No
fault insurance – A very nice way of
protecting the policyholder's interest
A lot of
people think that a no fault insurance plan
is something where the insurance plan holder
doesn’t have to pay anything, if he is not
at fault. Actually, the concept of no fault
insurance is not practiced widely. Specific
to the United States of America, there are
only certain states that have this no fault
insurance policy. Apart from the USA, only
Canada and Australia are the two other
countries that have no fault insurance plans
for their policyholders.
The basic reason for the existence of no
fault insurance plans is to reduce the
premium costs. This is done by avoiding
expensive cases that normally get filed due
to accidents. Normally, in the event of an
accident, the claims made by the victim is
settled by his insurance company, while on
the other hand, the at-fault driver gets
charged higher premiums by his insurance
company. Companies having no fault insurance
plans work on this principle of recouping
their losses by charging higher premiums.
Any type of insurance plan is normally
welcomed by one and all, but no fault
insurance plan would be one that has met
with its share of critics. Critics say that
by no fault insurance plans merely charging
the at-fault drivers with higher premiums,
the issue of reckless or harsh driving is
not tackled in the best possible manner.
They also argue that victims of such
accidents often find it difficult to get a
settlement before the jury. They also
reasonably feel that though automobile
accidents just happen, or at least most of
them aren’t done willfully, cases where the
driver has been found at fault has not taken
the wrath of the repercussions of litigation
cases.
The other reasoning from critics is that the
popularity of no fault insurance in high
automobile risk or high auto-accidents area
is alarming. The number of no fault
insurance policyholders, critics argue, is
comparatively higher than any other state in
the United States of America. The other
interesting fact coming out from their
revelations is that the driving sense of
motorists covered under the no fault
insurance plan is alarmingly negligent
towards uninsured motorists in certain
areas.
The valid points mentioned by critics
clearly point out gaping holes in the policy
implementation of no fault insurance. One
thing is for sure though – In cases that
seem to be genuine, individuals who have
this plan have been benefited a great deal.
That being said, these small issues need to
be ironed out, specifically by the insurance
companies themselves, if they wish to make
no fault insurance a foolproof concept!
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