How to prevent from getting screwed by your insurance

[Rusty]

Here's my take on things

Since everybody here are having wrecks left and right and everybody seems to be getting screwed over, I am going to lend a good bit of advice. I hope I am at help and I EXPECT all suggestions and help from other members as far as advice goes. Help your fellow member so that just in case, they wont get screwed

Step 1: If you have a pretty hard impact, GO TO THE HOSPITAL. This is only if you are NOT at fault. It dont matter whether its in the ambulance or somebody takes you, GO GET CHECKED OUT! I did have symptoms of a back ache until I got into the ambulance. I was later diagnosed with whip lash. If you dont go to the hospital then you will have complications afterwards more than likely IF your impact was pretty rough. This kind of rough to be an example:
You wont feel the pain right away most instances because of the adrenaline rush.

If you're injured go to the hospital whether you're at fault or not. (common sense) If you have your own personal health insurance they will cover it no matter who is at fault. If you're not at fault your insurance company will then go after the at fault party/insurance company for the amount they paid out. A lot of auto insurance policies also cover medical expenses up to a certain amount. In Mass its called Personal Injury Protection.

Step 3: File the proper accident report with your insurance company. In SC its called an FR-10 and you have to file it with your insurance company within 15 days. Im not sure how your state does it so you are on your own with that.

Step 4: File a claim with the insurance company of the policy holder of the person at fault. You will give them some information and an adjuster will call you after the claim is made. He is going to record you for a statement. Make sure you have a damn good story and dont fuck up. Any slight fuck up in the statement you make determines if you get paid or not. So make sure you have a correct statement.

These two are repetitve. If you call your insurance company (which I recommend) there is no need to call the other parties insurance company. Most likely they won't even want to deal with you individually if they can deal with your insurance company.

If you only have a minor claim or you don't have insurance you can call the other insurance company and deal with them directly but unlike your own personal insurance company they will not have your best interest in mind. Your personal insurance company is there to have your best interest in mind and generally they don't care paying a victim when they aren't at fault b/c they will just go after the at fault party in a subrogation action.

If you are going through your insurance company you should NOT be giving a statement to the other insurance company. You should leave the information sharing up to your attorney or your insurance company.

Step 4: CALL THE LAWYER! Whether or not you think it is fit, call a lawyer and make sure you call a good one. The adjuster is going to be all nice to your face and make you feel like you dont need one. WRONG. Call a good reputable lawyer in your area and not one of those big time ones that have a commercial every 5 minutes on the tv. I made that mistake already. They are taking 33% of the claim which is normal for most firms. I have heard as low as 10%. BUT you get what you pay for just remember that. Whether you are hurt or not, more than likely you are going to end up at the chiropractor.

Calling a lawyer is a good idea. If you have a lawyer make sure the other attorney/insurance company doesn't contact you directly. It can be a violation of federal polices and there can be sanctions for the attorney/insurance company that does contact you

Step 5: Im sure the adjuster has called you by now. And the first thing he is going to do is try and tow the car to another lot. DONT DO IT UNLESS YOU HATE YOUR CAR AND LOVE BEING SCREWED BY THE INSURANCE COMPANY! They will attempt to sabotage your vehicle or find a way to not have to pay. They will try to say that you werent able to stop or your brake lights arent working or something like that. Your local neighborhood towing company will look after you if they care. This is why I say get somebody that you know or find somebody with great reviews. In my case, I did NOT let the adjuster touch my car unless it was being appraised at the lot and a check is put in my hand. I can PROMISE parts will go missing and you wont ever see them again. And better yet, you wont be reimbursed for the damages/missing items.

I have NEVER heard of an insurance company cutting a check at the scene of the appraisal. The insurance company is a corporation regulated by the state and like every other corporation they have a process for cutting checks.

Step 6: Go to your therapy if you need it. Dont miss an appointment unless you are on the death bed. AND GET YOUR FREE RENTAL CAR! AND HAVE FUN WITH IT but I do not condone the acts of jumping rail road tracks, mudding, or anything of that nature. Just make sure it comes back with a full tank of gas.

The only time insurance companies care about you missing doctors appointments is when you've stopped going for an extended period of time and then start going again. To them that looks suspicious. But for regular appointments the lawyer/insurance company generally doesn't know that the appointment was canceled/rescheduled unless the dr. mentions it in his notes (which isn't that popular)

the only other appointment you really can't miss is an Independent Medical Examination (IME). These are usually ordered by the insurance companies. If you miss it your insurance company may be able to stop payment on your medical expenses and the other parties insurance will have really good grounds for only paying medical expenses and/or pain and suffering up until the date of the appointment.

Step 9: Receive currency. I am 100% positive you will get screwed out of your settlement for your car. They are old and they go by the local market value which is MADE UP. NightWolf only got $1100 for his wagon when it was wrecked. I only got $1800 for my wagon when it was wrecked (nov '07). Be prepared! Keep receipts of all repairs and body work. This MIGHT help you get a little more but not likely.

All you need to do is pay attention to the paperwork the insurance companies send. I had an issue with my Spec V. The insurance company only wanted to offer me $4K for my Spec and I looked through the paperwork and noticed that they didn't value a lot of the extras that differed the regular sentra from The spec V. I called my adjuster told him about it and I got $7k for my car.

Keeping receipts for stuff that will actually add value to your car is smart depending on what its for it might help. Unfortunately the insurance co. doesn't care about the fact that you have an aftermarket exhaust or jdm fogs.

Step 10: You are on your own as of now. Find another car, or fix the one you have. More than likely you will be handed a salvage title. Try to avoid this as much as you can. It will prevent getting screwed again later on down the road.

Some times you're better off w/o a salvage title. Many states have crazy requirements for getting a salvage title back on the road.

And if you have to choose between hitting the person at fault or a guard rail, please for the love of god you better rock that drivers shit instead of ramming that telephone poll and they run off. AND GET UNDERINSURED/UNINSURED coverage on your policy NOW. You will need it just in case that one ***got has no insurance or not enough for your injuries.

You're right... EVERYONE should aim for the family in the minivan. Hopefully you don't kill all of them. The Last Clear Chance Doctrine state that if you have the opportunity to avoid the accident and choose not to you can be denied some or all damages depending on how your state handles issues like this

[Shag Wagon]

Here we go, some damn good words! You made this threads purpose more complete than I could have done it.