every person is working under different circumstances. But what we often recommend is that drivers take time to look at their policy, understand it and ask questions. Discovering where you might be vulnerable is worth the effort, as is the protection that comes with a quality insurance policy.

Understanding your insurance policy

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Associate Attorney Tiffannie Kennedy breaks it down

Insurance can be confusing, hard to navigate, and increasingly frustrating when you don’t know the terminology. Here’s an example: Illinois law requires all drivers to carry a minimum of $25,000 in liability coverage for bodily injury per person; $50,000 for bodily injury per accident; and $20,000 for property damage. Illinois Law further requires drivers to purchase Uninsured Motorist Coverage, with limits equal to Bodily Injury Liability Coverage limits, unless you select lower limits in writing. The minimum Uninsured Motorists Coverage limits allowed by law are $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident.

So, let’s break that down based on the following scenario: Mom, Dad and their two children are heading out of town for the weekend. A distracted driver doesn’t see that traffic has suddenly stopped and rear-ends the new family car. The crash causes extensive property damage, and Mom is suddenly rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Dad and the two kids appear to be in good shape. But once the adrenalin subsides, Dad experiences back and neck pain, which requires two steroid injections and six months of physical therapy. When all is said and done, Mom’s medical bills are $15,000 and Dads are $30,000. The family vehicle is a complete loss.

Assuming the insurance company accepts fault, the distracted driver’s minimum insurance policy should cover all of Mom’s medical bills and $25,000 of Dad’s medical bills. But there’s $50,000 total—and the medical bills in this scenario total $45,000. So why doesn’t the at-fault driver’s insurance cover everything? Because the policy only pays $25,000 for each person, meaning Dad needs to find a way to account for the other $5,000. As for that new family vehicle? While the outstanding loan on the car is $29,000, the distracted driver’s policy in this case is only paying $20,000, meaning Mom and Dad are on the hook for the additional $9,000; add that to unpaid medical bills and the victims here now owe $14,000!

Let’s change this scenario a bit and pretend the distracted driver was in between jobs and decided not to pay her insurance premium one month, making her an uninsured driver. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad are putting two kids through school and can only afford the cheapest insurance policy—the minimum required by law. So, since the driver has no insurance, the entire financial loss falls to Mom and Dad’s insurance company. Mom’s medical bills still get paid, but Dad still has that extra $5,000 in excess medical bills over the policy limit of $20,000, and the totaled car isn’t being covered by anyone’s insurance policy.

Let’s change the scenario one last time. This time, Mom, Dad and our distracted driver all have the minimum required coverage, but Mom and Dad have elected to purchase underinsured insurance coverage (something not required by law). Mom and Dad’s underinsured policy limits are $50,000 in liability coverage for bodily injury per person; $100,000 for bodily injury per accident; and $25,000 for property damage. In Illinois, underinsured coverage must be higher than the at-fault driver’s basic coverage for it to apply. In this last scenario, the at-fault driver’s insurance policy would pay for all of Mom’s bills, most of Dad’s bills and part of the vehicle damage, however the underinsured coverage would kick in and pay for the rest.

Based on the hypothetical situations above, you can see why attorneys are important in cases such as this. Insurance can be a minefield of complex contractual jargon, some of which the insurance companies don’t fully understand. It gets even more complex when injuries are involved, some of which can be chronic and even terminal. You need someone to protect your interests, and that’s exactly what our attorneys here at Levinson and Stefani do for you. Have insurance questions? Reach out to our office, we’re here to help.

Video: How car insurance can help cyclists in times of crisis

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Your coverage isn’t limited to auto crashes alone

Please note: Transcript edited for clarity, brevity, and readability.  

Why is car insurance important for cyclists?

It may seem counterintuitive, but if you’re riding your bike and [the driver who hits you] has car insurance, that makes it straightforward, meaning their car insurance, is going to cover your injuries. Where your car insurance comes into play: If you get hit by a car that doesn’t have insurance, your insurance can step in [the place of the uninsured driver].

Can you provide an example?

This pops up most often in two scenarios. The first one is a hit-and-run. if you’re riding your bike and somebody hits you and takes off, your car insurance can step in and cover your medical bills related to your injuries. The second scenario is if you’re hit by a car and the driver has no car insurance. In both of those scenarios your car insurance can help.

Do you think cyclists are unaware that car insurance can help them in a crash situation, and if so why?

When most people think car insurance, they think of a car crash, meaning they’re in a car. But your car insurance covers you whether you’re in a car or not. One important factor is that you likely have what’s called a Medical Payment Provision or MedPay, which means the other driver’s insurance will pay up to a certain amount of your medical bills so you don’t have to worry about submitting bills to your health insurance or getting doctor’s bills paid right away—whether it’s an ambulance, emergency room visit, a visit to your doctor. On the flip side, your car insurance can cover the first level of your medical bills.

What should cyclists do in a hit-and-run situation?

The first thing you need to do is make sure you get medical attention. Beyond that, you want to make sure that you file a police report.  That’s something that your insurance will often require. Give as much detail as you can. If you’re able, see if there are witnesses. The police may be able to do that, but they may not. A good attorney will likely send an investigator to see if there are surveillance cameras, whether it’s city red-light cameras or stores in the area. In a hit-and-run situation, you want to clearly document and prove that you were in a crash that was somebody else’s fault.

What are some of the most common problems that cyclists face in these types of cases?

The biggest problem is they wait too long. Most states have what’s called a statute of limitations. It’s basically a deadline to file a lawsuit. Here in Illinois, for example, it’s generally two years. There are some exceptions. One of the other mistakes: if the injured party can identify the car that hit them and they don’t file a police report, or they don’t exchange information. You want to treat a bike injury as if you were driving a car. You want to exchange contact information, insurance information, and you want to contact the police so there’s a police report. Get some pictures, if possible.

What are some things that cyclists can do to protect themselves?

I think most people are aware of the GoPro craze. This is a big issue with bicycles, especially because it’s not uncommon for drivers to blame cyclist. It happens regularly. I think a lot people of people have a perception that cyclists are crazy, unsafe, ignore all the rules. Something like a helmet camera can provide incredible evidence to prove that you weren’t doing anything wrong, and that the driver is the one at fault.

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