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I need to know the laws pertaining to a policy holder who only has liability coverage when they intentionally hit my vehicle. The company is telling me that they may not pay for damages to me nor provide a rental car for me. How is that possible? I can see if their insurance refuses to cover their car, but I am an innocent by-stander and I should be compensated.

State laws can differ and since we do not give legal advice we would advise you to check with a lawyer to find out the specific laws that may apply to your situation. Before speaking with an attorney you may want to contact your state's insurance regulator to see if they can give you consumer advice about your incident and the best way to proceed.

That being said we can say that in general auto insurance companies' do not cover damages a driver causes when they intentionally hit a vehicle or intentionally damage another person or their property. Accidents are covered while damages caused on purpose are not as a way to deter a driver from thinking they can run into another car only to have their insurer cover them. This is called the intentional acts exclusion.

An exclusion is basically language in a policy (or endorsement) which specifies that a given circumstance is not covered. Intentional acts of the insured is a normal exclusion listed in an auto policy. With this exclusion if an insured were to damage property or cause bodily injury on purpose, the policy will not provide coverage due to the intentional acts exclusion. You can discuss this with the at-fault party's insurer but it likely the reason they will deny your claim.

The consequence for damaging another person's property on purpose normally is that the driver should be held personally responsible for their actions because as you state, you are innocent in this matter. It would appear that the policyholder of the vehicle that damaged your car has the intentional acts exception so that the carrier will not pay for deliberate acts such as what happened in your case.

An auto insurance liability policy is a contract intended to protect the policyholder from liability resulting from unintentional conduct. So intentional acts and criminal acts are both usually not covered by a person's liability coverage since most insurers and states believe the financial responsibility or burden should be on the driver who did the damage purposefully and not their insurer.

If the other party's insurance company is not accepting your claim for the damages they will also not pay for a rental car. These are both costs you should take up with the at-fault party. Likely if they are the type of person to purposely damage another car then you will end up having to take them to court and seek a judgment for your expenses coming from this incident.

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This car insurance question was asked on 1/10/2008
This auto insurance answer was last updated on 1/15/2008
Marie requested this car insurance solution.
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