Auto accident insurance question

[DenverGP]

My son was involved in a fairly minor car accident last thursday. Driving home in rush hour traffic on C-470 around alameda, standard stop and go, and he got rear-ended. His truck didn't show any obvious damage, the person who hit him needed to be towed away, lots of front end damage.

My son's already been to see a doctor for some back pain, diagnosed with a lower back sprain. Pain is already just about gone, so doesn't seem it's very serious. Obviously can't see the future to know if this will turn into long term back pain, etc...

He's got an appointment to get the truck looked at, a couple scratches/dents on the rear bumper, and his trailer hitch is bent up, and the crossmember the hitch is mounted on has a broken weld at the frame.

Other driver 100% at fault, my son's insurance is USAA, other driver has progressive. Progresive contacted him today, offering him $750 for "inconvenience and any out of pocket expenses", plus the cost of the doc visit and any needed repairs to the truck.

He's not looking for a "get rich" scheme, just wants to be sure he isn't being an idiot for taking their offer...

[Great-Kazoo]

What has USAA said when contacted regarding damage and injury? If he hasn't contacted them he should have.

If they're willing to pay for dr visit[s] He should push for any occurring treatments resulting from Dr test and opinion. Get repair estimate x2 .

Any payment / check the ins co offers and he cashes means that claim is over and settled.

FWIW: most accident attorneys offer free consults. If you have concern about long term issues, find one and talk to them before doing anything with the ins co.

[SSChameleon]

Short version, he has 3 years from the date of the accident or until he makes a full recovery to settle. Insurance companies want to settle quickly as the longer the claim hangs out there, the more likely there will be additional bills or one of the ambulance chasing attorneys will get involved (who sometimes get you a little more money, but then keep half the total payout).

Your son has hit a key thing that is driving insurance rates up: back sprain. The back sprain falls into the 'soft tissue' damage area. This type of pain scares the hell out of insurance companies. This pain doesn't show up on x-ray and juries almost always side with the claimant if the insurance company thinks they are being fleeced and take it to trial.

If he has made a full recovery, then he is good to go. But he should sleep on it for a few days and make sure.

[TFOGGER]

Speak to an attorney. Sign nothing until you do. I sent you a PM.

[electronman1729]

I would of called Frank Azar.

[Irving]

USAA won't help you with either issue. You settle medical with the other carrier when you've completed treatment. You can get your car fixed through USAA or not, but they can't help you with the other company. As far as I know, getting multiple estimates is a thing of the past. Just pick the shop you want to use. Shop writes estimate, sends it to whatever carrier, they get on the same page before work starts.

[Bailey Guns]

I had a minor back sprain 26 years ago serving in the Air Guard. Felt fine after a few days. Doesn't feel fine now.

[skoodge]

My other half works at AAA and says that's a reasonable offer considering the limited severity and young age.

Just be sure to see any doctor sooner than later. You may have 3 years to file a claim but longer it takes to see doctor the more an agent will question if your claimed injury was a result of the accident. Not that it's not possible for it to take a while to set in, but she's told me so many stories when she was in the special investigations dept of people claiming injuries weeks or months after an accident but then find Facebook photos of them at the beach or partying.

Also, don't go crazy with doctor visits, soft tissue (skin and muscle) damage are not something a doctor can diagnose easily as there is no real test to see severity of a muscle sprain (unlike xrays for broken bones).

Most importantly, be sure to keep any receipts from the doctor visit as usaa will want a copy. Did someone take pictures of both cars after the accident? That can help his claim if he needs more support for his side of the story.

If the injury turns out to be worse than just a sprain let me know, I can ask the missus for more advice. It's hard to judge this claim with just the few sentences over the internet and having the full story from your son.

[DenverGP]

Appreciate all the advice...

Tfog: my son will give your lawyer friend a call tomorrow.

He had some pain the night of the accident and called for an appointment with his doctor the next day. Doc said lower back sprain, prescribed some anti-inflammitories. And wrote him something saying he should be on limited duty for a week. Accident was last thurs, still having back pain, pain has migrated toward the other side of his back now. Pain hasn't been so bad he couldn't work, but he's a semi-trailer mechanic for a living, so he's used to having some bumps and bruises, and has a pretty high pain tolerance. Until this, he's had no history of back pain.

He gave the insurance claim number to the doctor's office, so didn't pay anything out of pocket for that visit. Doctor said to schedule another appt if it's still hurting after the week.

He has pictures of the damage to both vehicles. The damage on his truck appears minimal, the other car was pretty bad off. He's going to take the truck into a collision shop just in case there is anything he didn't notice like frame bent,etc.. He did notice that the space from bumper to body was less than .5 inches on one side, and about 1.5 inches on the other side. Doesn't remember it being that way before, and he's pretty anal about his truck.

If his back ends up being fine in a few days / next week, and the shop doesn't find any damage besides the minor stuff he saw, then their offer seems reasonable, but what happens if his back starts hurting worse in a few weeks? If he accepts their offer check, I assume he's SOL at that point.

[TheGrey]

Tell him not to cash that check. Wait a good while- and tell him not to be a manly-man and do anything to strain and re-injure himself. Seriouly consider seeing an attorney- this is not for the get-rich-quick crap, but to genuinely cover any possibility of something medical in the near future. I know there is a three year timeframe, but should something come up in a year, the insurance company is going to point to photos on his Facebook (or whatever, you know what I mean) and say, "How do we know this didn't happen when he was changing out that motor in his pickup?" or "when he lifted that refrigerator" or other various excuses. Seriously. The insurance company's job is to protect its investor's money, not to make sure your son has reasonable recompense. If he cashes that check, it will make any case that much tougher on him further down the line. I honestly hope that he has no trouble. But in a case like this, better safe than sorry. Have him consult with an attorney and see what they say. Not Frank Azar.

[skoodge]

Not just, don't cash the check, DO NOT ACCEPT the offer. They will try and get a quick settlement as that is their job. Just hold out. Once the offer is accepted, then the case is closed and you cannot go back even if you have further injuries and documentation.

If he can't work because of that, he can try and claim lost wages. See if his doctor will provide and documentation advising him to not work, etc. That's when it starts getting interesting as the usaa agent will have to use their experience (or lack thereof) to determine a reasonable payout based on the statements of the drivers and witnesses, pictures of damage, doctor statements, etc.

If he hasn't giving a recorded statement, maybe have him wait until he talks to the attorney recommended by tfog.

[Eric P]

Progressive low balls everything. They only wanted to pay for 70% of the repairs for my car when one of their clients swerved and collided with my car. They said I was partly at fault for not paying attention to the item their client swerved for and giving him room. I asked why their client did't stop or slow down to avoid hitting it instead of swerving into me. More blah blah blah. Then I got all pissed and cursed them out before hanging up and calling my insurance. My insurance made them pay 100% and I got my deductible back.

Out of all the insurance I have ever dealt with, progressive has the slimiest agents, nickle and diming everything. Take them to the bank.

I did have a similar situation to your son, but without the back pain. A teenage driver rear-ended my truck. No obvious damage to the truck, but busted radiator and all on here new volvo. It submarined under my bumper enough to lift the rear tires off. I told her to follow me to the adjacent parking lot to exchange info. I took pictures before moving including hers. Had to put it in 4wd to get off her car and drove to the parking lot. She had to be towed away from the parking lot because her engine seized from lack of cooling as she left it idling. Exchanged info, minus my insurance and left. Filed a police report that night. Got a call a few days later from her agent asking for information. Explained what had happened, then asked if he could come see the truck. The agent was told her dad was driving and hit a vehicle that had stalled in front of him. Showed the pictures to the agent, no dad, just the daughter and her friend. He looked at the rear bumper, printed a $1,500 check for a few scratches and asked if I was willing to testify against his client in an insurance fraud case if it got that far.

[MarkCO]

My kid got hit by a car (ER visit, 27 stitches), got paid policy limits from the other driver's carrier, USAA. He ended up with a decent chunk of money in a restricted account (that is the law for settlement with a minor). In court (we did not hire an attorney) the Judge commended my wife, son and I for how we handled the whole thing. Life lessons are part of it.

I do accident reconstruction professionally and talked to my personal attorney. The case was valued at about twice what we settled for, but an attorney would have taken 30% plus leaving my kid with about the same, maybe a little more. He was made whole, we waited a while to make sure and got two medical opinions. The Insurance company paid out the maximum they would have and any additional would have come from a different carrier (Ours under a UI claim, or the other driver if he had something like an umbrella).

IMHO, attorneys are great when things are tricky. When they are straightforward, liability established, med bills paid and full recovery verified, no reason for an attorney at all.

[spqrzilla]

There is a problem with getting legal advice from internet forums. Well, two really.

One is that the answers may not be wrong but often are incomplete. For example, a three year statute of limitations? Maybe. Sometimes shorter ones apply, such as if the party who hit you was a government employee. Claims against state or local government entities have much much shorter statutes of limitation.

The second is that if an attorney makes a mistake, you can make a claim against them for malpractice. Suing yourself for malpractice is seldom successful...

[Irving]

Just a point of clarification here, there are insurance agents, and there insurance adjusters. You deal with agents when you buy insurance, and you deal with adjusters when you use insurance. Most people call their agent when they need to make a claim, but after the claim is filed, the agent is not really involved except for making some inquisitive phone calls and trying to help move the process along.

Then there are liability adjusters, and physical damage adjusters. The liability adjusters are the ones you talk to on the phone and give recorded statements to, and the physical damage adjusters are the ones that are actually writings estimate for physical damage. Sometimes they are the same person, in smaller companies, but most of your big name companies have separated our those positions.

Next, liability adjusters are who handle auto claims with no injuries are most often new hires to the company. The next level up is then minor injuries with no attorney involved. After that is minor injury with an attorney involved. Then major injury with attorney, UI, home owners liability, etc.

I know that didn't really help out OP, but he's been getting solid advice so far and I thought I could add a little context to the situation.

[kidicarus13]

Progressive low balls everything. They only wanted to pay for 70% of the repairs for my car when one of their clients swerved and collided with my car. They said I was partly at fault for not paying attention to the item their client swerved for and giving him room. I asked why their client did't stop or slow down to avoid hitting it instead of swerving into me. More blah blah blah. Then I got all pissed and cursed them out before hanging up and calling my insurance. My insurance made them pay 100% and I got my deductible back.

Out of all the insurance I have ever dealt with, progressive has the slimiest agents, nickle and diming everything. Take them to the bank.


Similar situation happened to me. Progressive client backed into me in a parking lot. Progressive manager called me and initially offered to pay 60% of the damages. I argued I was 0% at fault. He made excuses and acted ike I shoulds be able to see into the future and then changed his offer to 80%. I told him to pound sand and turned it over to my insurance company- State Farm at the time. It took about 4 months but I was paid 100% of damages incurred.