At Ask Me Help Desk you can ask questions in any topic and have them
answered for free by our experts. To ask questions or participate in
answering them you must register for a free account. By registering you
will be able to:
Get free answers from experts in any of our 300+
topics.
Rear End Collision - Insurance wont pay fair amount
Hi
As the title says and I am sure no one is surprised. I was rear ended while waiting on a red light. I had an old car which must now be totaled. The car is worth around $2500(KBB). My medical bills were $570 (most covered by my BCBS health insurance). The other party's insurance company wants to pay me $1000 and want me to sign a document that relieves them of all liability.
I think I should get a fair amount which is $3000. Attorneys are not willing to take this case because its not worth their time. How do I pursue this?
As the others have said, you don't have to sign and agree to their first offer. If you obtain an attorney - someone will take the case eventually - they can help you get more.
One caveat though - don't get hung up on KBB because this is an average across the country. Your same car may be valued differently in Illinois versus California, for example. KBB shows an 'average' value. So it's possible that your car isn't worth quite what you think.
Your total medical expenses were only $570 (which you can still have the other company reimburse BCBS for the amount they already paid on your behalf). Given this amount, they can guage that it doesn't seem like you sustained any serious injuries. That being said, you're not going to really get a whole heap of money just because you're being inconvenienced.
Keep in mind also that obtaining an attorney to handle this will entitle them to a portion of the settlement. So in the end you could quite possibly end up with less once the attorney's fees are deducted. It's really a gamble in guaging whether you would gain more by using the attorney or settling now.
You can still report to BCBS that the treatments were the result of an accident and let them get the money from Apollo. Tell them that you were never asked for the reason for the injury and you just became aware that it should have been asked.
Apollo sounds like a small local company. They appear to do business in IL and FL. They advertise low cost insurance, and I bet they keep costs down by denying claims as much as possible. That letter you received is just the opening shot. They are trying to intimidate you. Do you have a copy of the police report? If it states that you were stopped for a red light and were hit, then no court is going to find that as "doubtful and disputable".
I still go with my suggestion, to send them a letter under a law firm's letterhead, which shouldn't be too expensive, making a counter offer. Your claim is not expensive and I doubt if they will fight too hard against a request for $3K.
Thanks ballengerb1, Scott, Judy. I am going to try to find a lawyer who can write me on a letter head this letter. If not then I'll file a lawsuit in a small court claims. This site has been helpful before when I was doing some complex tax work and now again.
DuPage County is swarming with attorney's who would take this case. Call the DuPage County Bar association and ask for a referal if none of your friends know a good attorney.
Linear Mode
