insurance question on a car wreck?

Question

i was in a car wreck a while back. another car hit my car. I hurt my back but now I am fine. i was in pain for about 3 weeks. My doctor says its minor but I could have some back problems later. the insurance company is wanting to settle with $700 and out of that $193 goes to unpaid medical bills. my own medical insurance company paid my $4000 medical bill which the insurance company does not have to pay back. is this a fair amount? if not what would be?

Answer 1

the best source for your answer, contact your attorney, he will advise you of your rights and what the other insurance company is required to do by law. be sure to tell him every detail of the accident including your injuries and what your doctor has told you of possible future problems. DO NOT settle for that discraceful and shameful amount of $700 the other insurance is offering you. They are just wanting to wash their hands of your problems so they can move on and screw someone else. remember a opposing insurance company if ur involved in a wreck has a "screw you" attitude. They try to get out of paying you any way they can. If you had medical and loss / repair to your vehicle coverage on your insurance policy, you can collect on that . If your attorney is a good one, he will work for you, many cases are settled out of court. If a settlement is offered by the insurance company to you through your attorney, and you like it, just tell your attorney to add his fee to the settlement offer and then you accept it.

Answer 2

It depends on how bad of an accident it was... and ... I am wondering why you have a $4,000 medical bill if you only went to the doctor once?? Does the other insurance company have your bill of $4000? did you go to physical therapy? or miss time off work? If the damages to your vehicle were minimal (say under $1000) then I would ask for $1000 and settle.

If the damages to your car were more significant, I would get all of the medical bills and records and make sure the claims adjuster has all of it, and then I would ask for about $2500 over your medical bills. The most they can say is no. They might try to negociate. But 3 weeks of pain really doesn't value much to an insurance company. They might not believe all of your medical bills are related to the accident??? I would need more information to know for sure. Good luck.

Answer 3

What is FAIR? Yes, its a hassle that you were hurt, your car was smashed, you had to get medical treatment. Are injured? Big difference from hurt. Hurt is just life lessons, injured is something you should be compensated for -- now and the future. This may be something you should be certian of before signing the dotted line. And the insurance co WILL pay back your company for the med bills. This is called subrogation.
P.S. If you run to a lawyer he will get HALF of any settlement. If you are dealing with a good, solid insurance company they will make you a fair offer and/or be open to negotiation. You hire a lawyer and you are not allowed to communicate with anyone else after that. Keep in mind that just because you have a lawyer dosen't make the claim WORTH one cent more. Lawyers settle 99% of all their cases OUT OF COURT. So the dreams they fill you with of million dollars settlements are bunk. "The insurance companies are only working for themselves", -- that is the first thing a lawyer will tell you. Brother, just who do you think a LAWYER is working for? Answer: it sure as heck ain't YOU.

Answer 4

Keep this in mind. If you accept the offer, you will essentially sign a paper that releases them from any future problems or responsibility. So it's a judgment call on your part. Is that adequate compensation for what has already happened, plus whatever may happen in the future as a direct result of this accident? If you don't have an attorney, I'd suggest you at least talk to one. You may be entitled to get back the $4000 paid by your own company to compensate them and perhaps avoid an increase in your insurance. Again, I'm NOT an attorney.

Answer 5

do u have a lawyer? if not GET one, and STOP talking about any settelments w/ any insurance companies. There job is to give u as little money as possible! I had a similar experience about six years ago. The insurance company offered me $500 and one year later my lawyer setlled for $10,000.. Alls I had to do was go to physical therapy once a week for about 6 months. Any lawyer can send you too one of there DR friends for the appropriate therapy! Good Luck! PS Someone said a lawyer will take 50% of your settelment NOT true ( check ur local state laws ) but in NJ a lawyer can only charge u 33.333% which is 1/3 of ur settelment.. The lawyer i used only charged 25%.. There is cheap and GOOD legal help out there..

Answer 6

Listen, all settlements are negotiable except your attorneys cut. I have only had two attorneys reduce their fees when their client was going to get the short end of the stick on a deal due to a limits issue.

Your Dr. said it himself "My doctor says its minor." The only reason your medical bills were 4k were probably due to the outrageous cost of medical care these days. Let me guess: Possible ER, EMS, EMS Tech, Mileage, ER DR, Meds, ER Room Fee, Radiology, X-ray, Radiologist, MD, MD X-Ray, the list goes on. That sounds like 4k to me depending on what treatment you had. Settlements are not based on your medical bills they are based on your injury. Does it sound fair to you based on your injury when you sit and think about the injury you received? You can't think about the bills, the accident, the damage to your car, the driver, none of that. The injury and that is it.

BTW - Don't worry about the 4k going back to your carrier they will subrogate that if necessary. It depends on which state you are in and whether you carry medical payments or PIP or whether it was your health carrier. Just make sure the carrier that paid it has the adjuster info on the at fault carrier. MAKE SURE YOU GIVE THEM THE INFO BEFORE YOU SIGN THE RELEASE.