The Envelope You Must Not Put in a Drawer

Most collisions never become a lawsuit. When one does, the single worst thing you can do is nothing — and it is the most common first reaction, because the paperwork looks like something that can wait a week. It cannot.

What to do the day you are served

Send it to your insurer the same day. Not next week, not after you have thought about it. Court papers carry deadlines measured in days, and a deadline missed while an envelope sat on a kitchen table can turn a defended claim into a judgment against you by default. Your policy also contains a condition requiring prompt notice of a suit — that is not fine print, it is the mechanism that brings the company in on your side.

Do not answer the complaint yourself, and do not start negotiating with the other side. Once your insurer is involved, ask them how they want contact handled, and follow that.

What your insurer is obliged to do

A liability policy does two separate things: it pays claims within your limits, and it defends you. The defense obligation is why the company appoints and pays for a lawyer to represent you. Whether those defense costs sit outside your limits or eat into them is a policy-specific question — most personal auto forms handle it one way, but yours is the one that governs, so ask the company directly and get the answer in writing.

Where your own money starts being at risk

Your limits are the ceiling on what the insurer pays, and California's current minimum liability limits are 30/60/15 — the DMV's insurance requirements page sets them out. If a judgment lands above your limit, the excess is yours. It does not evaporate; it is an obligation enforceable against you personally.

This is the whole reason liability limits deserve a real decision rather than a default. We tell callers to get the same policy quoted at two different liability limits and then look at the two numbers themselves — that comparison, in your own case, is far more useful than any general claim about what higher limits cost.

The coverage that sits on top

An umbrella or excess liability policy adds a layer above your auto limits. Whether you qualify, and what it requires underneath it, is company-specific — but it is worth asking about if you have assets that a judgment could reach. Ask before you need it; nobody sells you one after the crash.

The honest limits of what an agent can tell you

We can explain your coverage, tell you what your limits are, and get the claim in front of the right people quickly. We cannot advise you on the litigation itself. If you are exposed above your limits, that is a conversation for a lawyer, and you are entitled to retain your own at your expense alongside the one the insurer appoints. Ask your insurer to tell you plainly whether they consider the claim likely to exceed your limits — that answer changes what you should do next.

Before it ever happens

Read your declarations page and find your liability limits. Most people have never done this, and it is the number that decides how a bad day ends. We will read it with you and quote the alternative, without any pressure to move.