Passengers in Car Accidents: How Do You Get Paid?

What happens if you’re a passenger in a car accident? How will you get paid to cover your injuries and losses? Brother Rutter from Rutter Mills discusses how passengers in car accidents get paid and who’s insurance covers what.

[Transcription]

Hi, this is Brother Rutter from Rutter Mills. I want to talk to you today about injuries that occur to passengers in an automobile wreck. The question often arises: how do they get paid? Whose insurance pays?

Well, it depends on the type of accident. In the usual course, you’re a passenger in a car and another car runs a red light or a stop sign and hits the car that you’re in. Well, that other car is at fault, so their insurance is first, what we call “primary”. But if they don’t have enough, you can look to the insurance of the car you’re in, and even your own insurance to supplement what that defendant had.

So, a lot of times people say, “Well, I don’t know if I want to use my own insurance, or the insurance of the car that I was in.” That may be your family member or your friend. But you have been paying for what’s called uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage with your insurance policy every month. Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage is just that. What is means is, if the person at fault does not have enough insurance coverage, in many instances you can use your own coverage to supplement what they have. You’ve been paying for it all these years, so why not use it?

In the other instance, you’re a passenger in the car and your own driver causes the wreck. They hit another car, they run a red light, or they run off the road. What happens then? Well, that driver’s insurance will be first up, what we call “primary”. Second, the car you’re in would supply coverage, in case that’s not the same as the driver, say they borrowed a car from a friend. And third, your own insurance as we discussed, would supplement what that driver or the car had if it’s needed.

So, there are many different ways that a passenger can get insurance coverage. Unwinding these insurance issues, figuring out what insurance is available and how to get more money on the table for you and your family at the end of the day, is something that we love doing. And we’re good at it.

So, if you’re a passenger, and you’ve been injured in an automobile wreck, call us today and let’s talk it through to make sure that you have the most insurance available. Thanks.