Bad luck happens, or the Universe is against you during the month of February because it’s a leap year or there was a full moon. Whatever superstition or natural occurrence seems to knock your life off-balance, the end result is always a string of unfortunate events, usually car accidents. If you’ve had multiple crashes, then you may wonder if you can have multiple car accident claims open at the same time. Don’t worry because you’re not the only person in the world that this has happened to. The best thing you can do is contact an experienced Houston, Texas car crash attorney.
Will These Crashes Impact Your Premium?
Any crash can impact your premium, even if you’re not at fault. It depends entirely on your insurance provider, and the details of the accident. For example, even if you weren’t at fault, you may have been issued traffic violations or even fix-it tickets for issues that police found during their review of the scene. For example, the crash could have been the other person’s fault, but if your registration was out of date, then you would have received a ticket for that.
It is very likely that multiple crashes will affect the rate of your premiums. So, if you’re concerned about what you should go through the process of making your claims with the clear intention of not having any changes to your rates.
What Type of Coverage Do you Have?
If you have liability only, then you may have trouble with multiple claims. If any of the claims involve you contributing to the fault, you could lose coverage, or not receive compensation for your damages. Liability coverage often offers basically nothing to the driver who was at fault, but if you were the victim of the wreck, then you shouldn’t have to worry too much.
Comprehensive and collision coverage are both options that are more forgiving when it comes to multiple claims. The claims process on these is the same as other insurance options. But, it does come with more options. In the event that you were contributing any fault percentage, then you can probably still get some compensation for either claim.
Will Your Policy Provider Drop You Because of Multiple Car Accident Claims?
An insurance provider can choose to drop your coverage for a variety of reasons. For example, most policies have specific lines that explain when they will discontinue your coverage. Usually, policies will not continue to insure drivers who receive DUI convictions or charges for reckless driving.
Insurance providers can also discontinue coverage because of multiple claims. Now, they may believe that you’re committing a type of insurance fraud that involves staged accidents. Or, they may realize that you are simply a high-risk driver and that it’s a risk they don’t want on their company.
It is possible for your insurance policy provider to drop your coverage, but it really isn’t likely. As the victim of a crash, you’re not the one who should be worried about losing your coverage.
Time Delays and Other Side Effects of Multiple Car Accident Claims
The biggest issues that you should expect from having multiple claims open involve time delays and «resets.» This reset happens when your provider confuses the two sperate claims for one claim.
For example, if a driver rear-ended you in April and you make a claim the insurance provider will have no trouble. But, when a driver pulls out of a parking lot and hits you from the side in June, there will be a lot of confusion when you go to make that claim.
The most common issue with multiple claims is a representative accidentally closing the first claim, or canceling it, and replacing it with this second claim because they don’t understand that it’s a new claim entirely. If you’re lucky enough not to experience a reset, then they may try to delay the first claim.
Will You Need a Houston Car Accident Attorney?
If you were the victim and had two or more at-fault car accidents in the last few months, then you’ll probably need an attorney. Aside from the challenges that normally come with a car accident insurance claim you could face allegations of fraud, your insurance company may try to suspend coverage, and the other companies may make it seem as if either crash were your fault.
At McDonald Worley, our legal team represents the victims of car accidents and other accidents that result in personal injury. It’s entirely possible that you can pursue both claims with as little struggle as possible. Get in touch with McDonald Worley now.