The Schafer Law Office

The Kentucky Assigned Claims Plan

What happens if you are in a car accident where you are a passenger, the car you are in doesn’t have insurance? What if you are driving a car that you do not own and you do not live in the same house with the owner and that car doesn’t have insurance? Because there is no insurance, you might assume that there is no Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. You may think you are out of luck. You are not. You may be eligible for what is called The Kentucky Assigned Claims Plan. This is a statutory benefit that has the same benefits as a purchased PIP or Basic Reparation policy. The Kentucky Assigned Claims Plan should not be thought of as a replacement for insurance. Nor does it relieve you of any criminal responsibility for driving a car with no insurance. This plan’s purpose is to cover the innocent person who believes the car they are in is insured. It also provides coverage for you if you are traveling via mass transit, busses or taxi cabs.

To be eligible for this plan there a few requirements that must be met. You must not own the vehicle involved. You or anyone you live with cannot have car insurance. If someone you live with has car insurance their PIP benefits may cover you even if their car was not involved. The last requirement is that you cannot have any health insurance. If you do that must be used as the primary insurance and be used to cover the medical bills. You may, however, be able to have out-of-pocket and expenses and lost wages up to $200 per week paid from the KACP. Another aspect of this plan to be aware of is that it will only pay up to $10,000.00 in medical bills and lost wages.

The way this plan works is that every licensed auto insurance company in the Commonwealth of Kentucky is required to participate in this plan. When a person applies for these benefits an insurance company is assigned to that case. They will investigate as to eligibility and then treat that person as if they held a policy with them. If they determine they are eligible they will act accordingly. Once the designated insurance pays they will seek reimbursement for the amount they paid from the owner of the uninsured car. The amount that is sought will depend on whether or not the at-fault car had insurance. If the at-fault car had insurance they will seek the first $1,000 paid from the owner of the car and the remainder paid from the at-fault insurance company. If the at-fault car did not have insurance the KACP insurance company can seek reimbursement of up to $10,000 from the owner of the uninsured car.

This is in no way to be relied on as a substitution of car insurance. This is in place to allow persons to get medical treatment in a timely fashion. For more information on Louisville, Ky attorney Mike Schafer go to www.mikeschaferlaw.com.