Expert: Anne - 3/9/2010

Question
A family member along with 2 other friends traveling home were hit by an at fault driver with limited insurance of 25/50, my family member along with 1 other in her auto was killed, and the person who hit them was killed.  The at fault driver's insurance will be paying from the limited coverage, but should my family member's full coverage on her auto also pay from the bodily injury part of 100/300?  We had full coverage insurance on her auto and there is nothing we can collect from our insurance because the other person was at fault. help me understand

Answer
Hello Lenora,

I am very sorry to hear about your accident. Sounds like the limits on that insurance will not be enough to cover your family member and the others on the vehicle. Therefore, you will have to look for other insurance coverage (hopefully they had uninsured motorist coverage).

The insurance company of the vehicle your family member was traveling in would cover this if they have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Please see: http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/Uninsured-Motorist-Bodily-Injury.html

If they do not have that coverage, you may still want to see if there is other coverage under their own policy. Your Family's member auto policy and the traveler's insurance policy might provide extra coverage for them in this circumstance.

If the driver of the vehicle your family member was negligent in anyway, this may give raise for coverage under the 100/300 liability coverage.

The 100/300 liability coverage covers for the liability of the driver of that vehicle. In other words, the person driving your family's member's vehicle would have to be at fault (at least partially) for it to provide coverage (Note, this coverage would only be given to those fault-free passengers, but not the driver that was at fault... Thus, if your family member was driving, this might not be an option for her/him).

This is somewhat complicated. You really should talk to an attorney, at least to see where there might be more sources of recovery.

Good Luck
Anne
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