Quote:
Originally Posted by Reds4Life
I claimed it on my insurance. I discussed with my agent and he said insurance companies for commercial drivers are a nightmare to deal with, and slow. I only have one car, and couldn't have this drag out for a month. My insurance is going to pay for my car, then subrogate the claim back to the at fault party, and they'll deal with them.
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That's one way to do it if you have a good insurance company yourself. Some insurers of at-fault parties will jump right in and immediately start processing your claim to try to keep your own insurance out of it and minimize their own losses. Once they get in, they nickel-and-dime you at every corner. And of course some auto insurers are notorious for following the "3 Ds": Deny, Defend, and Delay. If you don't sign a waiver of your legal claim right away, they do anything they can to wear you down, knowing that they have money and you don't. I had this issue when I was a law student and my wife was hit by a driver while she was 6 months pregnant and had our 3 year old son in the car. The other guy's insurance company swooped right in, pretending to be helpful, but the car got to the shop, they started questioning every repair and actually tried to claim that some of the damage must have happened before or after the accident, even though it was a brand new car that had just been driven off the lot the week before. My wife even spent the day in the hospital so they could monitor the baby. After some sage advice from some attorney mentors, I held out for a while, going back and forth with them as I got closer to passing the bar exam. I finally got them to give us a settlement we could be happy with, but it took a lot of patience and some investigation into the law.
As annoying and shady some personal injury lawyers seem, it doesn't hurt to talk to one if you're having physical issues. I hired a lawyer when I was in an accident just out of college when I was having neck and shoulder issues afterward. He got me a reasonable settlement that covered the cost of a new car and a lot more physical therapy than I would have gotten otherwise, because my health insurance at the time wasn't so great.