My clients frequently ask me questions regarding NY No-Fault Insurance Law. Although I am happy to answer their questions, a large number of the basic questions are answered on the FAQ page of the New York State Insurance Department website that you can access by clicking here. Below I have pasted some of the FAQ’s for your convenience but I must issue a WARNING– This stuff is very dry as it was undoubtedly written by a bureaucrat deep in the bowels of the Insurance Department: Read the rest…

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Despite the fact that I earn my living as a NY and Pennsylvania accident lawyer, you may be shocked to learn that I often recommend to people who meet with me that it is NOT necessary for every person to be represented by an attorney in every auto accident case.

That’s right…not everyone needs a lawyer in every accident case.

However, BEFORE you can make that decision, it is CRITICAL that you be properly informed so you can make the right decision and so you can properly protect your rights. Quite frankly, that’s why I am writing this post and that’s why I wrote a book (Learn the Five Deadly Mistakes that Can Kill Your Accident Case!) to help folks make this decision BEFORE talking to the other insurance company.

Please keep reading to get some basic advice and to learn how you can get a free copy of my book (if you live in NY or PA). Read the rest…

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For years and years you have faithfully paid your insurance premiums. Your driving record is unblemished– no accidents, no tickets. All is well….. Then, through no fault of your own, another driver crashes into your car causing a huge amount of damage to your car. Thankfully, you are not injured.

Seems like a simple situation where the other driver’s insurance company should take care of your property damage claim with no problems at all, right? Well think again…..

Read the rest…

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There was recently a raging debate on the No-Fault Paradise blog about the high-cost of NF “fraud” — that is the allegedly high cost of fraudulent NF claims. One writer, citing loss statistics for carriers from eight years before, suggested that the insurance industry was suffering horribly because of fraudulent claims. But this response from D. Barshay was dynamite:

How can you, with a straight face, quote fraud statistics from eight years ago? Your [claim that insurance carriers are being] “driven out of business” comment is laughable. In 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina, insurers that also provide auto insurance made a record $48.8-billion profit, 18.7% increase over 2004. The industry raised its surplus by more than 7% to nearly $427 billion. The ratio of claims and expenses to premiums was among the lowest in 30 years. In 2006, the profits were $59.9-billion and the surplus was $600 billion. Certainly, New York is much harder for insurers because of all the fraud, right? Wrong. Auto insurers reported $10.5 billion in earned premiums in New York in 2005, a jump of nearly 29 percent from $8.2 billion in 2000. Meanwhile, during the same period, incurred losses plummeted by more than 20 percent, from $6.4 billion to $5.1 billion. From 2000 to 2005, the loss ratio (the amount of each insurance premium dollar that goes to pay claims) in New York fell from 78.3 percent to 48.4 percent of premiums, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). This means that in 2005 only 48.4 cents of each premium dollar was paid to policyholders, a nearly 30 percentage point drop from 2000. The 2005 New York loss ratio was the lowest in the nation and was 11.8 percentage points below the nationwide loss ratio of 60.2 percent.

“For too long, auto insurance companies have been price-gouging New Yorkers,” Thompson said. “Rising premiums are becoming cost prohibitive and squeezing New Yorkers even more as they struggle to pay their rent, food, gas and other necessities. A reduction in premiums is the right direction so that drivers can afford to stay on the road.” William C. Thompson, Jr. New York City Comptroller.   

D. Barshay

I don’t know D. Barshay but I tip my hat to him for citing the cold, hard fact that NY auto insurance carriers are making billions of dollars annually in profits while paying their industry lobbyists and marketing firms millions of dollars to continue the media campaign that they are in “crisis”. Man, could I use a crisis like that!!

Thanks for reading, Jim Reed

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Just when we think we have seen it all, the insurance companies come up with some new scheme to avoid living up to their responsibilities. The latest had even us shaking our heads! As you read this story, please keep in mind that Progressive was the insurance company for the very people it was mistreating. They weren’t doing this nasty business to someone else– they were doing it to their own customers. In other words, these folks paid good hard money in insurance premiums to be abused by their own insurnace company. Yeeeeeessshhhhh! Keep reading to get the gory details…… Read the rest…

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Aside from the MANY bad things that can happen to you if you drive drunk (you can die, you can kill others, you can go to jail, you can lose your license, you can be heavily fined, etc.) most people don’t know that you may also forfeit your No-Fault insurance benefits for medical bills and lost wages. The general rule is that the drunk driver forfeits his no-fault coverage.

There is an exception to this general rule of “no coverage” IF the drunk driver can prove that his/her intoxication was not a contributing cause of the accident. But good luck in proving that the fact that your intoxication was not a contributing cause of the accident!

BOTTOM LINE– DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!

The applicable law is:
11 NYCRR 65.15. Claims for personal injury protection benefits — accidents on and after December 1, 1977.
(m) Scope of coverage. (2) An Insurer shall pay benefits to an applicant for losses arising out of an accident in the following situations: (i) where coverage has been excluded for an applicant operating a vehicle while in an intoxicated condition or while the applicant’s ability is impaired by the use of a drug, if such intoxicated or drugged condition was not a contributing cause of the accident causing the injuries; (emphasis added)

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I have just published a small book outlining what all drivers should know about auto insurance. It will show you how to better protect yourself and your loved ones by explaining complex legal issues in an easy to understand manner.

Entitled “Learn the Five Secrets to Buying Auto Insurance,” the book will answer the following questions and more:

• What are the types of coverage I really need, and how much coverage do I need?
• How can I figure out exactly what situations I’m covered for—and which ones I’m not?
• How do I know my insurance agent is telling me everything I should know?
• When can I sue another driver for my injuries?
• What is the best overall insurance plan for my family?

Why have I written this book? Simple. I have personally witnessed the economic pain suffered by families who do not have proper insurance coverage and I want to make sure that people have the coverage necessary to keep this from happening to them.

Often, for just pennies a day, you can buy a HUGE amount of additional coverage that would protect you in the event of a bad accident.

If you would like a copy of this book, please post a Comment below requesting the book and I will be happy to mail you a copy.

For those of you who don’t want to read the whole book, just subscribe to this blog as I will be blogging about many of the issues discussed in the book.

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