Washington Auto Insurance Quotes

When hunting for Washington auto insurance quotes, it is important to remember the minimum coverage required by Washington state law is 25/50/10 coverage or $25,000 per injured person up to a maximum of $50,000 per accident and up to $10,000 for property damage per accident.

Individuals who live on only one state for all of their driving years generally believe claims are handled the same everywhere, but there are actually a variety of ways that claims are handled. One is essentially adversarial while others are less so.

Traditional or Tort System

The traditional method of handling automobile claims is through the tort system: One driver is generally found to be at fault in an accident. The at-fault driver’s insurance carrier is obligated to pay for the losses suffered by the other parties to the accident, which means that an injured party might not receive any payment for losses or might receive only partial payment if the at-fault driver has no insurance or inadequate assets, or if the loss is too small to justify the use of a lawyer.

There are those who claim the traditional system makes the amount received from the at-fault driver more a function of the lawyer’s skill than the merits of the case, and this approach can make the claims process quite lengthy if the insured’s carrier chooses to deny liability or attempts to offer payment that is much lower than the loss. When a court’s judgment is reasonable, keeping the percentage of the payment as a contingency fee usually compensates the lawyer of the injured party. However, this may leave the client with less than what he or she believes is adequate compensation for injury.

If you are looking for Washington auto insurance quotes keep in mind that the state of Washington uses this traditional or tort system. This means that the person deemed at-fault for causing an accident is the person responsible for any damages.

No-Fault System

To speed up the process and reduce the adversarial nature of claims, some states established no-fault auto insurance laws. Under no-fault auto insurance laws, the insured’s insurer pays for his or her losses first. Then the insurance company generally seeks reimbursement from the at-fault driver and his or her insurer. There are three forms of no-fault coverage. While all three are called no-fault programs, only the first eliminates the need for blame. To successfully sue someone, blame must be placed, even if in some cases it is difficult or impossible to determine where.

Pure No-Fault

Under this form, the insured may no sue the other driver nor the other driver’s insurer. This approach has been advocated for years, but has never been adopted in any state.

Modified No-Fault

This approach permits a lawsuit only when a statutory threshold is surpassed. The threshold may be either a dollar amount of physical injuries or a verbal threshold such as death, serious injury, or disfigurement. Generally, a suit is limited to losses that exceed the amount paid by the insured’s own insurer.

Expanded No-Fault

Sometimes called expanded first-party coverage, this allows the injured to sue the other driver and his or her insurer regardless of the amount received from his or her own company.

The average auto insurance premium for Washington residents is $1,666 while the national average is $1,576. If you’re searching for Washington auto insurance quotes, it is important to get quotes from several companies to compare rates and find one that meets your financial requirements.