PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

Palangi · #1 04-06-2002, 10:46 AM

Last September, we were rear-ended at about 50mph. My Toyota 4-Runner was totaled (rolled completely over). My injuriies were minor, but Linda's were more serious.
My insurance company (State Farm) has been great. They wrote a check for the vehicle on the 3rd day after the accident. At that point, we had not yet obtained the police report, so we didn't even know who hit us or if they had insurance, but State Farm took care of us anyway.

When we finally got the police report, it turns out the at-fault driver is insured by Progressive, so we contacted them. When their adjustor came to see me, she was a total bozo. She was loud and pushy and stupid. On about the 3rd visit, I basically told her to get lost. She left the company and a supervisor took over the case.

Linda's total medical expenses to date are about $3,500. My insurance company (State Farm) has paid each bill promptly under my Personal Injury Protection as part of my policy. Progressive hasn't done squat. Linda still has ongoing problems as a result of the accident. Ongoing headaches (the roof came down on her side when the vehicle rolled) and a bone spur on her elbow (elbow went out the window into broken glass when the vehicle rolled). Progressive has offered to settle her claims for $4,500. Since the total amount of her future medical expenses is unknown, this does not seem like a reasonable settlement to me, but they refuse to budge on that figure.

In checking around with a few folks we know in the insurance business, they say that their rule of thumb is to settle for about 3x the known medical expenses. At this point, it appears that we are probably going to have to sue the bastards in order to obtain a reasonable settlement. We're not trying to get rich here, but I think we should receive more than what they are offering, just as a hedge against future medical expenses, if nothing else. We're not interested in making any lawyers rich either. If we hire a lawyer, and he obtains a settlement of, say, $10,000, and the lawyer gets, say, $4,000, we haven't really gained anything, considering all the time and hassle.

Can anyone out there offer any advice on how to proceed with this? I'm not really looking for free legal advice, but more interested in BTDT advice. Also, if anyone out there is in the insurance business, I would greatly appreciate their input.

Thanks