A car accident can severely disrupt your life. You may be dealing with significant injuries, damage to your vehicle that you are now forced to repair or replace, and the stress of the incident having happened at all. You need a low settlement offer for your insurance claim. When an insurer offers a low settlement for your car accident insurance claim, and you believe you’re entitled to more, knowing your legal rights and what steps you can take next is essential.
Why do low settlement insurance claim car accident?
When you own a car, you’re likely also paying for insurance. Most car owners see the value of having coverage just in case something happens. Nobody plans for a car accident, but having a company stand behind you with coverage you’ve been paying for gives you peace of mind that if something ever does happen, you’re protected.
So why does the insurance company offer low settlements when they’re supposed to be protecting you? The answer is simply that they are protecting their bottom line. Even though we pay for insurance regularly, they will do everything they can to minimize your payout when it comes to paying out a claim. For instance, they will:
- Use adjuster tactics to downplay the severity of your injuries
- Calculate allowable medical expenses conservatively
- Ignore the pain, suffering, and damage
- Use pre-existing conditions to justify lowball offers
- Minimize the diminished value of your vehicle even after repairs
- Limit bodily injury settlement by citing minor documentation or missed deadlines
You may face one or several of these scenarios while handling your insurance claim. They will dissuade you from pursuing your claim and force you to find alternative options to pay for your losses.
Signs You’re Being Lowballed
Not every claim ends in a lowballed offer, though many do. You need to recognize when an insurer is undervaluing your claim and know how to respond to a low settlement offer, especially if you’re being lowballed. If that’s the case, you might notice:
- A quick offer before you complete treatment
- Calculations that exclude medical expenses, therapy, and future care
- Dismissal of non-economic losses like pain and emotional trauma
- An offer that doesn’t meet the fair value claim for your car or injuries
- A delay in your settlement
If the numbers don’t add up to the expenses you’re suffering, you’re likely being lowballed. This is when you should look into legal counsel. An experienced personal injury attorney understands how insurance companies work and will fight the tactics they use to undervalue your claim.
Legal Steps to Take After a Low Offer
When you start to feel like you’re getting a lowball offer from the insurer, it’s a good idea to be prepared to take action. You have a few options in going forward with fighting for what you deserve, such as:
- Send a Strong Demand Letter – This letter details your injuries, medical bills, and rehab costs. Request a fair settlement and outline what you believe is full personal injury compensation for the accident you’ve suffered.
- Negotiate Strategically – Come to settlement negotiations with proper documentation, including statements, accident reports, medical reports, and economic evidence. A well-prepared response shows you mean business.
- Document Your Losses – Include repair costs, therapy bills, diminished value estimates, lost wages, and pain-impact statements in your documentation. This complete evidence forces insurers to reconsider.
- Escalate the Dispute – If negotiations stall, escalate your dispute by filing a complaint with the insurance board.
- Consult an Attorney – A personal injury attorney who understands bad-faith behavior can escalate your claim correctly. They’ll fight the lowball offers and demand fair compensation for your injuries and losses.
Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of by the insurance company. Take the proper steps to stand up for yourself, even if that means having someone else help you.
How the Fair Value Claim Works
When the insurance companies undervalue the damage done to your vehicle, you can submit a fair value claim. With this claim, you can:
- Request a reassessment based on actual repair costs or value depreciation
- Use car valuations from trusted sources like Kelley Blue Book
- Submit evidence of diminished resale value after repairs
This claim can help force insurance companies to take another look at the costs you’ve already had to cover and reevaluate the amount they’re offering to you. In a low settlement insurance claim after a car accident, pushing back with the proper evidence and support can make a big difference. It helps you pursue the compensation you deserve, not just what the insurer is initially willing to offer.
Understanding Insurance Tactics
Insurance companies ultimately don’t want to pay you top dollar, even if you’re paying a top-dollar premium. In order to justify what they offer, they use psychological tactics throughout the claims process. These can look like:
- Inflated offers with expiration warnings to push you to act impulsively
- Quick close attempts before you’ve completed your medical treatment
- Undermining your credibility by alleging that you’re exaggerating your injuries or losses
- Requesting recorded statements and then using those statements against you later
Awareness of these tactics is vital to a smooth claims process because they can help you determine when to consider a lawsuit or bad-faith claim. A bad-faith claim becomes valid when the insurers breach the contract or delay for no reason. You may even recover extra damages and attorney’s fees in these cases.
Trust Maxey McFarland Law to Support You in Pursuing Financial Recovery
At Maxey McFarland Law, we know how to hold insurers accountable for auto accident claim disputes in South Carolina and lowball offers. We act quickly and aggressively and are not afraid to take your claim to a judge. We will:
- Review your offer and opposing evidence
- Lead settlement negotiations with expert valuations
- Draft and send strong demand letters
- File lawsuits when insurers violate policies or act in bad faith
Our firm operates on a contingency fee basis. That means you won’t pay us anything unless we win your case. You have nothing to lose. Contact us today at (864) 900-4231 to discuss your case. Let the experienced personal injury attorneys at Maxey McFarland Law fight for you so that you can focus on putting your life back together.