ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN -- Don’t take an expensive ambulance ride without investing in a good insurance policy with legal clause.
Kevin Lewand was on his way back from his family’s beach house in Baja
California’s Rosarito Beach. Though tired, friend Keith Tacobayashi
drove his Jeep Grand Cherokee toward the border and Lewand decided to
go to sleep in the back seat.
Lewand woke up in the Rosarito hospital with a broken pelvis, broken
ribs, a broken back, punctured lungs and a damaged scalp. Tacobayashi,
he learned, died when the Cherokee struck a railing and flipped
several times.
Realizing he was badly hurt, Lewand, who speaks some Spanish, asked to
be transported across the border for treatment, but he only got as far
as a hospital in Tijuana before authorities told him he would have to
put up an 11,000-dollar bond first, something that the insurance on
the automobile did not cover.
His family managed to come up with the money, but Lewand may never be
the same. A commercial diver, he is still walking on crutches, in a
lot of pain, and laments that “I can’t do the some of the things I
used to.”
Last year more than 19 million U.S. citizens visited Mexico, many
during this time of the year seeking sea, sun and sand. But a recent
wave of discontent has spread across much of the United States since
tourists like Lewand and an Orange County man, who died, were hindered
in receiving medical treatment because their travel insurance did not
cover bail.
In Mexico, a car wreck is covered by criminal laws in case of an
injury, and since a person is guilty until proven innocent, the law
requires that those involved in an accident be held for trial.
“When someone gets hurt in an automobile accident, it is mandatory
jail,” said Martin Parker, a partner in Chapala’s Sanborn’s Agency.
“That’s the law, and that’s why you must have legal insurance.”
Insurance does not necessarily cover bail, leaving many travelers
desperate when disaster strikes.
The January 3 edition of the USA Today daily newspaper reported the
November death of Donald Kraft, a San Diego tourist who died from a
broken neck. Kraft had been in a car accident but was held by Baja
California authorities pending a 2,500-dollar cash bail. After
scraping together cash from friends and neighbors, Kraft’s family
secured his release to a U.S. hospital a day later, only to watch him
die soon afterward. U.S. doctors reported the man might have lived had
he been brought immediately to a San Diego trauma center.
Kraft’s family thought the man’s insurance would cover his bail.
“When a tourist gets an [auto] insurance policy, they should be sure
the policy covers servicio juridico, and that it includes a lawyer and
bail,” said Guillermo Rolldan, administrative director of A. W.
Lloyd’s insurance division.
According to insurance agents polled by this newspaper, travelers
heading by car south of the border should make sure that their
insurance policy covers the following:
1) collision (daños materiales)
2) theft (robo)
3) third-party liability (daños a terceros)
4) medical expenses, including the passenger (gastos medicos) and the
people within the other car (responsibilidad civil)
5) legal fees (servicio juridico), covering both lawyer and bail, if
necessary and, if possible
6) roadside assistance (asistencia en viajes)
The language barrier can often be daunting for U.S. and Canadian
visitors.
“The principal problem is the language,” Rolldan noted. “Most of the
officers who pull tourists over don’t understand English, and the lack
of knowledge by U.S. citizens doesn’t permit tourists to negotiate
their situation.”
“Read what you’re given and make sure it’s in English [before you
sign]” Parker noted. “There are two rules that never change: cover
yourself for what you can’t afford to lose out of pocket, or for what
you don’t want to lose.”
Parker strongly recommended that tourists of every stripe, whether
they enter the country by car or by other means, should carry an
emergency air evacuation policy, which covers airlifting individuals
to a U.S. or Canadian hospital in case of bad health.
But everyone this newspaper interviewed stressed the most important
factor in choosing insurance is to buy a policy from a reliable,
established agency.
“I would make doggone sure I knew the reputation of the agent or
agency, if a person doesn’t recognize the company he is depending upon
the integrity of the agent himself,” Parker noted.
“If you don’t get that umbrella when you need it, it’s too late,
you’ve already bought the policy and you’re stuck.”