21 Apr

3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Try To Settle A Car Accident Injury Claim Without A Lawyer

Injured in a car accident? Can you settle a car accident injury claim without a lawyer? Even if it was pretty bad, you may not think it’s bad enough to need a lawyer – surely it can’t be that difficult to file a claim, right? Your insurance company (or the insurance company of the party who hit you) helps people with claims – that’s what they do – so they’d surely want to make it a straightforward process, right?

Wrong!

Have you ever seen The Incredibles (Pixar film)? One of the early scenes shows Bob, who works for an insurance company (“Insuricare”), arguing with his manager Mr. Huph over helping a customer. Bob is in trouble for helping a customer work past a claim denial; he asks Mr. Huph, “Are you saying we shouldn’t help our customers?….We’re supposed to help people,” to which Mr. Huph responds, “We’re supposed to help OUR people! Starting with our stockholders!”

This is not an exaggeration of how insurance companies truly operate. Insurance companies lose money when they pay out claims to injured accident victims (or property damage claims). They may sound friendly and concerned over the phone, but they are not working for your best interests; they are working for theirs, have no doubt about that. Their goal is not your customer satisfaction; it is to protect their bottom line by resolving your claim with the least amount of cost possible.

Sometimes this means that they will seek to deny your claim entirely; sometimes this means that they will seek to devalue your claim; either way, you shouldn’t try to settle a car accident injury claim without a lawyer standing up for you!

Here are 3 reasons why:

1 – You Will Spend Hours Trying To Figure Out How To Do It (Time Better Spent On Other Things)

Perhaps the most logical reason that you shouldn’t try to settle a car accident injury claim without a lawyer is that you will waste a ton of your valuable time.

Recovering from your injuries is exhausting enough and should be your top priority. If you are going to physical therapy or the chiropractor to try to regain motion or function, that is time-consuming; if you are returning to work, that is time-consuming; if your injuries caused other necessary lifestyle changes, navigating those can be time-consuming.

The last thing you need to be doing is

spending hours on hold and on the phone with insurance representatives,
filling out complicated paperwork (and potentially making mistakes on it that will mean you have to start from scratch at a later date anyway),
and Googling tips and legal information (which may not even be accurate and can cause more confusion than they are worth).

A lawyer who does car accident claims went to school for this and has probably spent years doing it for other injured car crash victims! Time is money – don’t spend yours on something a licensed professional could do better and faster.

2 – You Will Only Be Able To Make Empty Threats, So You Can Only Take Your Case So Far

One of the primary benefits of having a car accident lawyer on your side when you are settling a claim (and there are many) is negotiating power. Working with an attorney forces the insurance companies to take you and your claim seriously. For the most part, this is because they know that an attorney has the capabilities to take your claim to court and present your case before a judge or a jury if they don’t play ball.

Now, if you don’t have legal representation, this isn’t a real fear. Sure, you can represent yourself in court – that’s your legal right – but your odds of succeeding that way are extremely low. You aren’t trained in court procedures and don’t have the knowledge of the law and precedent that the insurance company’s lawyers do. If you threaten to take them to court because they are not fulfilling your claim, you will likely be met with a “Go right ahead!” attitude.

This means that there is a ceiling you will inevitably hit at some point if you are trying to negotiate with the insurance companies on your own. You will be forced to either accept their offer or walk away with nothing, because you do not have other options.

3 – You WILL Get Less Money – It Is All But 100% Guaranteed

The most important reason you shouldn’t try to settle a car accident injury claim without a lawyer is because having a lawyer is significantly more likely to result in a higher monetary settlement (or in a settlement at all). Of course, nothing is 100% guaranteed, but the data repeatedly supports it.

One survey showed that more than 9 out of 10 plaintiffs who had legal representation received an award amount, compared to about 5 out of 10 who handled their own claims. The same survey found that participants who hired a lawyer walked away with an average of $77,600 in compensation compared to an average of $17,600 for the self-represented. Even when you subtract the contingency fee that the attorneys receive, plaintiffs who hired lawyers walked away with average net payouts nearly three times higher than plaintiffs who didn’t.

And this is just one example. There is extensive evidence for this, and it makes sense – that lawyers know what it takes to build a successful claim and deal with insurance adjusters.

The Bottom Line – Just Talk To A Lawyer First!

Not convinced? In most cases, it doesn’t cost anything to talk to a lawyer and get their opinion. You may not have to pay them any legal fees until your case settles and they have won you compensation, either; it’s generally risk-free to get them to handle your case (a win-win!). If you were injured in a car accident in Florida, call The Florida Law Group. We have offices around the state and offer phone consultations as well, and we have recovered over $1 billion for our clients. Call today to schedule your free consultation and learn more about your car accident claim!