October 20, 2016

What Is Full Tort & Limited Tort Car Insurance?

Car Insurance:

Full Tort
Limited Tort

Are you confident that you can explain the difference? Can you definitively make the right choice when you are purchasing or renewing your car insurance policy? What will your auto insurance agent tell you – is it the best advice for you and your family from a legal standpoint?

Peter Hart and Steven Karp are two experienced personal injury lawyers who care about you. They have been practicing law in Chester County / West Chester Pennsylvania (PA) for decades, and have seen it all. They have helped hundreds of individuals successfully receive car insurance settlements that were appropriate for their car accident and injuries sustained.

When you are given the car insurance choice between full tort and limited tort – is it best to save a few bucks and limit your possible future accident and injury claims – or is it better to have the type of coverage that protects you financially in an unfortunate situation?

Full Tort & Limited Tort Video Tutorial

Full Tort vs Limited Tort car insurance. Sometimes this important choice is made in a matter of seconds with minimal input and explanation from your automobile insurance agency. In the state of Pennsylvania, there are additional considerations to be aware of.

This video tutorial on tort insurance choices was made specifically to help you make the correct choice, one that you won’t regret if the unexpected happens to you of your loved ones.

As always, if you have any further insurance tort questions, Pete and Steve are available to receive your call personally, and spend a few minutes chatting about it at no charge to you. No catches – just the desire to help, and let you know that there are attorneys who want to interact with their community in a positive way.

Here Is The Full Transcript Of The Insurance Tort Video

>>>STEVEN KARP: Good morning Pete.

>>>PETER HART: How ya doin’ Steve?

>>>STEVEN KARP: Today – another day fighting insurance companies?

>>>PETER HART: Oh yeah, it never stops!

>>>STEVEN KARP: Well Pete, you know that our firm predominantly handles automobile accident cases, when you’re in Pennsylvania and you select an insurance company to provide your coverage, you have to make a selection first of limited tort or full tort coverage. A lot of people do not know what that means – could you tell us?

>>>PETER HART: Sure. Most people when they get a policy, they want to get the cheapest policy they can get, you are automatically in Pennsylvania entitled to full tort or a full rights policy, but often for people to save a few bucks they choose limited tort – well limited tort limits what they can sue for! So when somebody selects a limited tort policy they have basically given up their right to sue for pain and suffering – which often times is a big part of the case.

>>>STEVEN KARP: Right. Most of what we do – is that when a lawyer represents somebody, is to sue for the pain and suffering, the economic damages, the wage loss that they can do themselves – property damage – but it’s that pain and suffering for the injury that is sometimes catastrophic that you want to be able to collect for.

>>>PETER HART: Right, absolutely! You and I have been doing it for going on thirty years or so or even more and the art of it is being able to present it to an insurance company or to a jury if necessary about what the actual physical pain and suffering a person has sustained, and be able to present it in a way that maximizes the recovery – and that’s not necessarily so easy.

>>>STEVEN KARP: Now it all starts when a person goes to their agent and says, “I want car insurance,” and gee I don’t want to spend a lot of money, and often time then the agent will say that you can get limited tort if you have an injury that’s really bad – you can still collect. If you have limited tort there are still exceptions where you are afforded full tort coverage – what are the exceptions?

>>>PETER HART: Right. Under the law, one of those exceptions is if you are struck by a drunk driver – someone who is later convicted or pleads guilty to drunk driving. Another exception would be if it is an out of state drive that struck you – somebody from Delaware or Maryland. Most often it is somebody who sustains a serious injury.

>>>STEVEN KARP: And I love that term – serious injury – when the agent says, “…well if you have a SERIOUS injury…” What is a serious injury?

>>>PETER HART: It’s up to a court – if an insurance learns that you have limited tort – and they will learn it if you’re injured and are filing a claim – then they’re gonna make it a lot harder…

>>>STEVEN KARP: Let’s say I get a back injury in a normal case in a car accident a sprain and strain I’m out of work for a month and limited i do therapy and I gradually get better but I still have little twinges six months or a year later – to me that’s serious – is that gonna be serious?

>>>PETER HART: Sure – most often I would say probably not in Pennsylvania – in Pennsylvania when they say serious they mean serious where you have broken bones, herniated disks in your neck or your back and the problems are generally ongoing or sometimes permanent.

>>>STEVEN KARP: So why wouldn’t everyone select full tort if it’s easier – you don’t have to worry about the guy being drunk or from out of state – why wouldn’t everybody select full tort?

>>>PETER HART: Because people aren’t informed – you should be paying a few more bucks…

>>>STEVEN KARP: When you say a few bucks – what have we seen as the difference if I’m gonna select full tort of limited tort – how much more do I pay?

>>>PETER HART: Anywhere from a hundred up to a couple hundred dollars…

>>>STEVEN KARP: It’s the price of a few dinners – don’t go out a few times – and you can get full coverage for your family.

>>>PETER HART: Absolutely right. When you talk to your agent, make sure that your agents informs you fully what full tort means.

>>>STEVEN KARP: We’ll spend five minutes with you and tell you what might be the best coverage for you and your family.

>>>PETER HART: And I’d like to say it’s five minutes but quite often it’s a lot more and we don’t mind spending the time because we like to have informed clientele. It’s important – it’s important for you the citizens.

What Is Full Tort & Limited Tort Car Insurance?

Car Insurance:

Full Tort & Limited Tort Video Tutorial

Here Is The Full Transcript Of The Insurance Tort Video

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