| Motor Vehicle Insurer's Right to Reimbursement of Indemnity Payments |
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| The obligations of insurers to make payments under policies of motor vehicle insurance are based on the sometimes uncertain answers to questions about the extent of coverage and the liability of an insured to a party making a claim under the policy. An insurer may therefore face a difficult decision as to whether to make a payment in response to a third party's demand for such payment under a policy, risking the possibility that the payment is uncalled for in light of some limitation in the coverage, or to deny such a request and risk a claim that the insurer's failure to make the requested payment has made it liable to an insured for additional damages, such as the amount of a judgment in excess of the policy limits. More... |
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| Setoffs and Underinsured Motorist Insurance Policies |
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| An automobile insurance policy may contain a set-off clause, which provides that an insured cannot recover bodily injury benefits under both the liability coverage part and the underinsured motorist coverage part of the policy. When an insured fully recovers his or her losses under the liability provision of an automobile insurance policy, the insured could not then seek to recover under the underinsured motorist provision of the same policy. More... |
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| Per-Occurrence Liability for Auto Insurance |
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| An automobile insurance policy can limit liability to a certain dollar amount for each accident or occurrence of loss suffered by an insured. Generally, per accident and per occurrence mean the same thing. One occurrence is a single, uninterrupted cause that can result in one or a number of bodily injuries or property damage. For example, if an insured's vehicle hits a car and that collision breaks the steering gear on the insured's vehicle causing it to hit another car, then only one accident occurred within the meaning of the insurance policy limitation. Therefore, there can be multiple claims of injuries and damages that arise from one accident. More... |
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| Cancellation of Auto Insurance for Nonpayment of Premiums |
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| The mandatory nature of motor vehicle insurance in the United States means that the system under which cars and trucks are insured involves a three-part relationship among the vehicle owner or operator, the insurer, and the government of the state where the car or truck is located. The heart of the auto insurance business relationship, though, is the policy of insurance, a bilateral contract under which the insurer agrees to provide the requested insurance coverage on a vehicle and pay valid claims and the insured agrees that he or she will in return pay the premiums due under the policy. When an insured fails to make timely payment of the premiums or fails to pay them at all, the insurer's ultimate recourse is to cancel the policy for nonpayment of premiums. More... |
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| Arbitration for Motor Vehicle Insurance Disputes |
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| Arbitration (which is sometimes referred to as a type of Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR) is a procedure in which the parties to a dispute, for example, parties who disagree about some aspect of a motor vehicle insurance policy, voluntarily submit the issues they are unable to agree upon to the judgment of one or more disinterested persons, called arbitrators, and agree to abide by the judgment of the arbitrators, which is called an award. One significant thing to note about arbitration is that it takes place outside the court system and so can be conducted less formally and with less expense than a traditional judicial proceeding. More... |
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