Grandma Got Ran Over by a ...Cadillac Escalade EXT!
Posted by
Jeff Moses on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 @ 08:49 AM
Forget getting run over by reindeer! What happens when you accidentally hit that sweet old lady doing her christmas shopping at the mall? I'll tell you what happens. A Huge PIP claim on your Auto insurance!
Think about this for a minute. Your Auto insurance in New York Automatically comes with $50,000 of Personal Injury Protection. What does that cover, you say? It covers medical bills and lost wages for the most part. It can also cover expenses to have someone clean your house if you become wheel chair bound or laid up in bed for a while. The PIP coverage applies to yourself, any passengers you have in your car, and any pedistrians or bicyclists that you may hit. That's where Grandma comes in.
So if you were to actually hit someones Grandmother with your car, what do you think would happen? Well, you would probably get a ticket from a cop for doing something you werent supposed to be doing like texting. And you might even get arrested if you were texting, speeding and were deemed to be driving recklessly (or there was a death).
But lets forget about that for a minute and say that you were in the right and that you were being a responsible driver and you could not have avoided running over Grandma. In that case, your insurance company will have to pay her medical bills up to the PIP limit (Most people have the standard $50k). And in this case, Grandmas' med bills are, more than likely, going to be bigger then 50,000$. Between the surgeries, physical therapy, her lost wages from working part time at wal-mart as a door greater, and the house maid she hired because she cant move for the next 6 weeks...It can and will go over the 50,000$ limit.
And if a lawyer gets involved, your insurance company will defend your case and pay up to the limit of your Liability coverage, for pain and suffering, most likely. If the case goes to trial and the winnings awarded are more than your liability limit, your on your own to pay the difference!
Not good. So what can be done, you say? Increase your PIP coverage to 150,000$, (2) add OBEL coverage and (3) Increase your limits of Liability.
If your still worried you might not have enough protection....Get an Umbrella Policy to cover your Butt! They ussually come in levels of $1,000,000. And you can go up to $5,000,000.
So now that you have your increased auto coverages and your personal umbrella policy to cover your bases, that lawsuit that you lost when you ran over Grandma at the mall, is now all covered under your policy and you dont have to worry about paying out of pocket.
Pheeww! Good thing you called your insurance agent and talked to him about increasing your coverages.