Bodily injury is damage to the physical, psychological or economic integrity of a person. They occur as a result of a car accident. The guarantees of your car insurance cover your prejudice after receiving your declaration and, if your injuries are particularly serious and/or disabling, the report of an expert doctor. Your compensation and its conditions vary according to your level of responsibility in the accident, determined by the joint report.
You are not responsible for the accident and the third party is identified
If you are the victim of the accident, compensation for your bodily injury is paid under the Badinter law. This system offers a quick settlement, without waiting for a possible trial against the person responsible. Your medical expenses, your loss of income, the suffering you have undergone, and a possible disability pension are all taken into account in the assessment of the damage by the expert doctor.
The third party is identified but not solvent
Put together a file and send it to the Guarantee fund for compulsory damage insurance (GFCDI). The GFCDI covers bodily injury to victims of road accidents, hunting accidents, and technological and mining risks, whose authors are not insured.
You are responsible for the accident or the third party is not identified
- You are covered only if you have taken out a bodily injury guarantee, personal driver’s guarantee or individual guarantee. Pay attention to the reasons for exclusion of this option. If you are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or have a suspended license, you may not be covered. Refer to your policy’s terms and conditions for the exact list. There are limits to the amount of compensation available under the above coverages. It varies from 450,000 to 1 million dollars depending on the insurer. It is sometimes included in your basic policy, but make sure it is included. For the highest limits, notably 1 million dollars, you will certainly have to take out an extension of coverage.
- If you are partially at fault, you will probably be compensated up to your level of responsibility in the accident. This figure is estimated by your insurer, based on the joint report, the expert’s opinion and/or the report drawn up by the police. For example, if you are 50% at fault for the accident, you will receive half the amount that would have been allocated to a driver who was not at fault.
Auto Car insurance: compensation for personal injury
When an accident has caused damage to people other than the driver, the insurer proceeds to the compensation. The car insurance may pay for the bodily injuries they have suffered, but also for any material losses, such as glasses or prostheses broken in the accident and prescribed by a doctor.
In practice, the responsible party’s car insurance company makes an offer of compensation to the victims or to the heirs in case of death, to the partner or cohabitant if they are linked by a PACS and to the victim’s guardian if he or she is a minor.
This offer of compensation is made within a maximum period of eight months after the accident. However, when the victim has already made a claim for compensation, the offer of compensation must be received within three months of the day of the claim. However, these deadlines can be extended when the insurer is caught short. This may be the case if, for example, the insured did not even inform the insurer of the accident within the deadline. It is also possible that the victim refuses to have medical examinations performed.
The compensation offer varies depending on the victim’s state of health. If the victim is permanently ill and the car insurance company has been notified within three months, the offer becomes final; otherwise, the offer is only temporary. When the victim receives the compensation, he or she has fifteen days to inform the insurer. Once the offer has been accepted, the insurer has forty-five days at the latest to send the settlement to the victim, failing which it will incur a penalty.
Road accident: how victims are compensated
If you have harmed others as a result of a road accident, whether they are passengers or not, you should know that you will have to compensate them. That’s the whole point of car insurance, which will take care of compensating these victims on your behalf thanks to the civil liability coverage you have taken out. Here is an overview.
Compensation for injured passengers
The third party liability coverage, which corresponds to the third party insurance, is the only mandatory coverage in car insurance.
In fact, this guarantee covers the damage you could cause to third parties. In the case of a traffic accident, your insurance company will compensate the injured passengers, as provided for in the Badinter law of July 5, 1985, which aims to improve the situation of traffic accident victims and to accelerate the compensation procedures.
How compensation works
The car insurance allows to compensate different types of damages such as aesthetic prejudice, suffering endured by the victims, “pleasure prejudice” or partial or total disabilities whether they are temporary or permanent. In case of death, the insurance also covers financial and moral damages.
The compensation is systematic unless the victim voluntarily provoked the accident, in particular in case of suicide.
The steps to follow
In order to claim from your insurer, you must declare the accident within 5 days after the accident and the compensation of the victim passengers will be done within 8 months after the date of the accident.
However, the insurer has to compensate the victim within 3 months from the date of the claim if he/she cannot fully justify the extent of the damage or if the liability remains unclear.
If the accident caused the death of a passenger, the insurer will pay the full amount of the compensation to the spouse or heirs.