We’re not here to take your money or to waste your time. Indeed, there is an endless supply of car accidents to litigate. The question you want to know is: Should I hire an attorney to litigate my claim against an at-fault driver.
The rule of thumb is this: You can submit a claim if you want and get some money back but if you have serious injuries, you should hire an attorney. By “serious” we mean any injury that will require you to miss any time from work. If you get out of the accident with a couple of scratches and body damage to your car, the insurance companies are usually pretty good about paying for the repairs.
What they’re not so good about is paying for repairs to you personally. The reason is that there are a number of people that attempt to scam insurance companies by claiming significant irreparable damage to their bodies when none really exist. For that reason, the insurance companies will stress test your case against their policyholder as much as they can.
That means poring through your medical records and interpreting ambiguities in the police reports against you. This is, essentially, their job. Their interests are aligned with their policyholder’s and if they do not advocate on behalf of their policyholder, they can be sued for breaching their fiduciary duty and Geico recently found out to the tune of $8.5 million.
In addition to having a fiduciary duty to their policyholder, they also run a business. That business operates for-profit and they make money by settling claims for less than they’re worth.