Many drivers in Florida are angered by the fact that their car insurance rates are still high despite the new legislation that has been passed to try to deal with insurance fraud. Florida is the number one state where car insurance fraud happens so it has been important for politicians to get on board and pass laws to deal with the problem.
The issue that many drivers face is that they live in a no fault insurance state. When people live in these states, they have to pay higher premium rates. This is because car insurance companies are required to pay out for insurance claims regardless of who is at fault which is costly to do. Drivers in the state want some relief soon.
Insurance insiders have said that attorneys are behind the problem and that a decline in car insurance rates is unlikely to occur within the next few years. Legislators have not taken action to cap the fees that attorneys can charge for their services in regards to car insurance claims.
One lawyer was fighting a $180 insurance claim for a client and had billed him over $60,000. Another claim was for roughly $200 and the attorney was given almost $40,000. With lawyers being able to collect thousands of dollars for their services, it puts policy holders at risk financially.
The problem here is that if legislators took action and capped attorneys’ fees then accident victims and other policy holders would have a very hard time getting legal representation. Car insurance claims can be hard to deal with because a driver is assigned fault. This means that many victims have to sue their car insurance company or other drivers to get the compensation that they need to cover their expenses.
Florida needs to be able to consider having a percentage that attorneys can make off of each claim that they handle. This would help to reduce the amount of money that attorneys can get for their legal work. It is important for both lawyers and policy holders to be able to co-exist together because they both need each other to survive.
Legislators need to explore alternate methods to reduce car insurance rates. One idea might be to allow mediators to be involved in claims where an attorney would be asking for less than $1,000. Mediators are very good at trying to settle claims quickly so that claims can be discharged fast.
