Uninsured car accident not at fault? What happens in a car accident without insurance may not be as bad as you think. If you are involved in a not at-fault accident without insurance, it’s often the case that you will still be entitled to car accident injury compensation for the injuries you can get from a car crash. For the damage to your car during the crash, the damage is generally covered under your car insurance policy if you hold insurance. But, if you are not at fault, and don’t hold comprehensive car insurance, you still be able to claim damages from the “at fault” driver for costs of towing and repairing.
Personal Injury Claims vs. Vehicle Damage Claims
In a typical car accident, it is common to result in personal injuries and vehicle damage. However, please be aware that car accident injury claims, and car accident property damage claims are two separate claims. They are mostly handled by different courts. If you are seeking legal advice for car accident no insurance claims for your injuries, please be sure to consult a car accident injury lawyer for your car accident injury compensation. If you are seeking damage payout under your insurance policy, please consult a car accident property damage lawyer for your damage claim.
One common mistake in minor car accidents is that people are focus solely on damage claim and overlook their rights and entitlements for their injury claim because the symptoms are either mild, such as whiplash, or delayed. By the time the long-term effect of a seemly minor accident start to catch up with them, it can be too late to make a claim.
If you are involved in a not at fault car accident, regardless if you are insured or not, please be aware of all your rights for insurance claim and injured claim.
Not at fault car accident insurance claim
Car accident property damage
If you are not at fault, and hold valid comprehensive car insurance, you may claim against your insurer for car accident property damage.
If you are not at fault but uninsured, you may try to claim the damage from the at fault driver. In general, you can’t make a car accident damage claim against the at fault driver’s insurer directly, because the insurance company is not the wrong doer. Neither can you force the at fault driver to make an insurance claim. In practice, providing details to the at fault driver’s insurer, may result in your damage being paid.
If the at fault driver refuses to pay or negotiate for the car repair and other damage, your options maybe:
- Commence legal proceeding against the at fault driver
- Serve the at fault driver with a letter of demand
In Western Australia, the Magistrates Court handles claims for up to $75,000. In other claims, different threshold may apply. It is strongly recommended that you seek legal advice before commencing legal proceedings for your insurance claim.
TPD insurance & Trauma Insurance
If your car accident caused you total and permanent disability or critical illnesses, you may entitle to insurance payout under your TPD or trauma cover. The policy coverage vary depending on the insurer, it’s worth checking to find out more about your policy before making a claim.
Car accident injury compensation claim
If you are injured in a car accident, and you are not at fault and uninsured, don’t stress about your injury compensation claim. It’s mostly likely that you may be entitled to personal injury compensation. This is because your personal injury compensation is covered by the at fault driver’s compulsory third party car insurance (CTP insurance).
Under that compulsory third party car insurance scheme, all vehicle owners are required to pay CTP insurance as part of the annual license renewal fee. CTP insurance covers injury compensation payments required by the not-at-fault driver or passenger as a result of the vehicle accident.
The insurer for CTP insurance is often a government body, and it vary by State. In Western Australia, Insurance Commission of WA (ICWA) is the insurer for CTP insurance. This means, when you claim for car accident injury compensation in WA, you are claiming against ICWA. Please check out this article on motor vehicle injury CTP claim for more detail.
Just like car accident insurance claims, determination of fault my take time, and sometimes both drivers may jointly have contributory negligence in road traffic accidents. The good news is that you may even entitled to a car accident injury payout even if you have contributory negligence.
Unlike car accident insurance claim which is mostly handled by Magistrates Court. In WA, most of the car accident injury claims are handled by District Court of Western Australia which has no upper limit regarding damages in deciding motor vehicle accident injury claims in WA.
Please be aware that most of the car accident injuries are neither serious injury or catastrophic. Car crash injury claims for minor injuries are common. In our view the most common car crash injury compensation claims involve: whiplash after car accident, cervical sprain from car accident, sore back after car accident, soft tissue injury from car accident, shoulder injury from car accident, sore neck from car accident, knee injury from rear end collision, tooth damage from car accident, etc. It is most important not to ignore minor car crash symptoms and delayed symptoms. Ignoring these symptoms can result in getting your compensation amount reduced.
Catastrophic personal injury
If you are catastrophically injured in a car accident and unable to establish negligence, regardless if you have insurance or not, you may quality for the Catastrophic Injuries Support (CIS) scheme. In WA, the catastrophic injuries support scheme provides treatment, care, and support for catastrophically injured person over their lifetime.
Essential Things for car accident injury claim
Made a car accident injury claim? Follow the following essential steps to best position your car crash claim for a higher compensation payout.
- Report the accident to the police
- See a GP as soon as practicable
- Report all your car accident injuries symptoms
- Attend your GP, treating doctor, surgeon and rehab provider regularly
- Keep receipts for all your accident injury related expenses
- Get yourself a good car accident injury lawyer
Report the accident to the police
By reporting the accident to the police, you are essentially recording the event and the facts you reported will help the ICWA investigate negligence.
See a GP as soon as practicable
By going to a GP as soon as practicable, you are eliminating the potential allegation that your injuries are not accident related.
Report all your car accident injuries symptoms
It is very important that you report all your injuries at soon as possible. Whiplash after car accident is most common and can vary in intensity, this includes both immediate whiplash injury, and delayed whiplash.
While most people are familiar and aware of whiplash injury, there other injuries are often hidden and need to be watched out for. This may include: Herniated Discs, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Knee Injuries, Shoulder Injuries, and Psychological Injuries – e.g, PTSD after car accident and an adjustment disorder.
Attend your GP, treating doctor, surgeon and rehab provider regularly
If you don’t attend your medical requirements, there may be allegation that you have made a full recovery and thus, no allowance for medical expenses should be awarded to you, which will result in a significant reduction of the amount of your car accident injury compensation.
Keep receipts for all your accident injury related expenses
If your motor injury claim is accepted by ICWA, the reasonable and necessary accident injury related expenses may be claimed from ICWA. However, you need to produce receipts in order to claim the expenses back.
Watch out for secondary injuries
The immediate onset car accident injuries are easily to identify. However, over time, this initial injury may trigger secondary injuries will result in further pain and suffering. It is important that you watch out for secondary injuries, report them, and seek treatment for it. Psychologies injuries is one of the common secondary injuries. An example of a secondary injury would be that a person with an injury to one leg may experience pain in the other leg due to overuse.
Get yourself a good car accident injury lawyer
Having a good car accident injury lawyer on your side will make a big difference to your car accident injury compensation claim. Many people concerned about personal injury lawyer fees and try to carry out the claim by themselves, and only found that you are exhausted, stressed, and confused. The fact is, not all good car accident injury lawyers are expensive. And, many of them offers No Win No Fee service. Furthermore, if your lawyer gets you a settlement, you will find that ICWA usually contributes towards your legal costs, as a result, your out-of-pocket legal fees is often low.
If you are involved in a not at fault accident without insurance, don’t stress. There ways you can be compensated for your losses. If your accident happened in WA and you are injured, contact Foyle Legal for your no obligation consultation. We help you to protect your interests!