Insurance

September 18, 2018

Understanding Tennessee Auto Insurance

People often buy insurance on their motor vehicle and think that they have “full coverage.” In fact, many people who have “full coverage” do not have the types of insurance they need and even more frequently do not have the amount of coverage they need.

We suggest that you find your “declarations” page from your vehicle insurance policy and read it in conjunction with the remainder of this post. The declarations page is sent to you with each policy renewal and shows what type of coverage you have for each vehicle insured under the policy. It also shows the cost of each type of coverage.

Here is an explanation of the various types of coverage:

Liability Coverage
Liability coverage is required by law in Tennessee and most other states. Liability insurance exists to help cover damages for injuries to others for which you become legally responsible resulting from a covered accident. In other words, this insurance protects you in the event you cause or are alleged to have caused a wreck that has injured or killed another person. Continue reading

September 11, 2018

Tennessee Drivers Are the Second Worst in the Nation

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

We have a lot to be proud of in the Volunteer State. We make the best whiskey. We are home to the Smokey Mountains, the Vols, the Predators. Nobody does music like our State from country music in Nashville to the blues in Memphis. I could go on and on. But apparently, one thing we stink at is driving – according to a recent study. We have all seen atrocious driving on our streets, highways and interstates, but read on to learn exactly how we became the first-runner-up in this less than esteemed category and who was the winner (or loser in this particular case) Continue reading

July 20, 2018

Do You Have The Right Insurance? And, Do You Have Enough?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Every single day, an attorney at The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. has to tell a client they are not going to receive any money for their injuries or the death of a loved one or they are going to receive a lot less than they should. Every. Single. Day. And, we hate it. Sometimes, we have to tell them this simply because they do not have a case. In other words, there was a terrible accident but no one is to blame under the law. But more often than not, we have to tell people they are not going to recover or they are going to recover substantially less than they should because there is no insurance or not enough insurance.

While you can’t make other people buy insurance, you can still protect yourself from people and companies who either do not have it or do not have enough. And, of course, you can review your own insurance to make sure you are protected in the event you make a mistake and cause an accident. Here are 5 incredibly important questions you should ask yourself, and more importantly, your insurance agent: Continue reading

March 23, 2018

If These 2 Facts Don’t Make You Buy Uninsured Motorist Coverage, Nothing Will

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Tennessee is one of the top five states for uninsured motorists. Roughly 20% of the vehicles on our roads are not covered by insurance. Second, 46.8% of all ride-share drivers do not have ride-share insurance. So why are these two facts so scary? Continue reading

January 10, 2018

How Are You Doing On That New Year’s Resolution?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Almost everyone makes them, and most of us quickly break them. In fact, only 8% of New Year’s resolutions are kept and 80% of us can’t even make it until February. So if you have already broken your New Year’s resolutions, you have plenty of company. But here is some good news: we have three EASY things you can do in the New Year that will make you and your family safer and better protected, and none of them involve losing weight. Continue reading

December 7, 2017

DOs and DONT’s: The Legal Version

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

You may have seen those fashion magazines where they have pictures of people wearing clothes the right way and the wrong way. On the wrong way pictures, they usually put a black box over the person’s face to hide the shame of wearing a meat dress or tights as pants. At The Law Offices of John Day, P.C., we wanted to give you some legal DOs and DON’Ts. Continue reading

April 17, 2017

Dogs: Man’s Best Friend (Usually)

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Roughly 44% of all U.S. households have a dog. Ours has a tri-color King Charles Cavalier named Lincoln (pictured above). Lincoln and most other dogs are wonderful companions, protectors, and exercise buddies, but when they want to dogs can inflict a lot of damage primarily due to their bite pressure. So just how strong is a dog’s bite? Continue reading

March 3, 2017

Protect Yourself: Driving Fatalities at their Highest Since 2007

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Last year, 40,200 people lost their lives in car accidents. Think about that. 40,200 lives cut short. 40,200 funerals. 40,200 families mourning the loss of a loved one. For more perspective on that, the Chicago White Sox stadium holds 40,615 people, so we lost almost a stadium full of people to car accidents last year. The death toll represents a 6% increase over 2015 and a 14% increase over 2014. Experts attribute the rise in deaths to a number of factors and, of course, have offered suggestions to protect yourself. Continue reading

December 26, 2016

Advice From a Lawyer on the New Year’s Resolutions You Should Make

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As the New Year approaches, many start to think about improvements they want to make in their lives for 2017. At The Law Offices of John Day, P.C., our work involves helping people who have been injured in accidents and, since most accidents are preventable, we thought we would give you some New Year’s resolutions that can help protect you and others. The best part of these resolutions is, for the most part, they are easy and painless to implement (unlike that weight resolution most of us make). Here are our recommendations:

Check your auto insurance and make sure you have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. I can’t tell you how often someone calls our office with significant injuries from a car accident who cannot recover any money because the driver who caused the accident did not have insurance and the client did not have uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. We have written a number of posts about uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and you can find them here, here, here and here. But, our number one piece of advice to protect yourself would be to purchase uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage with as high of limits as you can afford. You will truly be surprised at how cheap it is and it can mean the difference between receiving compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and injuries and receiving nothing.
Wear your seatbelt. They save lives. Period.

October 4, 2016

Safest and Most Affordable Cars for Teens

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

If you have kids, you probably have mixed emotions about them getting their driver’s license. Jubilation because they can run to the grocery store for you, get themselves to sports practice without you having to leave work early, etc. But it can also be a terrifying time and with good reason. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens.

Recently, Mercury Insurance released a list of 2016 model year vehicles that had both good safety ratings and were inexpensive to insure. Based on these criteria, the winners were: Subaru Outback, Kia Sportage, Dodge Dart, Kia Soul, Honda HR-V EX, Hyundai Tuscon, Honda Fit , Honda CR-V LX, Hyundai Elantra GT, VW Golf Sportwagen SW. I know. I can hear some of you already: “There is no way I am buying my teenager a brand new car”. I get it. Our two older kids did not get new cars either. The good news is you can do this same type of comparison yourself for used cars. Continue reading