I’m Gayle from Fayette, KY and had a recent car accident. I want to know what actions must I take after a car accident? Do I need to accept a settlement offer from the insurance company?

Gayle

Fayette, KY

Hi Gayle. Under the Kentucky law (KRS 189.635) you are required to call the police to report the accident if someone is harmed or injured; or one of the cars is rendered inoperable. If no police investigation is made and either the car suffers $500 or more in damage expense you must report the incident to the State Police within 10 days. Next, your car insurance company requires you to report the accident to your insurance company and fill out the appropriate forms.

As for your second question, the answer can be a Yes or a No. Car insurance companies in Fayette, KY are notorious for offering settlements that are far less than the injured party deserves. However, if the car insurance company is offering what you feel the car is worth, then you can accept it. It will also be advantageous if you consult an experienced lawyer that is knowledgeable on car accident laws. By contacting an auto accident injury lawyer you may be able to receive a much larger settlement than the car insurance company has offered.

A: Yes, you need to file an SR22 form for any car. In fact, your SR22 form isn’t for your car at all, it’s for you. You can see this from the fact that some people are required to file non owners SR22 insurance even if the cars they are driving are insured by their owners. It is not your car your insurance company is worried about, but your driving. Having to file an SR22 form has put you in a very high risk category, and your DMV has to be sure that you will be insured because you pose a greater risk of getting into a car accident, especially a serious one.

If you have an older car, you can do some things which will allow you to pay less money to file your SR22 form. For an older car, you should first see how much your car is worth. You can do this by looking in Kelley’s Blue Book. Now take the worth of your car and compare it to how much you pay every year to file your SR22 form. If you are paying more to file insurance than you would get if you sold your car, then you need to have the least amount of insurance that it is legal to have. If your car is worth less than $1000, then you should absolutely cut your coverage as low as it goes.

A: You may just be with a car insurance company which doesn’t have a lot of discounts. I would say that is the first sign that you need to get out. Start looking up quotes online and think about changing to a company with a lower car insurance quote and a better range of discounts. Depending on the size and number of discounts you’d qualify for, sometimes it’s better to trade a lower initial quote for a lot of discounts.

Many of the discounts aren’t applicable to a non owner SR22 insurance policies because they involve aspects of he car, such as anti theft device discount, low mileage discounts, safety feature discounts, and the like. But many are careless discounts.

For example, you can get a discount for combining your insurance policies, by getting your life, health, home owners/renters, and car insurance all from the same company. You can choose from a variety of student and senior discounts, or take classes to watch your non owner SR22 car insurance rate plummet.