Question for auto insurance experts

[mshunter77]

I know we have some insurance guys on here so here is my Question. My teenage daughter was in a wreck as a passenger. Her boyfriend rear ended someone and she had no issues from that, then they were rear ended by someone else and when that happened she hit her head on the windshield and her knee on the dash. We took her into the ER to have her head injury checked and that was all good. Now we are waiting for an appointment with ortho doctor to check her knee as she still has a little pain in it 3 weeks later. We got a call from progressive who is the insurance for the person that hit them from behind and the lady said that they and nationwide (boyfriends insurance) were going to split the medical bills and they offered us a settlement or we could go to court. Then we got a call from nationwide saying the same thing. Obviously we have not accepted any settlement yet as we are waiting for results from the ortho visit. So my question is once we accept the settlement I assume they will pay no medical cost after that point. Is that correct? They have not given my wife a direct answer on that yet.

[REBEL DUCK]

Request a dec page from both so you know the liability limits your working with. Don’t sign anything yet and wait on offer. Don’t hire a lawyer yet unless you want to give away 40%. Your holding the cards be patient. Also if she has medical ins they will pay.

I am not a lawyer or claims adjuster. You need a claims adjuster to help you with this. Maybe one is on the site or if you have a helpful agent maybe he can let you talk to yours.

[gps4]

do not consider settlement until she has been released from her physician's care and has healed as much as she is going to heal.

have all medical bills submitted to your health insurance for payment. They will likely decline payment until you show them you have exhausted any medical payments coverage available to your daughter under the policy covering the car she was in. once you show them there is no medical payments coverage or that you have exhausted it, they will likely send you a letter saying they will process and pay the claims, but will have a lien against any recovery you have against the at-fault driver(s).

talk to the insurance adjuster for the company covering the car she was in and see what the medical payments coverage will be. they should pay this for any medical expenses (up to their med pay limits) regardless of who's at fault. med pay is general not a settlement...you submit the bills and the auto insurance company pays them directly, or you pay the bill and the auto insurance reimburses you when you send them the bill and proof of payment

you can ask the insurance adjusters for their declarations page showing available liability coverage for your daughter's host vehicle and for the car that rear ended it. insurance adjusters will probably tell you it is against their policy to disclose coverage limits and won't give it to you. the boyfriend's parent will likely provide you with the insurance coverage information for their car.

Also, keep in mind that as an innocent guest passenger, your daughter will likely be covered under the host vehicle's uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. host vehicle UIM stacks with your family UIM and comes into play when calculating whether your daughter was injured by an underinsured motorist and eligible for UIM coverage.. If a surgery is in order, its not outside the scope of reason that she can avail herself to uninsured/underinsured coverage.

lastly, do not be surprised if the auto insurance companies conditions their settlement offer on chancery court approval. settlement releases for settlement of a minor's claim are not binding unless approved by a chancery court or the child has reached the age of 18 and signs the settlement release. in warren county, both parents and the child are required to appear and give testimony to convince the chancery court that the settlement is in the child's best interest.

[mshunter77]

I really don’t care about the settlement part I just want her medical bills covered. We were not even expecting any extra money from this. I just am going to wait until after the ortho visit and then look at the settlement.