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9 FAQs About North Carolina Auto Insurance, Answered

  1. North Carolina Auto Insurance Policies and Processes
  2. Contact Myers Law Firm If You’ve Been in an Accident

North Carolina Auto Insurance Policies and Processes

After an accident, your first instinct might be to turn to your insurance company for help, but their priority is to maximize profits — not compensate you for your injuries and losses. Some states, like North Carolina, have policies and laws that complicate this insurance process even further and provide additional ways for insurance companies to avoid paying full compensation. Rather than turning to your insurance company, you should speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately after your accident to discern if you have a valid claim.

Here’s what you need to know about North Carolina auto insurance policies and processes to keep you and your family safe on the road.

1. Is Auto Insurance Required in North Carolina?

Basic liability insurance, which covers damages to other people (bodily injury liability) and their vehicles (property damage liability) as the result of an accident involving the covered automobile, is required in the state of North Carolina.


2. What Is Contributory Negligence?

In North Carolina, the Contributory Negligence Law states that the injured party cannot collect any compensation from the other driver if the injured party was also at-fault for the accident. This applies even if the injured person is only 1% at fault and the other driver is 99% at fault. This harsh law hurts injury victims.

RELATED ARTICLE: What Is Negligence, Anyway?

3. What Is Med Pay Insurance and Why Do I Need It?

Med Pay covers all necessary and reasonable medical expenses of anyone in the covered vehicle up to the policy limits regardless of whether you played a role in the accident.


In states with contributory negligence laws, Med Pay is critical since being found 1% at-fault for an accident will leave you unable to collect any liability insurance money. (Collision insurance is also recommended to help pay for damages to your vehicle.)

RELATED ARTICLE: How Med Pay Coverage Can Help You After a Car Crash.

4. What Happens If I Don’t Have Auto Insurance?

Letting your auto insurance lapse (or not having any to begin with) will result in civil penalty fines, license suspension, and even jail time for repeat offenses.

Furthermore, in the event you’re found to be at-fault for a collision, you could pay anywhere from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars in out-of-pocket medical bills and damages to the other driver(s) — in addition to your own bills.

5. What Is Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage?

Uninsured and underinsured coverage helps protect persons who’ve been injured in an accident with a driver carrying little or no insurance.

  • Uninsured Motorist Coverage: North Carolina requires all policies to include bodily injury and property damage uninsured motorist coverage. This covers drivers and pedestrians in cases where the negligent driver does not have any auto insurance.
  • Underinsured Motorist Coverage: This coverage is only included in certain policies and adds additional coverage in situations where the negligent driver’s liability insurance has a very low policy limit.

6. What Affects My Insurance Rates?

Insurance companies base their rates on the driver’s level of risk. Some factors included in this risk calculation are:

  • Age
  • Credit score
  • Driving history
  • Location of residence
  • Type of vehicle
  • Average vehicle use

7. What Is the Safe Driver Incentive Plan?

The North Carolina Safe Driver Incentive Plan (SDIP) is a point-based system that increases the cost of your insurance based on the number of points on your record. Insurance rates are increased by a specific percent depending on the extent of the violation and its corresponding point value.

For instance, a single point is given for at-fault accidents resulting in damages less than either $1,800 in medical expenses or $2,300 in total property damage. This single point increases your insurance rates by 30%.

8. Does North Carolina Offer Auto Insurance Discounts?

Always ask about insurance discounts when looking for a new policy. Keeping a clean record is the most efficient way to save money on your insurance, but there are often discounts available as well. According to the North Carolina DMV, that might include discounts for:

  • Excellent driving
  • Being a good student
  • Owning multiple cars
  • Owning a home
  • Installing an auto-theft alarm

9. What Should I Do After an Accident?

After an accident, you should call the police so a police report can be created. You should also collect the following information related to the other driver:

  • Basic Information: Name, address, and phone number
  • License Information: Driver’s license and license plate number
  • Insurance Information: Name of the insurance company and policy number

Additionally, if you feel you are injured, even slightly, always seek medical treatment after an accident. Official documentation of your injuries can be very useful in insurance claims.

Before speaking to an insurance adjustor, you should contact a reputable and experienced personal injury lawyer.

RELATED ARTICLE: 8 Things You Should Never Do After an Auto Accident.

Let us help you.

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Contact Myers Law Firm If You’ve Been in an Accident

Winning an insurance claim in North Carolina can be a very complicated process. Due to Contributory Negligence Laws, if you are found to be just 1% responsible for the accident, the insurance company is not required to provide compensation. Working with a skilled and experienced personal injury lawyer from the start can help you prove the other driver’s negligence and receive fair compensation for any injuries and damages you’ve suffered.

Contact Myers Law Firm for assistance navigating North Carolina’s contributory negligence laws and determining the strength of your potential claim. Please complete this brief online form or call (704) 376-3000 today to schedule your free consultation.

References

A consumer guide to automobile insurance. (2018, March). North Carolina Department of Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.ncdoi.com/_Publications/ Consumer%20Guide%20to%20Automobile%20Insurance_CAU1.pdf

North Carolina car insurance. (2013, October). Department of Motor Vehicles. Retrieved from https://www.dmv.org/nc-north-carolina/car-insurance.php

What is the penalty for driving in North Carolina without insurance? (2017, November). Car Insurance Comparison. Retrieved from https://www.carinsurancecomparison.com/what-is-the-penalty-for-driving-without-car-insurance-in-north-carolina/ 

 

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.

Contact Myers Law Firm

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Why You Need More UM/UIM Coverage Than You Think

  1. Legislative Change
  2. About Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage
  3. Is the Minimum UIM Coverage Enough?
  4. UM/UIM Coverage: Peace of Mind, at an Affordable Cost?
  5. Contact Myers Law Firm If You’ve Been Injured

Legislative Change

Since 2009, North Carolina law has required that all drivers purchase a minimum amount of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) as part of their auto insurance policy. Previously, North Carolina required drivers to have uninsured motorist coverage, but had no requirement for underinsured motorist coverage.

Although this legislative change marked an important step toward protecting all drivers in the event of a hit-and-run incident or an accident involving an underinsured driver, it does create the unfortunate side effect of convincing many drivers that the state-mandated minimum amount of UM/UIM coverage offers enough protection for everyone.

In this article, we’ll discuss why that’s not always the right conclusion to make, and why additional UM/UIM coverage makes sense for a lot of drivers out there.

About Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

 If you’ve never paid close attention to what’s in your auto insurance policy, you might not understand what uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage do. While closely related, these are actually two separate types of insurance coverage that work a little differently when it comes time to file a claim.

  • Uninsured motorists (UM) coverage provides insurance coverage when an uninsured, at-fault driver injures you or someone else who is covered under your policy. This includes coverage for a hit-and-run accident so long as there was contact with the hit-and-run car. UM insurance also provides coverage for property damage. In a hit-and-run wreck, however, the other driver must be identified in order to claim UM property damage coverage.
  • Underinsured motorists (UIM) coverage covers you when an underinsured, at-fault driver injures you or someone else who is covered under your policy. UIM coverage does not provide protection against property damage.

Wondering what an “underinsured driver” means, exactly? For insurance purposes, an underinsured driver is one whose liability limits (1) are less than your UIM coverage limits and (2) won’t cover the monetary losses incurred by the people the underinsured driver injures in an at-fault accident. If you’re hit by such a driver, your UIM coverage will pay a maximum of the difference between the other driver’s liability limits and the limits of your UIM coverage.

Most responsible drivers never think much about what they’ll do if they get hit by a driver who’s not carrying insurance or who’s carrying a minimal policy that won’t cover the resulting damages. That’s because they tend to assume (wrongly, unfortunately) that the vast majority of people on the road are reasonable and law-abiding motorists, just like them.

The facts, though, paint a less rosy picture: according to the most recent (2012) data from the Insurance Information Institute, 12.6 percent of U.S. drivers — or about one in eight — are uninsured at any given time.

RELATED: Car Accident or Crash? Why What You Call It Matters

Fortunately, 2009 legislation made UM coverage mandatory for North Carolina drivers at a minimum level of $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident (with a $25,000 minimum for property damage for UM coverage), and combined UM/UIM coverage (equal to the liability limits) mandatory for policies with higher liability limits. But will these limits provide adequate coverage if you get in a serious accident?

Let us help you.

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Is the Minimum UIM Coverage Enough?

First, it’s important to understand how UM/UIM coverage works. As explained above, UIM coverage pays the difference between your UIM limits and the other driver’s liability limits. However, if you have a state-minimum $30,000 policy, then a $30,000 UIM policy would serve no purpose — because any other driver who has a valid insurance policy must also at least have the state-minimum $30,000 in liability coverage. This is why the state doesn’t mandate UIM coverage for drivers with the minimum liability limits, and why UIM coverage is only available at limits of $50,000 or more.

UIM coverage does become mandatory, however, when drivers select a policy with higher liability limits. If you purchase a policy with a $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident liability limits, for example, then North Carolina mandates that your policy include UM/UIM coverage with a $50,000/$100,000 limit as well. In this case, your UIM coverage would apply if you were hit by a driver who only carries the minimum $30,000 in liability limits, and would cover the difference between the limits of the two policies — $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident.

Although total coverage of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident may sound like a lot of money, we can tell you from experience that costs add up very quickly in the event of a serious crash with an uninsured or underinsured driver. Between medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages, $50,000 may not go a long way, especially if you’ve suffered a severe injury that requires complex treatment or extensive therapy. In this scenario, you could easily find yourself still facing tens of thousands of dollars in bills after exhausting your state-mandated UM/UIM coverage.

We’re not the only ones who’ve come to this conclusion, either. According to Edmunds.com, auto insurance experts generally recommend that drivers purchase insurance coverage that allows for bodily injury liability limits of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident in order to protect their assets against lawsuits.

Since those recommendations are intended to protect at-fault drivers, you can see how they relate to UM/UIM claims: If experts believe the at-fault person in a serious crash could easily end up creating liability of $100,000 per person or $300,000 per accident, and your UM/UIM coverage provides $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident in protection, that’s a massive gap between your coverage and the costs and the monetary losses you could be left with when the at-fault person’s policy won’t pay any more (or doesn’t exist in the first place). Not only that, but the total gap in coverage for you and others you care about could be several times that amount.

UM/UIM Coverage: Peace of Mind, at an Affordable Cost

As you can see, the modest extra cost of purchasing additional UM/UIM coverage beyond the state minimums can quickly turn into the kind of investment that preserves your financial stability if you get into a serious crash with an uninsured or underinsured motorist and find yourself depending on this coverage for help.

Fortunately, UM/UIM coverage tends to come at very affordable premiums — much less than you’d pay for standard bodily injury and property damage coverage. According to a 2016 roundup of insurance quotes from ValuePenguin, purchasing additional UM/UIM coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident usually costs between $86 and $134 a year, depending on your insurer.

In general, we recommend that drivers seriously consider the benefits of additional UM/UIM coverage. While no one wants to believe they’ll be injured in an auto wreck, the reality is that bad things do happen to good drivers when other people’s negligence enters the equation. If you someday find yourself the victim of someone else’s recklessness, opting to purchase additional coverage now might turn out to be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

Contact Myers Law Firm If You've Been Injured

If you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident or other motor vehicle crash, you may be entitled to compensation, and the attorneys at Myers Law Firm are here to help. As a father-and-son legal team with 50 years of combined experience in the Mecklenburg County area, we know the local courts here in Charlotte.

When you choose us to represent you, we won’t hesitate to take your case to trial and defend your rights aggressively in court if necessary. We also provide free initial consultations, and we work on a contingent-fee basis for personal injury cases, which means you won’t pay any attorney’s fees unless we make a financial recovery on your behalf.

To schedule your no-risk initial consultation, please call our Charlotte office toll-free at 1-888-376-ATTY (2889) or fill out and submit our online contact form. We’ll follow up and get in touch with you as soon as possible.

References

North Carolina Department of Insurance. (n.d.). A Consumer’s Guide to Auto Insurance. Retrieved from (http://www.ncdoi.com/_Publications/Consumer%20Guide%20to%20Automobile%20Insurance_CAU1.pdf

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage car insurance. (2016). ValuePenguin. Retrieved from https://www.valuepenguin.com/uninsured-underinsured-motorist-coverage-car-insurance#limits-premiums

Uninsured motorists. (2016, September). Insurance Information Institute. Retrieved from http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/uninsured-motorists

The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.

Contact Myers Law Firm

We are committed to continuing to serve our clients’ legal needs

Single Divider

We are able to meet with clients and hold consultations with prospective clients via telephone or video conference. If you need to contact us, please do not hesitate; we are happy to speak with you about your situation, your needs, and how we can help.

Schedule Your Consultation Now!

Type of Case (Select One)(Required)
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