If you think you may be injured after being in a motor vehicle accident, NEVER NEVER accept a settlement offer directly from the at-fault driver’s insurance company before talking to an Injury Attorney. Even if you only VERBALLY agree to the offer, and have not cashed the settlement check or signed a release, the insurance company WILL HOLD YOU to the agreement.
After a car accident, the insurance company may contact you soon afterward and offer you a settlement.
But keep this in mind: insurance companies routinely make “lowball” settlement offers that might cover only a fraction of the full cost of the injury. The reality is that the insurance company is in business to make money, not necessarily to pay you what you need for a full recovery.
Consider the full cost of the accident.
Your injuries may require immediate medical attention. That in itself is costly.
You may also need ongoing medical treatment — another cost.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Will your injury keep you from working?
- How much time, money and energy will you spend just traveling to medical appointments?
- Will your injury eventually require you to seek disability benefits?
- Will your injury affect your family life?
- Will anyone in your family need to stop working to take care of you?
All of these costs and potential costs should be considered when filing an injury claim. And the insurance company is all-too-willing to contact you soon after an injury, in the hope that you won’t consider these costs and instead agree to a lowball settlement offer.
You shouldn’t have to shoulder the financial burden of your injury if someone else caused it. Before you accept an insurance company’s initial settlement offer, talk to an experienced personal injury attorney about your options.
At the Law Office of Perry Dean Ellis, we have represented injury victims throughout the Atlanta area for 25 years.
For more on these matters, please see our Car Accident FAQ.