Who Pays For My Injuries If I Don’t Have Car Insurance?

A question we often get at Robert Bates & Associates is “who will pay for the injuries of people who were injured by negligent drivers, but they do not own a car insurance of their own?”. This usually comes from people who were seriously injured in a pedestrian accident, while riding a bicycle, or they were passengers in a vehicle. There are people in our community that do not own vehicles and therefore do not have vehicle insurance. There would be no need. If they are seriously injured, who will pay for their medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering damages?

At-Fault Drivers

If the accident was caused by the negligence of another driver, that driver’s policy will cover everyone injured in the accident, even someone that does not have car insurance. In Tennessee, this is called at-fault or liability coverage.

If you were injured as a passenger in a car or truck crash, there are several different insurance policies or ways to be compensated for your injuries:

● You can be compensated by the at-fault driver’s insurance company,

● The insurance company of the vehicle in which you were a passenger, or

● Through a personal injury lawsuit against the at fault driver, whether it is a driver in another vehicle or the driver of your vehicle, or a combination of both. There are some accidents where many different people could share in the overall cause of the crash.

What damages can you get?

The types of money damages that you would be able to recover against everyone who contributed to causing the crash are the following:

● Wage loss: If you had to miss work due to your injuries then you would be reimbursed any wage loss. This also includes any future wage loss or lost earning capacity that would be caused by ongoing disability caused by the injuries.

● Medical bills: You will be reimbursed any unpaid medical bills necessary for the treatment of your injuries. This applies to past due bills as well as the cost or value of any future treatment that you may need due to the ongoing disability and injury.

● Pain and suffering: This amount of money damages consists of compensating you for the actual pain and suffering that you experienced due to having been injured in the car or truck wreck.

● Loss of life’s pleasures: This category of money damages compensates you for the loss of the pleasures and joy of life that you were unable to experience due to your injuries.

If you have been seriously injured in a car or truck accident, contact Robert Bates & Associates. We have been winning car and truck crash cases for our clients for over a decade. Our offices are in Kingsport, but we serve clients throughout the Tri Cities region and Tennessee.

Robert BatesRobert is a Kingsport trial lawyer who handles car, truck and motorcycle wreck cases across the Tri-Cities. Every client gets his cell number.