Pennsylvania consumers can learn a few things from Hulk Hogan’s troubles with lawyers, lawsuits and insurance companies. A car accident is the event that started it all for the pro wrestling star but the origins of his problems can be traced to a time long before the car accident. Hulk’s fundamental problems were some bad choices in buying car insurance and ignorance about what to do in the event of an accident.
Here’s what’s happened to the Hulkster. He bought an auto insurance policy with limits of $250,000 per person. That was his first mistake. The limits were way too low for someone of his wealth. And as anyone who has read our book knows, high limits are incredibly cheap.
Then his son was in a terrible car accident that left a good friend with permanent and life altering injuries. It’s not clear whether Hulk could have done anything to prevent the accident, but there were allegations that Hulk’s son was a known drag racer and that Hulk knew and allowed the behavior.
Then, Hulk failed to immediately notify his insurance company about the accident. Instead, he went to private attorneys. This was his second mistake. As Pennsylvanians know who’ve read our book or the articles on our website about what to do after an accident , one of the first things you do after an accident is notify your insurance company.
So, what was the fallout of the accident? First, the injured friend had injuries that were worth far more than the insurance coverage Hulk had. That meant that Hulk and his son might lose personal assets (bank accounts, house, cars) in a court case. Second, the private lawyers charged Hulk a boatload to represent him. What’s wrong with that? If Hulk had notified his insurance company, his insurance company would have hired lawyers to represent him FOR FREE!
So, there are at least three lessons to take away from Hulk Hogan’s problems:
1. Buy enough insurance coverage! We recommend at least minimums of $250,000 – $500,000 for most people (and many people, especially very wealthy people like Hulk, need a lot more). And if you read our book then you know that the cost of that extra coverage is dirt cheap (we pay $4.10 per month extra for that coverage). Plus ask your agent about buying “Umbrella” or catastrophic loss coverage, another way to cheaply increase your coverage.
2. Read our book or the articles on our website about how to protect yourself from the liability of car accidents! You’ll be prepared and won’t make mistakes out of ignorance.
3. Notify your insurance company of an accident and ask them to defend and indemnify you! That’s why you buy insurance in the first place.
Now Hulk is in lawsuits against his lawyers for not telling him about the free lawyers available to him through his insurance company (I don’t know if Hulk will win this one but I completely agree that those lawyers should have told him about the insurance company option) and with his insurance company and/or agent for not selling him enough insurance (I don’t know if he’ll win that one either but they definitely should have sold him more than they did). Unfortunately, most insurance agents routinely fail to sell high enough limits because consumers think the best insurance is the cheapest insurance and boy are they wrong.
We’ve got loads of helpful information on our website. We are Erie lawyers committed to providing free information to Pennsylvania consumers about car accidents, car insurance and the cases that relate to them. Order our free book or call us for more information toll free at 814-273-2010 or locally at 814-273-2010.