Auto Claim Insurance Laws of Wisconsin
- The law defines the time period you have to settle injury claims.Valueline/Valueline/Getty Images
Wisconsin changed some of its insurance claims laws effective November 1, 2009. These laws primarily affect the filing of uninsured and underinsured motorist claims and the benefits available to you when you file. Other laws regarding determination of negligence, statute of limitations after an accident and use of certain parts during auto repair were in effect before these changes and remain in effect as of November 2010. - Wisconsin law permits insurers to utilize aftermarket and recycled parts to repair your vehicle after an accident. Auto insurance contracts are not required to specifically state the types of parts the insurers will use. You may request that your auto repair include only new parts made by the vehicle's original manufacturer, but insurers are not required to pay for them. You must pay the balance of the repair cost above what the insurer authorizes.
- Most auto repair claims are handled very quickly after an accident, but injury claims can take much longer, sometimes years. According to Wisconsin's Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, state law requires that injury claims must be settled or litigated within three years after an accident. If you do not receive a satisfactory settlement offer from the insurer and you wish to sue as a result, do so before the statute of limitations expires.
- Wisconsin has a comparative negligence law that allows insurers to assign negligence to drivers in quantities other than 100 percent. In other words, both parties involved in an accident may be partially responsible for a loss, and share the burden of liability to some degree. The party with greater negligence cannot recover damages from the party with lesser negligence, and all damages awarded to the party with lesser negligence are reduced by his percentage of responsibility.
- On Nov. 1, 2009, new uninsured/underinsured motorist laws were made effective in Wisconsin. The new law permits you to file an uninsured motorist claim for an accident caused by someone who fled the scene, even if that vehicle did not directly strike yours. The previous law required physical contact between vehicles to qualify for an uninsured motorist claim. If you own and insure up to three vehicles, you may also file an uninsured/underinsured motorist claim utilizing the total benefits available across all the vehicles you insure, rather than just those for the vehicle involved in the accident.
