Drunk Driving accident. My sister needs a lawyer

[Payton King]

but I am a State Farm Insurance agent and my wife use to be an auto claim adjuster. I deal with this on a daily basis. Some of the information you have received is correct and some is not. Each claim is different based on the merits of the case.

1. Don't be so quick to jump to get an attny. A claim is worth what a claim is worth. IE a $3000 car is worth $3000. An attny cannot get you any more money, he can however take 33% of your $3000 the that would have been paid anyway. Same thing on the bodily injury side.

2. As bad as it is to be hit by a drunk driver, the person is not anymore liable than if they were not paying attention and ran a red light. In other words, there will be no punitive awards for bodily injury just because they were drunk (they will not give you more money.)

3. Back on the car settlement...car is expected to be in good working order. If the vehicle is worth $3000 and you do $3000 worth of maintance on it...still worth $3000. State Farm will start with top NADA value and deduct for condition, mileage, etc. Most other companies do the same. They will also do a market survey sometimes, what that year, make and model is selling for in the area to arrive a price.

I do not know the extent of her injuries, but they will owe for doctor bills, follow ups, etc. She will be entitled to some pain and suffering but there is no rule of thumb on that amount. Depending on the company, they may not pay the bills until all of them have been submitted and she signs a release, so don't be shocked. Lots of other stuff in this category (bodily injury) but with out more info hard to get specific.

Personally, I would try and work it out with the insurance company first and only get a lawyer as a last resort. I have seen too many cases where the insurance company was going to pay $10,000, person gets a lawyer, they still pay $10,000, but the lawyer gets $3000 and the claimant gets $7000.

I would be happy to speak with you if you like and I will try and give you the best advice that I can. 704-846-7511 I feel for your sister and what she is having to go through.

Payton

[TravisB]

Originally Posted by Payton King

but I am a State Farm Insurance agent and my wife use to be an auto claim adjuster. I deal with this on a daily basis. Some of the information you have received is correct and some is not. Each claim is different based on the merits of the case.

1. Don't be so quick to jump to get an attny. A claim is worth what a claim is worth. IE a $3000 car is worth $3000. An attny cannot get you any more money, he can however take 33% of your $3000 the that would have been paid anyway. Same thing on the bodily injury side.

2. As bad as it is to be hit by a drunk driver, the person is not anymore liable than if they were not paying attention and ran a red light. In other words, there will be no punitive awards for bodily injury just because they were drunk (they will not give you more money.)

3. Back on the car settlement...car is expected to be in good working order. If the vehicle is worth $3000 and you do $3000 worth of maintance on it...still worth $3000. State Farm will start with top NADA value and deduct for condition, mileage, etc. Most other companies do the same. They will also do a market survey sometimes, what that year, make and model is selling for in the area to arrive a price.

I do not know the extent of her injuries, but they will owe for doctor bills, follow ups, etc. She will be entitled to some pain and suffering but there is no rule of thumb on that amount. Depending on the company, they may not pay the bills until all of them have been submitted and she signs a release, so don't be shocked. Lots of other stuff in this category (bodily injury) but with out more info hard to get specific.

Personally, I would try and work it out with the insurance company first and only get a lawyer as a last resort. I have seen too many cases where the insurance company was going to pay $10,000, person gets a lawyer, they still pay $10,000, but the lawyer gets $3000 and the claimant gets $7000.

I would be happy to speak with you if you like and I will try and give you the best advice that I can. 704-846-7511 I feel for your sister and what she is having to go through.

Payton

very very very well said..........

[Lcamino]

I had a pretty bad accident and I did learn some interesting things about the whole process.

1. As long as the driver pledes no contest it doesn't matter what happened, it cant be used against her in court (at least not for your civil case). The signed statement taken by the police however can be used in court.

2. I did get a lawyer but I had pretty extensive injuries, brain injury, fractured skull, several broken bones, etc It took over a year before anyone started paying any bills. The medical people want their money now! A lawyer can keep the bill collectors happy while you get your case sorted out. I agree with what was said earlier about the value of a vehichle. It is what it is and if that is the only issue than a lawyer probably wouldn't be much help. The other reason I got a lawyer was because no one was charged with the accident so I needed someone to prove who was at fault. I was not going to leave that up to some claims adjuster.

[tyoneal]

To All:

Another thing I thought I might add is:

When buying your insurence you need to make sure that you have plenty of PIP (Personal Injury Protection)

Many policys have $1500-$2500 worth. Whick wn't get you anywhere if you hav extensive injuries.

When I had a bad accident it took 13 months before I received a dime of insurence money. If you raise your PIP to $10,000 maybe as high as $30,000 will go a long way in helping make your short term bills while everything is getting organized finacially.

Also, make sure your policy is at least a 500/500/20,000<---(PIP)

Therefore if you are alone and you are hit by someone with 20k of insurence you won't go broke trying to get your life back together.

Many people have policys that are 100/300/(PIP) What that means is you have 300k worth of insurence, however it's a maximum per person of 100k with a cap of 300k for everyone inclusively.

Where as if your policy is 500/500/(PIP) if you are along you are covered for the full 500k. Most of my time in a car is spent alone, this makes sense.

I raised my levels from 100/300/1500, to 500/500/20,000. I raised my deductable from $1000 to $2000 and my premiums went down!!

Please check this out, it could have a profound impact on you if God forbid you are in a serious accident.

My bills quickly hit $400k and so far they are around $650k and climbing.

If you have acquired any assets to speak of you should also buy an "Umbrella" policy, which will save your butt if something terrible happens and you are sued. They are cheap and for $2,000,000 of extra insurence it only cost $200-$300 per year.

Anyone disagree with this??

I've been through a tough time and I had to learn the hard way. I think I've got things pretty well covered now.

Ty O'Neal

[Payton King]

The level of bodily injury really makes a huge difference in cases. In Lcamino's case you better get a lawyer and it sounds the same way in tyoneal.

I have people wanting to contact lawyers when there is no damage or minimal damage to their car. I guess they think if they get hit they just won the lottery.

Since I do this for a living I could go on and on on coverages and why. Just know that if you cause bodily injury or property damage to someone else, you are responsible for the damage whether you have enough insurance or not. IE. if you have $50,000 limits and do $400,000 worth of damage ,your insurance company will pay the $50,000 and the claimant will come after you for the rest.

[TravisB]

Originally Posted by Payton King

The level of bodily injury really makes a huge difference in cases. In Lcamino's case you better get a lawyer and it sounds the same way in tyoneal.

I have people wanting to contact lawyers when there is no damage or minimal damage to their car. I guess they think if they get hit they just won the lottery.

Since I do this for a living I could go on and on on coverages and why. Just know that if you cause bodily injury or property damage to someone else, you are responsible for the damage whether you have enough insurance or not. IE. if you have $50,000 limits and do $400,000 worth of damage ,your insurance company will pay the $50,000 and the claimant will come after you for the rest.

thats why you should always have enough insurance to cover your assets.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by Payton King

but I am a State Farm Insurance agent and my wife use to be an auto claim adjuster. I deal with this on a daily basis. Some of the information you have received is correct and some is not. Each claim is different based on the merits of the case.

1. Don't be so quick to jump to get an attny. A claim is worth what a claim is worth. IE a $3000 car is worth $3000. An attny cannot get you any more money, he can however take 33% of your $3000 the that would have been paid anyway. Same thing on the bodily injury side.

2. As bad as it is to be hit by a drunk driver, the person is not anymore liable than if they were not paying attention and ran a red light. In other words, there will be no punitive awards for bodily injury just because they were drunk (they will not give you more money.)

3. Back on the car settlement...car is expected to be in good working order. If the vehicle is worth $3000 and you do $3000 worth of maintance on it...still worth $3000. State Farm will start with top NADA value and deduct for condition, mileage, etc. Most other companies do the same. They will also do a market survey sometimes, what that year, make and model is selling for in the area to arrive a price.

I do not know the extent of her injuries, but they will owe for doctor bills, follow ups, etc. She will be entitled to some pain and suffering but there is no rule of thumb on that amount. Depending on the company, they may not pay the bills until all of them have been submitted and she signs a release, so don't be shocked. Lots of other stuff in this category (bodily injury) but with out more info hard to get specific.

Personally, I would try and work it out with the insurance company first and only get a lawyer as a last resort. I have seen too many cases where the insurance company was going to pay $10,000, person gets a lawyer, they still pay $10,000, but the lawyer gets $3000 and the claimant gets $7000.

I would be happy to speak with you if you like and I will try and give you the best advice that I can. 704-846-7511 I feel for your sister and what she is having to go through.

Payton

The best thing to take out of that is
"a car is worth what it's worth"

Work with your agent, but I wouldn't bother with a lawyer. Very well written post above.

[mazspeed]

Thanks guys. Something I will relay to my sister. I did have her talk to an attorny from Jon Henson, but I'm not sure what she is going to do. I will copy and paste these posts for her though.

Thanks
Mike