After a Car Accident, Should You Accept a Settlement from the Insurance Company?

Attorney Gregory Herrman | 888-981-1283 | Free Consult

"[The other driver’s insurance company] is not your friend. They’re gonna act like they’re your friend. [But] their job is to pay you as little as possible. So if they can trip you up, get you in a trap, make it look like you’re lying about something, that’s what they’re gonna do."

After a car accident, should you accept a settlement from the insurance company?

Gregory Herrman is a personal injury attorney with the law firm Herrman & Herrman, P.L.L.C. They have resolved over 20,000 cases for their clients, and they help clients in Corpus Christi, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. In this interview, he explains that in many cases, it is not worth it to accept a settlement. You could be giving up your right to seek additional forms of compensation.

To learn more, contact Gregory Herrman by calling 888-981-1283 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Be careful what you say to insurance companies.

You can be fairly candid with your own insurance company. But you need to be extremely careful when speaking with the other driver’s insurance provider. If they catch you making a mistake, they will portray you as a liar, which could hurt you if your case ever goes to trial. Give them very few details about the accident. The more detail you get into, the more you set yourself up to fall into a trap.

Don’t speculate about the details.

If you know what happened and it’s the other person’s fault, i.e. they ran a red light, you can tell them that. But there’s no need to guess or wonder about the cause if you aren’t 100 percent sure. Don’t guess about how fast you were going, when you applied the brakes, etc. They are looking for you to make a mistake and provide the wrong guess. They want to portray as a greedy liar who wants money.

Tell them everything about your injuries.

If you don’t mention an injury, and it goes on to become much worse, they’ll attack you for not bringing it up earliest. Mention every single injury you have, even if it might seem minor. Sometimes it can take up to a week or two for injuries to present themselves.

Don’t accept their settlement offer.

Chances are they are offering you far less than you deserve. The exception is if they’re offering the maximum amount available under your policy details. Sometimes it makes sense to take that offer, but it’s still a good idea to consult with an attorney first. When you accept the settlement, you are forfeiting your rights to any future negligence claims. If a mechanical defect played a role in the crash, for example, this could be a viable option for a crash, but you wouldn’t be allowed to explore it if you accept the settlement.

It’s also extremely rare for the company to offer you full policy limits. Additionally, there may be policy previsions you may not know about.

Ask a lawyer to look over all the details before you make a decision.

In addition to providing helpful legal advice, an attorney can obtain witness statements, examine the scene of the accident, and work with the insurance company on your behalf. This is a complex area of law, and it’s helpful to have a skilled professional in your corner to make sure the insurance companies don’t take advantage of you.

To learn more, contact Gregory Herrman by calling 888-981-1283 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.