Thousands of car accidents occur each day in the United States. From road rage and drunk driving to distracted driving, there are many potential culprits behind these incidents, which contribute to thousands of injuries and fatalities each year.
Victims of car accidents often receive settlement offers relatively quickly from insurance companies. While it can be tempting to accept a quick settlement, Lee Coleman, attorney, co-founder and managing partner of Hughes & Coleman Personal Injury Lawyers notes that these settlements often come with hidden costs that could be avoided when victims work with a personal injury lawyer.
How Settlement Offers Try to Lowball Victims
As Coleman explains, insurers’ attempts to lowball car accident victims begins almost immediately after the accident takes place. Even the first phone call, when victims are feeling especially vulnerable, can be used to minimize the settlement amount that the insurance company pays.
“The insurance company is focused on making a profit, and part of that entails paying out as little money to you as possible,” he says. “They’ll use a variety of tactics to reduce or eliminate your claim. For example, they might ask you to make a recorded statement to see if you accidentally say something that devalues your claim. They might try to use your pre-existing medical conditions to reduce your claim’s value, or tell you that they’ll only cover medical treatments up to a certain point. Alternatively, insurers will offer a quick, low payout in the hopes that you’ll accept it right away instead of fighting for what you deserve.”
The negotiation tactics used by insurers can sometimes make accident victims feel like they have to take whatever settlement offer they receive — even when that amount seems unlikely to fully cover medical expenses, loss of income or property damage. In many instances, insurers will look for ways to deny any kind of settlement payout, even when victims are in clear need of financial assistance because of the accident.
The Hidden Costs of Low Settlements
Part of the reason why so many car accident victims are quick to accept the initial settlement is because they’re worried about immediate expenses after a car accident — such as covering medical bills or paying to repair or replace a vehicle. While these expenses certainly must be addressed, they are often far from the full story of the costs that most victims deal with.
“Medical expenses can be ongoing for months, even years, depending on the nature of the injuries sustained during the accident,” Coleman says. “Aside from direct medical costs, many car accident victims are also facing lost wages and reduced earning capacity, as well as physical and emotional pain and suffering. Each of these issues, as well as any property damage sustained during as a result of the accident, can have a lasting financial impact on the victim and their family.”
Insurance settlements often don’t account for a victim’s pain and suffering, or how an accident affected their wages or earning capacity. Yet these can be some of the most expensive outcomes of an accident, with lost income making it harder to pay bills, and some injuries even forcing individuals into early retirement.
“Lost earning capacity can be especially difficult on families,” Coleman says. “Victims deserve to receive the difference between their current earnings and what they would still be earning if the accident had not occurred. But with a lowball settlement offer, these hidden costs will often be completely ignored, resulting in ongoing financial hardship.”
How Personal Injury Lawyers Make a Difference
Research historically supports the idea that car accident victims who get a personal injury attorney receive much higher settlements than those who do not. In fact, the Insurance Research Council indicates that payouts average nearly 3.5 times higher for victims with legal representation.
“Personal injury attorneys understand the negotiation tactics that insurance companies use to try to make lowball settlement offers,” Coleman says. “To counter this, we take a comprehensive approach to evaluating how much compensation you actually deserve to cover both your immediate and long-term expenses. Having an advocate on your side who understands the legal system and how insurance companies work can help you receive hundreds of thousands of dollars more than your initial settlement offer. We’re not afraid to take your case to trial court if necessary to get the compensation you deserve.”
For car accident victims, this difference in settlement payouts can help mitigate the negative influence an accident has had on their lives. While a higher settlement amount may not be able to undo the physical and emotional impact of the accident, it can ensure that the accident’s financial impact won’t also create long-term problems.
Without the help of a personal injury lawyer, however, the initial settlement offer may be far from enough to cover expenses — if a settlement offer is made at all.
Getting Appropriate Compensation Is Possible
As Coleman’s insights reveal, car accident victims should never simply hope that an insurance company will provide a settlement that fully covers their expenses. By working with a personal injury lawyer, victims gain someone who knows the law, will advocate for them and ensure that they get the level of compensation they deserve.
