What can I od if I was in a car accident a year ago but the person of the car that hit me didn’t have insurance?

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What can I od if I was in a car accident a year ago but the person of the car that hit me didn’t have insurance?

However, when making the police report, the police officer who made the report wrote that it happen on an intersection because I didn’t have an address of where the accident happened. Now my automobile insurance determine that I was 60/40 at fault and raise my car insurance. How can I sue my automobile insurance for breach of contract?

Asked on December 17, 2014 under Accident Law, Illinois

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 9 years ago | Contributor

Technically, raising your rates would not be breach of contract, since there is almost certainly no specific contractual term being breached by the rate increase. Arguably, you could sue them for "breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing"--the unwritten term implied to contracts by the law which states that the parties to contracts must, as the cause of action's name implies, deal with each other fairly and in good faith. However, this can be a very difficult claim to succeed at, especially in a circumstance like that described by you: you'd have to show not just that the determination of fault was incorrect (which is itself difficult, becaue it is subjective), but also that it was done in bad faith. It may be better simply to change insurers: very often, if you get quotes from new insurers who want your business, you can lower your rates significantly.

That's in regard to the rate issue. If you feel the amount of compensation your insurer gave you for the accident is wrong, you could sue on that basis for breach of contract--failing to honor their obligation to pay you the appropriate amount on a claim. To succeed on that claim, you'd have to show that you were less at fault than they alleged, and that based on the correct allocation of fault, you should have been paid more. However, it may not be cost effective to do that. For example: say that you were not injured and suffered car damage. Say the damage to your car (and/or loss of car value) was $5,000. If you were paid 40% of your claim, but feel that a fairer division would have been to have been paid 70%, that is a difference of $1,500; it is not likely economically worthwhile to sue for $1,500.


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