Is Texas Auto Insurance No Fault or Comparative Negligence?
If you want to drive legally in Texas, you need automobile insurance. Like other states, Texas sets rules and requirements for how much insurance residents must carry; refusing to buy insurance could result in a thousand-dollar fine. Texas is a comparative negligence state, meaning the damages you can claim in an auto accident are based on how much you and the other driver are at fault.
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Fault
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With no-fault insurance -- sometimes called personal injury protection insurance, or PIP -- your insurer covers your damages, regardless of who was responsible for the accident. This is supposed to keep premiums low by reducing paperwork and legal fees, Lawyers.com states. In practice, no-fault laws in some states may allow you or your insurer to sue if your damages add up to more than your insurance will cover.
Comparative Negligence
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Comparative negligence is based on the doctrine of contributory negligence, according to the Car Insurance Quote website. Under contributory negligence rules, you can't claim any damage if you were partly responsible for an accident. With comparative negligence, you can claim damages based on the other driver's percentage of responsibility. If you suffer $5,000 in medical bills in a Houston crash, for instance, and the insurance adjuster determines the other driver is 60 percent responsible, you could demand $3,000 -- 60 percent of your losses.
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Proportion
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Proportional comparative negligence is a policy under which you can't collect damages if the majority of the blame is yours. In Texas, even 50 percent of the blame is too much, according to the Rasansky Law Firm. The insurance adjuster has to confirm that you were no more than 49 percent responsible for the accident, or you can't seek damages from the other driver. In some cases, fault determination is almost a given. A driver who rear-ends another car, for instance, will usually be given all the blame for the accident.
Texas Insurance
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Because Texas isn't a no-fault state, you and your insurer are responsible for paying damages if you're the one at fault in an accident. For that reason, Texas law requires drivers to take out liability insurance: The 2011 requirement, for example, was $25,000 in property damage insurance and $30,000 in personal injury, up to a total of $60,000 personal injury coverage per accident. This will pay for the other driver's damages if you're the one blamed for the crash.
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- Photo Credit deserted wrecked car in the desert image by David Smith from Fotolia.com
