When do you call a lawyer after an auto accident? Immediately,Wait until the insurance co. makes an offer?
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I would wait. Wait to see what your injuries really are. Will you fully recover? Also, you do not know what the other party's limits are. Are they the State minimum? Are yours the State minimum? If they both are, the most you will collect is the minimum & do you need a lawyer then to take 30-40% of that amount?? That is silly. Also, in the claim adjusters eyes, if you lawyer up right away, it is antagonistic & that will delay the process (on both the lawyers & the adjusters side). Wait until they come back with an offer, see what they say. Don't expect a whole lot if it is only soft tissue injury. Also, another thing, if you are working with your agent on this, if you hire an attorney, your agent by law can NO longer help you with the claims process because that is what you hired the attorney to do. You paid your agent by your policy commissions, so use them, you paid them already, ask questions, see what they say. You may get some good advice & also find out what may be an average soft tissue injury payout in your area.
---Just wanted to add a little here. Agents do know a bit about claims. We have a person in our office that only does claims. She even has draft authority (which means she can write checks to insureds up to a certain amount under certain guidelines given to her by the company). She has helped countless people through the claims process. While it is ultimately the claim adjuster's say what is covered & what isn't & how much things are worth, she HELPS. Most people are confused about claims since most never had one. She explains the process, sometimes better than the adjuster because some adjusters use many complicated terms that people just don't want to or can't understand. She holds their hands quite a bit of the time. She also fights for our insureds when things aren't going quite right, sometimes there are personality conflicts between the adjuster & the insured & she either tries to mend the relationship or is just the buffer between the two so things move along. I guess fighting... has not had good experience with agents. Sorry to hear that, there are good, knowledgable ones out there, especially the independent agents.
I would recommend waiting until the insurance company makes you an offer on the injury claim. If you provide them all the medical information and they make you an offer your instinct will tell you if it is a reasonable offer or not. Keep in mind that you always have the right to make a counter-offer.
If that doesn't work then consider getting an lawyer. As already pointed out by Sue the attorney is going to take 33 to 40% (plus expenses) to handle your case. The main thing that happens when lawyers get involved is that the whole process slows down.
In my opinion I would not take Sue's advice to talk to your agent about this matter. Over my 20 year career in claims I have found that agents THINK they know how insurance claims work. The problem is that in reality they don't know how claims work. (unless they used to be an adjuster). They often only know enough to be dangerous. You would be better off paying an attorney to review your case for 1 to 2 hrs and pay them their hourly rate to get better advice than you will ever get from an agent.
The Best advice I can give you is to document everything - car damages, ALL accident related expenses, injuries, med bills, etc.
Good Luck
Just contact a lawyer as soon as possible and ask him/her. They'll answer one question for free so that you can know where to go from here!
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All the best
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