Personal Injury Attorney Ben Schwartz answers a viewer’s question regarding an uninsured motorist claim after a car accident in Delaware.

Hi, I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz,

Today we are going to answer a viewer question from Jean in Seaford, Delaware. Jean wrote in and said, “My daughter had a car accident and the at-fault driver had no insurance. Now my daughter’s lawyer is contacting me for my auto insurance, even though my car was not involved in the accident. He said that because my daughter resided with me, she can make an uninsured motorist claim on my policy. Should I give the lawyer my auto insurance information? If I do and the lawyer makes a claim, is it going to make my rate go up?”

Bonus content: Will my Auto Insurance Company Raise My Rates after a Car Accident that was not my fault?

Two very good questions. This situation happens all the time. If there is a car accident and the at-fault driver has no auto insurance, there is really not much of a point to suing an uninsured motorist who presumably doesn’t have any assets or income, otherwise, they would have paid their insurance bill. So what you can do is, you can make an uninsured motorist claim and for say, a Delaware uninsured motorist or UM claim, you can look to any auto policies that the injured person has or any auto policies that resident family members have.

So that is why the injured person’s attorney is coming to you. As the injured person’s father, the attorney is coming to you looking for your auto insurance information because they’re looking to make an uninsured motorist claim on your policy. That uninsured motorist claim would pay your daughter whatever she would have gotten from the at-fault driver, or the at-fault driver’s insurance company if there had been insurance. It is a good thing to give that insurance information to the lawyer; it will help the lawyer get your daughter compensated for her injuries.

The other question that Jean asked is: “Is this going to make my insurance go up?” If this is in Delaware, the answer is absolutely not. The only time that making a claim is going to make your insurance rate go up if you’ve got a Delaware auto policy, is when you are at-fault. If you are not at-fault and a claim is made on your UM policy, the fact that a claim was made, it is not going to jack up your rate. That would be illegal. If that happens, contact me. I can tell you who to contact at the insurance department and make a complaint so that your rate can come back down.

I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz, I hope that if you are watching this video you found it interesting and informative. I like the idea that we are doing these videos and people are learning more about their rights. So hopefully you are learning more about your rights and you are following us on Facebook and following us on our video blog.  If you have questions for me send me an email below.

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