Settling with the insurance company after a crash isn’t as simple as cashing a check. From red-flag tactics to lowball offers, this page breaks down the most common questions our clients ask about car accident settlements, insurance traps, and what to avoid to protect your claim.
Unless you receive a policy limits offer, you should never accept the first settlement offer. Insurance companies live by under-settling your claims. They want to pay you the least amount of money so that they can increase their profits.
That is why I always advise clients to never accept the first settlement offer—talk with an attorney about your options and what steps to take next. You would be surprised how beneficial it is to hire an attorney and how they could increase that offer from what the insurance company has already presented you with.
Insurance companies offer fast money for one sneaky reason.
What do you do if, after a car accident, the insurance company is all over it? They’ve got someone evaluating your car, they’re offering you a check, maybe $5,000, and they’re ready to pay you right now.
Why do you think they’re so eager to get this done so quickly? They want you to take it and sign away your rights before you have the opportunity to speak with a lawyer.
Don’t fall for that trick.
People lose thousands of dollars by making these three settlement mistakes.
First, you should never take the first offer. Insurance companies will always try to lowball you and offer less than what you deserve. They want to settle your case quickly, and often before your treatment is done, before your damages are fully calculated, or before you even know how severe your injuries really are. The first offer is never the final offer, and it’s never the one you should accept.
Many people also lose out on money by trying to handle their settlement on their own without hiring an attorney. The value of a claim increases substantially when you have an experienced lawyer on your side. Your attorney knows how to navigate the claim, how to add value to your case, how to help you get proper treatment, and how to make sure you’re fully compensated.
A lot of people hesitate to hire an attorney because they don’t want to pay attorney’s fees and think they’ll end up with more money doing it themselves, but that’s usually not the case. If you don’t have experience handling injury claims, you may not know what your case is worth or how to calculate your damages. Claims are valued by many factors, and if you’re not considering all of them, you could be leaving a lot of money on the table.
You’ve heard of the parent trap, but have you heard of the insurance trap? It’s where they try to get you to sign away your rights very quickly by flashing money in front of you.
Why do you think they’re trying to do that so quickly? They want you to sign your rights away before you’ve spoken with an attorney.
The number one red flag from an insurance company is if they offer me money quickly and ask me to sign a document and they’ll send me a check. At that point, they’re asking you to fully release your claim for a very small amount of money, and the only person winning is the insurance company.
The insurance company wants you to settle quickly because they don’t want you to hire a lawyer, and they don’t want you to take the time to figure out what your damages really are. All they want is a release for as little money as possible.
The biggest red flags from insurance companies are:
1. Deny
2. Delay
3. Defer
4. Defend
Insurance companies will delay your claim for as long as possible to try to deter you from actually pursuing a settlement. They’ll drag it out. They won’t accept fault. They’ll try to blame you. They won’t respond to you. They’ll take forever to answer you in hopes that you’ll just give up.
You should hire a lawyer because a lawyer will not give up and a lawyer will get you the compensation you deserve.
The biggest red flag from an insurance company:
– You’re not at fault for the accident, and the insurance company tries to blame you? Huge red flag.
– You were in a big accident, and the insurance company tries to get you to sign a document for a small amount of money? Huge red flag.
– You’re trying to make a claim, and the insurance company is giving you the runaround and delaying your claim? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company is trying to get you to sign a release immediately? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company is offering you pennies on the dollar? Huge red flag.
– Insurance adjuster is not returning your calls? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company isn’t answering the phone? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company telling you that you can resolve it with them, and you don’t need representation? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company telling you not to worry about it and they’ll pay for your medical bills? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company telling you, “Oh, don’t worry about it, just take this money and if you need treatment later, call us back”? Huge red flag.
– Insurance company treating you like a number, not a human being? Huge red flag.
No one should talk to the insurance company without first understanding how important it is to stay silent about two key things.
The way the accident happened
1. The details of your injuries
2. The reason is that the insurance company is only going to use these things against you. If you try to explain to them how the accident happened, they’re going to twist your words and make it seem like it was your fault. If you try to explain to them the nature of your injuries, they’re going to twist your words. Don’t talk to the insurance company about either of these things. Don’t talk to the insurance company about the nature of your injuries.
Let’s say you get in an accident today, you don’t feel pain in your neck today, but you wake up tomorrow and you do. If you talked to the insurance company yesterday about the fact that you don’t have any pain, you’re stuck with that answer. The words that you say to an insurance company will be used against you forever.
Talk to a lawyer and make sure the lawyer understands how this happened. That way, the lawyer can talk to the insurance company and make sure they understand, too. You can talk to your lawyer freely, and then your lawyer can package that information to the insurance company in a way that it cannot be used against you.
Sometimes, the way an accident happened is not clean or clear, but your lawyer should be able to take that information, bring it to the insurance company, and present it in a way that’s most favorable to you.
A great example of this is a left-turn case. If you tell your insurance company that you made a left turn and this collision resulted from it, you’re going to be placed at fault. It’s important that you present this to an attorney so they can present it to the insurance company in a way that does not present as if it’s your fault. What I mean by that is if you make a left turn at an intersection and you tell the insurance company that, you’re going to be placed at fault. But there are many other factors that matter. What if you had a green light? What if you had a green arrow instead of a green ball? These are the details that matter in this determination.
It’s important that once it’s presented to the insurance company, it’s presented in a way where all these details are given to the insurance company so that they can make a decision and not automatically place you at fault. The insurance companies are going to hear what they want to hear. And oftentimes, what they want to hear is that you’re at fault, so that they don’t have to pay you.
An insurance company is going to ask you a bunch of leading questions, and they’re designed that way on purpose so that you say what they want to hear, so that they don’t have to pay you. All the phone calls with the insurance company are recorded, and every question they ask you is designed for them not to have to end up paying you. That’s why you need a lawyer.
An example of a time where a client has said something to the insurance company before they hired me that really affected their case negatively is I had a client who was rear-ended, and the insurance company called him before they hired me, and they asked him a bunch of leading questions. His answer to one of the leading questions was that he felt two separate impacts. He didn’t really understand the question, and there was a language barrier, but the problem is that that gave the insurance company, at least until he hired us, the opportunity to wiggle out of paying him. Because with two separate impacts, it takes part of the liability off of one of the claimants.
If he hadn’t said that, and he hadn’t hired us, his case would have been damaged because of what he said to the insurance company. The problem was he was misquoted, but since he said there were two impacts, what it did was it allowed one insurance company to share the liability with another. I’ll spare you the details, but that meant that it wouldn’t have turned out as well for this client. We were able to fix it, but if he had not hired a lawyer, his case would have been affected very negatively based on that one simple statement that he didn’t even realize he had made.
That’s why the best way to answer insurance company questions is through your lawyer.
One document you don’t ever want to sign before speaking with a lawyer is a HIPAA waiver. You’re giving the insurance company complete access to your medical records. The insurance company is going to make you think that you must sign this HIPAA waiver because they have a right to it. But they probably don’t, and they’re not going to be using it for any reason that’s good for you.
The only use they have for that HIPAA waiver is to hurt you and your case. The insurance company is not here to help you. They’re here to help themselves and their own profits. Remember that.
If you already signed a release of liability, the truth is there’s probably not much that can be done. But you do need to hire a lawyer and talk to a lawyer about that, so you can review your options.
That’s the reason why it’s so important to talk to a lawyer before you sign that document.
Clients ask us all the time, what is my case worth? And the honest answer is—it depends. It depends on a lot of factors. It depends on how much insurance coverage is available. It depends on whether or not the person who hit you has money outside of their insurance coverage to go after.
It depends on your injuries
– How severe are they?
– What kind of treatment does it take to get you better?-
– Is there going to be future care required?
– Do you have pain and suffering, mental issues, anxiety, or depression?
– Have you lost wages? What are those lost wages, and can we prove them?
There are so many factors that go into determining what your case is worth. And there is no way to know at the very beginning of your case. It takes time to figure that out and to work that up.
One of the most common questions we get from clients is, what is my case worth? And here’s how we break it down. There’s honestly no way to know what your case is worth at the very beginning. And I generally tell clients—any lawyer that’s giving you a concrete amount or telling you what your case is worth is lying to you. There are so many factors that go into the value of your case.
Those factors include:
1. Applicable insurance coverage:
– How much coverage is there?
– What are the policy limits?
– Does the person at fault have insurance coverage?
– Does the person at fault have assets?
– Do you have underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage?
4. That’s the beginning. What also goes into how much your case is worth would be your damages—so the question becomes, what are your injuries? What is it going to take to get you better? And what does your future look like?
3. Another thing that goes into how much your case is worth is whether or not you have lost wages, pain and suffering. There are so many factors, and there’s no way to know right away the value of your claim. It takes time.
No, you should wait. Oftentimes, the chiropractor makes you feel better while you’re going, and sometimes you are better. But most of the time, as time goes by and you start going to the chiropractor less frequently, you begin to notice your symptoms returning.
If you accept a settlement quickly, in the week or two after the accident when you’re feeling better from the therapy and adjustments, and your symptoms develop later on, you won’t be able to get compensated for them.
So it’s better to wait and make sure that you’re actually better before you accept a settlement.
A lot of times, clients ask, “I went to the doctor a couple of times, and I’m starting to feel better. Should I just accept a settlement now?”
A lot of times, after an accident, a client will go to the doctor once or twice, start feeling a little better because they’re taking medication or stretching, and want to accept a settlement because the insurance company is offering it right away.
Oftentimes, that’s a huge mistake. As time goes on, symptoms can develop or get worse. If you accept a settlement early without knowing the full severity of your injuries, you can’t go back and ask for more. Once you sign that release, your claim is closed, and you’re on the hook for your pain, suffering, and any future medical care you’ll need.
What is one trick that insurance companies will try to get you to do to mess up your claim? Insurance adjusters will ask you leading questions. They’ll give you the answer they’re looking for right inside the question and hope that you just agree with them.
A lot of times, they’ll fire questions at you quickly, and you’ll end up agreeing just to get off the phone. But that can really hurt your claim.
Make sure your family always has this before driving. It could save a million. You want to make sure that you get underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage. Do not get caught slipping without a safety net.
What if somebody hits you and they don’t have enough insurance to cover your injuries? What if they have no insurance at all? That’s exactly what underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage is for. So get it.
If the insurance company sends you a check and you don’t sign anything, did you release your claim? It’s a gray area, but a lot of times the insurance company will claim that by depositing the check, you accepted their settlement, and that you can no longer bring a claim.
Sometimes the insurance company will record you verbally agreeing to accept money and say that’s a release, meaning you can’t bring a claim later. They do this early in the case, before you know how injured you really are or what your damages will be, so they can get out quickly and cheaply.
A common question clients ask us is, “I have health insurance. Why are my medical bills coming out of the settlement?” And the short answer is that most of the time, if your health insurance pays for treatment that you receive a settlement for, you have to pay them back.
It sometimes depends on your health insurance policy documents and whether or not it’s a government policy, but in most cases, your health insurance has a right to be reimbursed from your settlement. So whether you used your health insurance for treatment or not, you still have to pay those medical costs back.
Clients often ask us why we have to make a claim with their insurance if they weren’t at fault. And there are a lot of reasons we need to make a claim with your own insurance. The main reason is that your policy may include coverages that can help compensate you for your injuries.
For example, if you have medical payments coverage on your policy, it can help pay for some of your medical bills so that you get more out of your settlement.
Another important coverage is underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. If the driver who hit you has no insurance and you have uninsured motorist coverage, we can pursue a settlement from your own insurance. If the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough coverage to pay for your injuries and you have underinsured motorist coverage, we can help you get an additional settlement from your insurance.
The number one question clients ask is, how long is my case going to take? And the frustrating answer is—it depends. Some cases settle within weeks, some within months, and some can take years. Most cases resolve sooner, but others may need to go into litigation, trial, or court, and that can take a long time.
Your case is ready for settlement once your injuries are known and your attorney can present your damages to the insurance company. But sometimes, the insurance company doesn’t value your case the way it should. When that happens, it can take longer because your attorney may need to engage in mediations, litigation, or court hearings.
So there really is no concrete answer. Every case is different.
The number one ick from an insurance company is if they tell you, don’t hire a lawyer.
Insurance companies may try to tell you, “Oh, don’t worry about it, we’re accepting fault, we’ll pay you now and then everything will be over, you don’t need any help.” They are trying to get out of your claim quick and cheap. They’re trying to make you settle your claim fast and early because they are worried that you have a big claim and your case could be worth a lot of money later.
Still figuring out what to do after your crash? Visit our car accident lawyers page to see how we can help you get answers, support, and compensation. Or call us for your free initial consultation.