Originally Posted by Indydealmaker (Post 912795)

Originally Posted by Trayderjoe (Post 913003)

?..........I was very lucky that it was my car that got the damage and I only had relatively minor scrapes and glass particles all over me (they used a dust buster in the ER to get the glass off of me)...........

Originally Posted by Trayderjoe (Post 913003)

I was in an auto accident years ago in New Jersey (a "no fault state"). Dump truck had a tire failure on a highway, piece of tire from the dump truck that looked like a basketball bounced off a pickup truck that was behind the dump truck, bounced across the highway, and came through my windshield. I was very lucky that it was my car that got the damage and I only had relatively minor scrapes and glass particles all over me (they used a dust buster in the ER to get the glass off of me). My insurance company advised me to not pay the medical bills beyond my deductible (they had a copy of the police report) they would cover the rest of the bills and would get compensation from the other driver's insurance company. Later on, I started getting calls from a collection agency about the balance of the unpaid medical bills. Contacted my insurance company, was told that the agent handling my claim left the company and they were just catching up. Got a second round of calls from collection agency-again contacted my insurance company and they claimed the new agent had also left so my claim hadn't been processed. I informed them that my lawyer would be in contact with them in regards to my pending lawsuit for breach of contract by THEM and for any damages resulting from any collection action. Bills got paid quickly thereafter. They later told me that the hold up was that the other driver did not have insurance. I asked them if they filed to take the dump truck from the guy and sell it to get their (my) money back since he didn't have insurance. They didn't do it because they said the guy needed it for the work he did (it was owned by him). Hello? The truck was not insured, did not have safe tires AND THEY WERE WILLING to let that keep happening? Never heard about any legal action against him other than a traffic citation.

The short of it was that I had to threaten bringing in an attorney to get my interests covered by my OWN insurance company for an accident which in no way could have been even partially blamed on me. I didn't actually get the lawyer involved, but don't assume that anyone will be concerned with your best interests. If they are, great, if not, you are prepared for the worst. As other's posted, get pictures of your injuries, copies of medical and police reports and be prepared to "go to war". Yes lawyers can be expensive, but if it is on a contingency basis, 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

Originally Posted by BarryRX (Post 913392)

Get a lawyer immediately. Whatever the other guys insurance company offers you,they are low balling you because that's their job. If you think you can handle yourself against lawyers from the other guys insurance company,you are wrong. Their only job is to get you to settle for the least amount of money possible ant to get you to sign a release against any further claims. A good personal injury lawyer should be able to collect more than you would have been able to on your own, and more than make up for their contingency fee. Think of it this way....the other guys insurance company would much rather deal directly with you than with your lawyer. Why do you suppose that is?