Auto Accident Lawyer in Dallas: Whose Insurance Pays After a Texas Wreck

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After an auto accident in Dallas, the first practical question is usually not who was at fault. It is who pays the hospital, the doctor, the car and the lost wages while the fault question is being argued. In Texas the answer can involve several insurance policies at once: the other driver’s, your own, and sometimes one belonging to an employer. This page explains each coverage, what Texas law requires, and how we fit the claims together as auto accident lawyers who used to work for insurers.

The other driver’s liability insurance

Texas requires drivers to carry liability insurance of at least $30,000 for injury or death of one person, $60,000 for two or more people and $25,000 for property damage in each crash. That is the rule in Transportation Code 601.072, often called 30/60/25. These are statutory minimums, not a measure of what any claim is worth, and many drivers carry more.

Liability insurance pays only when its driver is legally responsible, which is why the fault rules matter. Under Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 you can recover if you are 50 percent or less responsible, reduced by your share. Our page on how fault is decided covers that in detail.

Personal injury protection (PIP)

Personal injury protection is part of every Texas auto policy unless a named insured rejected it in writing (Insurance Code 1952.152). The law does not require more than $2,500 per person, though many policies carry more (1952.153). Two features make PIP useful right after a wreck.

• It is paid without regard to fault (Insurance Code 1952.155(a)), so it does not wait for the fault argument to end.
• It must be paid within 30 days of satisfactory proof of a claim (1952.156(a)).

PIP can help with medical bills and lost income in the first weeks. How it interacts with your claim against the other driver is something we look at early, because it affects how bills are paid and what is owed back later.

Uninsured and underinsured drivers

Some drivers on Dallas roads carry no insurance, and many carry only the minimum. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, often called UM/UIM, is your own insurance stepping in for theirs. Under Insurance Code 1952.101, it must be included in every Texas auto policy unless a named insured rejects it in writing.

A UM/UIM claim is a claim against your own insurer, but it is still an insurance claim. Your insurer will look at fault and at your injuries the same way the other driver’s insurer would. Several of our attorneys handled claims from the insurer’s side before they practiced law, and we prepare a UM/UIM claim as carefully as any other.

When the other driver leaves

A driver in a crash with injury must stop, check whether anyone needs help, and stay to give information (Transportation Code 550.021). When a driver flees, your own coverage may be the main source of payment. Our article on hit-and-run wrecks in Dallas explains what to do next.

Rideshare and work vehicles

When the at-fault car was being driven for work, such as a delivery car, a company truck or a rideshare car, more than one insurer can be involved: the driver’s own policy, the employer’s or the company’s coverage, and yours. Which one applies can depend on what the driver was doing at the moment of the crash. We identify every vehicle owner, employer and insurer at the start, because a policy found late is a policy that may be argued about later.

If you were a passenger in a rideshare car, the same questions apply in reverse: the claim may run against your driver’s coverage, the other driver’s, or both.

City buses and government vehicles

A wreck with a city bus, a county truck or a police car follows different rules. Under the Texas Tort Claims Act, written notice usually must reach the government within six months, describing the injury and the time, place and incident, and a city charter may set a shorter period (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 101.101). The law also caps what a government unit can be required to pay: for a city, $250,000 for each person and $500,000 for each occurrence for bodily injury or death (CPRC 101.023). These are statutory limits, not values of any claim.

Property damage and your car

Your car is usually the first claim to move. The at-fault driver’s liability coverage pays for property damage up to its limit, $25,000 at the Texas minimum. Your own collision coverage, if you carry it, may also apply. Photograph the car before it is repaired; the damage is evidence of how the wreck happened.

How the limits work in a real crash

The 30/60/25 numbers are easier to understand with an example. Suppose the at-fault driver carries only the Texas minimum, and three people in your car are hurt. That policy pays at most $30,000 for any one person’s injuries and at most $60,000 for everyone’s injuries together, however serious they are and however many bills there are. Those are limits written into Transportation Code 601.072, not a measure of anyone’s claim. Once they are used up, the at-fault driver’s insurer pays nothing more for injuries from that crash.

That is the gap underinsured motorist coverage is meant to fill. If your own policy carries UIM coverage, it may pay toward injuries beyond what the other driver’s policy covers, up to your own limits. Whether it applies, and how much is available, depends on the policy wording and on what each person in the car carries, which is why we read every policy in the household.

Questions to ask about your own policy

• Does the declarations page list uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and at what limits?
• Is personal injury protection listed, and at what amount per person?
• Did anyone on the policy sign a written rejection of UM/UIM or PIP?
• Do you carry collision coverage for the car itself, and what is the deductible?
• Are other people in your household covered by their own policies that might also apply?

Bring the answers, or simply the policy, to your free case review. We go through it with you line by line.

How we fit the claims together

1. We find every policy that may apply: the other driver’s, the vehicle owner’s, an employer’s and yours.
2. We open the claims in the right order and in writing, so deadlines and notice terms are met.
3. We use PIP and other first-party coverage to keep bills moving while fault is argued.
4. We gather the evidence of fault and injury that every insurer will ask for.
5. We present the claim when the injuries are understood, and we keep the two-year limit to file suit under Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 in view.

Our fee

No Fees or Costs Unless We Win. The firm advances case costs, and you owe no attorney’s fee and no case costs unless money is recovered for you. The case review is free, and our Dallas office at 5001 Spring Valley Road answers the phone 24 hours a day.

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