Insurance next steps

The legal minimum is not “full coverage”

TDI’s auto guide says Texas drivers must be able to show they can pay for accidents they cause, usually with auto liability insurance. The minimum amounts TDI states are $30,000 for injuries per person, up to $60,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. Transportation Code § 601.072 states those same figures, effective since January 1, 2011, and DPS repeats them on its financial-responsibility page. TDI says the minimum can be too low for a serious crash and that a driver can be responsible beyond the policy. That is TDI’s consumer warning. It is not a finding that you were at fault or that anyone will sue.

Liability coverage, as TDI describes it, pays other people’s injuries and property when you are at fault. It does not repair your own car. Collision coverage is the one TDI describes as paying to repair or replace your car after an accident, subject to a deductible. Comprehensive coverage is for theft, flood, fire, vandalism, and similar non-collision losses. Towing, rental, and medical-payments coverages are optional add-ons TDI lists. Dollar limits and deductibles are whatever your policy says. This guide does not print a sample deductible, because none of the official pages stated a single required amount.

PIP and uninsured-motorist coverage

TDI says every Texas auto policy includes personal injury protection unless the customer rejects it in writing. TDI describes PIP as paying medical bills and, unlike medical payments coverage, some lost wages and other costs, regardless of who caused the crash. TDI also says insurers must offer uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and that a written rejection is required if you do not want it. The hit-and-run and uninsured pages explain how TDI describes those coverages. “Must offer” does not mean “your policy still has it.”

Deadlines after you file on your own policy

TDI’s Consumer Bill of Rights for personal auto insurance describes these duties of the company when you file a claim on your own policy:

• Within 15 days after you file, acknowledge the claim, start the investigation, and ask for what it still needs.
• Within 15 business days after it has the information it needs, approve or deny the claim in writing. It may extend that period up to 45 days if it tells you why.
• Within 5 business days after it says the claim is approved, pay it.

The bill of rights says TDI can extend these deadlines by 15 more days in a weather-related catastrophe. It also says a missed deadline may support a claim for the amount due, interest, and attorney’s fees. That is a description of TDI’s bill of rights, not a statement that your company missed a deadline or that a lawyer is required. The auto guide adds that the prompt-payment law does not apply in the same way when another driver’s insurer is paying, and that the other company must still act in good faith and try to settle quickly and fairly.

TDI says you may choose the repair shop. The company does not have to pay more than a reasonable amount, and it may not specify the brand or vendor of parts in the way the bill of rights forbids. An estimate can be revised if hidden damage appears. None of that requires you to accept the first number, and none of it requires the company to pay a number you prefer.

What to gather, and where not to put it

TDI suggests photos of the damage, the other driver’s insurance information, witness names when you have them, a copy of the officer’s report when you get one, and medical bills if you were treated. Keep that packet yourself. This website has no form, no upload, and no claim desk. Giving a recorded statement is a decision about your claim. This site does not tell you to give one or to refuse one.