Most people know, following a car accident, about collecting the police report, the insurance contact information from the other driver, and copies of your medical bills. However, many people forget about a critical document that your lawyer will often ask for right away: the declarations page of your auto insurance policy. A declarations page is a list of policy statements, what you are covered for, and property specs. This is the ultimate proof that you have insurance.
When You Need Your Declarations Page
If you have been in a car accident, suffered injuries, and believe that another driver caused the accident, you have the opportunity to file a personal injury claim. Personal injury claims can give you monetary compensation to cover medical expenses for your injuries and potential lost wages during recovery. However, not all insurance companies are fair to customers.
You should consider a lawsuit when an insurance company fails to go over your claim, wrongfully denies your claim, or does not offer enough money in the settlement. The safest way to go about this is to hire a lawyer because insurance companies tend to hire a whole team of lawyers who are prepared to fight against you. Save time by calling your insurance company for a copy of your declarations page when you decide to hire a lawyer.
Insurance companies will usually email their declarations page after which you can forward this to your lawyer.
How a Declarations Page Helps Your Lawyer
A Tennessee car accident lawyer will need your insurance declarations policy for various reasons. First, your declarations page verifies that you have auto insurance and explains what type of damages your insurance company will cover. Declarations page information will also provide your name, address, vehicle descriptions, policy surcharges, discounts, important terminology, and coverages.
Coverage information can help your lawyer fully understand what compensation you may be entitled to because this tells your lawyer your coverage limitations, options, and premiums. By having a copy of your coverage information available, your lawyer will have an idea of what your insurance company should be legally offering you versus what your insurance company may have initially offered you. This helps root out bad faith insurance, which is considered negligence.
If the other driver is uninsured, your declarations page will be able to tell your lawyer how much coverage you have with this type of situation. Calculating the amount only requires simple multiplication and takes less than five minutes.
Lastly, your medical payment coverage will be listed. This allows you to pick a treatment center that will bill your insurance company instead of putting you in debt. Your lawyer can use this to see if you need to run up a bill to cover injury expenses.
