The theory behind car insurance is to make vehicle ownership and transportation financially feasible for working-class and middle-class adults. If an individual had to personally shoulder all of the financial consequences possible following a crash, the average adult simply couldn’t afford those risks.
Mandatory car insurance as required under Indiana state law helps people defray the liability that comes from driving and can also protect those affected by a car crash by compensating them appropriately. In Indiana, drivers have to carry liability coverage and a similar amount of uninsured and underinsured motorists protection.
Despite potentially having the protection of two different Insurance policies, spinal cord injuries will likely cost more than what you can get from insurance.
State requirements are unrealistically low
Indiana requires at least $25,000 in both bodily injury and property damage liability coverage. If the crash a driver causes hurts two or more people, the minimum bodily injury coverage amount increases to $50,000. Even if you and the other driver both have minimal insurance coverage, you might just have roughly $100,000 in combined coverage for medical costs and lost wages to share with other injured parties.
However, the spinal cord injury will cost far more than that. The exact costs will depend on your age, the location of the injury and any underlying medical conditions you have. However, even incomplete spinal cord injuries carry a six-figure price tag for the first year of treatment and impose tens of thousands of dollars in annual care costs for the rest of someone’s life.
Beyond that, there could be decades of diminished or completely lost earning potential to consider, as well as the financial impact of the loss of someone’s services around the family home. Altogether, spinal cord injuries can easily cost over a million dollars over the lifetime of the person affected.
What happens when insurance falls short?
If there isn’t enough coverage available after a crash, then a personal injury lawsuit may be a viable option. If a business or individual caused the collision through misconduct or negligence, Indiana state law gives the person hurt in the collision the right to file a civil lawsuit. Third-party claims could also be possible against a business in addition to any claim brought against the driver who caused the wreck.
Knowing the steps you have to take to cover your cost after a catastrophic car crash injury will help you better protect yourself.