Rights under a first party
What is a first party claim? It is simply a claim that you make against your own insurance company. You could make a claim against the person that hit you, that would be a third party claim.
Shortly after you are in a car accident and make a claim, you will see that these concepts will have a very significant impact in how the insurance companies treat you.
The rights under a first party claim are much higher and much bigger than most people realize. Duties under a contract are constructed by the courts as an implied duty of fair dealing and good right on BOTH parties. This means that your insurance company must be fair, answer to you, keep you inform about the investigation and the process, etc. If there is a violation of any of the implied covenants of the contract (good faith and fair dealing), you could sue the insurance company for bad faith. To determine what a violation is, refer to your state code and look under “insurance” or insurance regulation.
Under a third party claim, your rights are much more diminished. Third party bad faith lawsuits are not allowed in most states (Montana allows third party bad faith). Other than that, you do not have many rights:
They cannot lie to you or misrepresent the facts
They must tell you that the statute of limitation is (unless you have an attorney). That is about it.
