NEVER, EVER settle with an insurance company on the first call that offers you compensation. Their goal is to get you to sign off on all liability and to permanently release them for as little money as possible, and as quickly after the incident as possible. In fact, for the adjuster on the other end of the line, it ISN’T just their goal, IT’S their job. It’s nothing personal to you, but it is reality.
We just settled a case for family friends that involved their lovely daughter being in a car accident, as a passenger. The insurance company originally offered them less than $5,000 in compensation. As our friend/client put it; “it was like they were doing this just to be nice, to give us a little something for our trouble”. The problem was there were real damages and until everything was sorted out, they had no way of knowing how extensive the damages were. The original offer didn’t even come close to the out of pocket expenses for their daughter’s care and recovery. Our friends were smart. They called us and we didn’t even begin discussing compensation until we knew the young lady was done with all treatment. We just settled the case for over $50,000. A far cry from the original offer and much more in line with the real damages our friends faced.
We just settled a case for family friends that involved their lovely daughter being in a car accident, as a passenger. The insurance company originally offered them less than $5,000 in compensation. As our friend/client put it; “it was like they were doing this just to be nice, to give us a little something for our trouble”. The problem was there were real damages and until everything was sorted out, they had no way of knowing how extensive the damages were. The original offer didn’t even come close to the out of pocket expenses for their daughter’s care and recovery. Our friends were smart. They called us and we didn’t even begin discussing compensation until we knew the young lady was done with all treatment. We just settled the case for over $50,000. A far cry from the original offer and much more in line with the real damages our friends faced.