Auto Insurance
Personal auto policy structure
- Part A – Liability (bodily injury and property damage to others).
- Part B – Medical payments.
- Part C – Uninsured/underinsured motorists. UM responds where the at-fault driver has no coverage or is a hit-and-run; UIM pays the gap between the claimant's damages and the tortfeasor's insufficient limits.
- Part D – Physical damage to the insured vehicle: collision and other-than-collision (comprehensive), settled at ACV unless agreed value applies.
Maine requirements and tort rules
Maine requires liability limits of at least $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident bodily injury and $25,000 property damage, uninsured motorist coverage at the liability limits (which must be offered and can only be rejected in writing), and medical payments coverage of at least $2,000. Maine is a tort, at-fault state - there is no no-fault PIP system - and applies modified comparative fault: a claimant's recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault, and recovery is barred when the claimant's fault is 50% or greater.
Worked example
An injured driver has $60,000 in damages and is found 45% at fault. Recovery is $60,000 × 55% = $33,000, paid from the other driver's Part A limits. If the same driver were found 50% at fault, Maine's modified rule bars recovery entirely, and the adjuster should document the comparative-fault finding in the file.
Traps
Confusing UM with UIM; applying a policy limit before reducing for comparative fault; charging betterment on tires and batteries without explaining it; paying total losses without addressing salvage retention and owner-retained salvage deductions; assuming a permissive driver is always covered when the policy excludes regular-use vehicles.