California is what is considered an “at fault” or a “fault” insurance state when it comes to accidents. The differences between an at fault insurance state and a no fault insurance state are:
- In an “at fault” insurance state when someone is determined to be at fault you can go through his or her insurance company.
- In a no fault insurance state, if you get an in accident, you have to go through your own insurance company.
- In an at fault insurance state, it may be easier to get paid but the insurance companies will want to settle fast to get rid of the claim.
- In a no fault insurance state, your own insurer has your best interested at hand a little more than an at fault insurance state.
Every person in California is required to have a minimum amount of insurance. Being at fault in the state of California in a legal sense is also saying that you were negligent in something that you did. This can have other unintended consequences when lawsuits are filed if someone has been injured.
What role does fault play when there are injuries?
When there are injuries from an accident more specifically a car accident case, if one of the insurance companies accepts fault early on in the process then that makes it a lot easier to sue for injuries. The insurance company that accepted fault is not saying that they will pay for any medical bills. However, they are at least saying that they accept liability on behalf of their driver, which helps with the claim.
It is a lot harder for an insurance company to win at trial when they are admitting that their party is at fault. Lets take drunk driving car accidents for example. In these types of cases the insurance companies almost always admit fault right away and pay out as quick as possible. The reason for this is because an insurance company does not want to defend a drunk driver in court. They understand that a jury would not have much sympathy for their drunk driver going out and hurting someone.
When I am “at fault” in California will that affect my insurance rates?
If you are deemed at fault in an accident in California, this will certainly affect your insurance rates. This is the insurance company taking responsibility for the accident on your behalf and agreeing to fix the car. You will therefore be responsible for any raise in rate that they deem necessary due to what happened in the accident.