QuestionQUESTION: I was involved on a head on collision on 05/29/2012. An older gentlemen (about 90 y/o) fell asleep at the wheel and came onto my lane and hit me head on. Both of our cars were completely totaled. The airbag knocked my wind out and the seat belt did leave me a pretty nice bruise on my right rib. A few hours ago I visited the office to meet with with the claims adjuster. she needed me to go to her office so that I can sign a release form so that they can obtain all my medical documents from the hospital. (xrays, labs, scans, etc.) My personal insurance paid for all of the charges which came out to about $17000. The adjuster did mention that she wanted to settle early with me. She said that she wanted to draft up an agreement that would state that they would be responsible for paying all the medical bills completely, and then that they would separately pay me for lost wages and about $350 for "soft tissue" injury. Now, I am not trying to get rich off of this, heck I would have preferred that this hadn't even happened, but $350 for pain and suffering seems like an insult and very unfair. What do you suggest I do in my case? Please advise. I have never been in an accident before so this is all new to me. Thank you very much in advance for your response.
ANSWER: Hi Jerry,
Insurance adjusters are trained to make you think they are your friend and are going to take care of everything. You should not rush to a settlement. In most states you have at least a year if not more to settle before filing a law suit. You should take your time to see if you require any additional medical treatment. Be very careful about what you say to the adjuster. A simple question of "how are you feeling today" and you saying fine can be twisted into then saying they called you on such & such a date and when questioned about his injures I was told that all had resolved without issue.
Once you sign a release form you can not go back no matter what. If you accept a settlement and 3 months later find out you need back surgery, there will be nothing you can do to make them pay for the surgery. Just take your time. When you feel you will have no ongoing issues, then you can resume talks with the adjuster. But your settlement should be at least double the total of your medical bills or you should seek the advice of an attorney.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you very much for your quick reply Mr. Hixenbaugh. As a follow up question though, what do you meant by my settlement being "at least double the total of your medical bills"? So if I tell the adjuster that I don't want to accept the $350 plus lost wages as settlements, what happens next? I really want to avoid going through an attorney. Like I said before, I just want what is fair. I talked to a couple of relatives that have been in similar (bumper to bumper) accidents and each received at least $3000 as settlement. I really don't know much about all these settling going back and forth, and I wish I could avoid it, but when she told me today that all she would be giving me was $350 I felt insulted. Is that fair. Again, I thank you very much in advance for your reply.
AnswerHi Jerry,
If your medical bills were $17,000 as you said then you should double that to $34,000 as a starting point. Then you can negotiate down. Since you are not familiar with the process you shoudl really seek the advice of a local attorney so you are nto taken advantage of by the insurance company.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
