If you’ve been injured in a car accident, do not let the insurance company win. The insurance company only cares about saving money and profits; they do not care about you. They will attempt to tempt you with an initial settlement in your case. Unless that offer is an offer to pay you the policy limits, you need to reject the offer.
To show you how rejecting the first offer in your car accident case can help you, let me illustrate my point by telling you the story of my past client, Angela.
Angela’s Story
Angela was injured in a rear-end car accident. She contacted me months after her car accident looking for help. She had been handling her claim on her own and had no idea what to do next. By the time she had called me, she had not yet been offered even a penny by the insurance company. But the insurance company would keep calling her, asking her for information about her injuries and damages.
Angela had fairly significant neck problems pre-existing her car accident. In fact, she had been treating for these neck problems for some time well before the accident. However, Angela’s car accident aggravated her neck problems.
Angela did not seek treatment for her neck right away after her car accident, however. In fact, she did not seek medical attention for her neck until weeks after the accident. Her first time seeing any medical provider after the accident was at her next scheduled appointment with her doctor, who was already treating her for her neck problems prior to the accident. By the time Angela called me, she had just completed a neck surgery.
Once I had all of Angela’s medical records and bills, including the surgery records, I then sent a written demand to the insurance adjuster demanding that they pay out their insured at-fault driver’s policy limits. In response to my written demand, the insurance adjuster only made an offer of $5,000. The insurance company adjuster tried to justify the offer by claiming my client’s surgery was not related to the car accident as she would have had to have the surgery regardless of the car accident, given her pre-existing problems with her neck. The adjuster also pointed out that my client did not even treat her neck issues until weeks after her accident and that her records really did not even mention the car accident. These are common arguments made by insurance companies.
Based on my recommendation, Angela rejected this lowball offer of $5,000, and I informed the insurance company that we were sticking with her policy limits demand offer. I next recommended to Angela that she see a doctor to perform an independent medical examination on her. When the examination was completed, the doctor provided me with a written report with his opinions regarding Angela’s condition. The doctor was able to confirm that her neck problems were aggravated by her car accident and that the neck surgery was appropriate. I sent it to the insurance company and again demanded that the insurance adjuster pay out the insurance policy limits. In response, the insurance adjuster only upped their offer by coming back with an offer of only $10,000.
At this point, both Angela and I were frustrated. So, we again rejected the insurance company’s offer. We had had enough of the insurance company’s games. So, I proceeded with the filing of a lawsuit on Angela’s behalf against the insurance company’s insured driver who caused the accident. After I filed the lawsuit, we consistently stuck with our demand offer for the policy limits. We refused to accept any offer short of the policy limits. This strategy put pressure on the insurance company. The insurance company finally buckled under the pressure and we finally were able to settle the case for the policy limits of $100,000.
After rejecting the lowball offers the insurance company tried to settle for, Angela’s injury case settled for 20 times the initial offer in her case. It’s been my experience that if you’re offered anything other than the policy limits, you need to reject the offer.
The Importance of Rejecting Lowball Offers
I can’t recall any case in my career where the insurance company was not willing to make a bigger offer than the first offer they made if the offer was below the policy limits. You can negotiate a higher offer for yourself if you reject the insurance company’s initial offer.
The thing is, what happens if you reject the insurance company’s first offer, but this is your first time ever handling a car accident injury case and you do not want to handle your case? Well, if that’s the case, I would highly suggest you watch this video about to pop up right here where I teach you four pointers that can possibly put you on the right path to ensure that you are not handling your car accident injury case incorrectly.
Lastly, if you’ve been injured in a car accident, slip or trip and fall incident, or dog attack incident in Kentucky, remember: don’t wait; call Tate.
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