Final Settlement of Car Damage Claims

Let Us Evaluate Your Case to Get You the Compensation You Deserve

Assuming you were not seriously injured when you had your car accident, you are now in the process of trying to get your vehicle damage claim settled with your insurance company. Since you have spent years paying monthly premium after monthly premium to the company, you naturally assume you will get all the help you need and the process will be smooth sailing. However, insurance companies don’t see it this same way. While the company certainly wants your money, it does not want to give it back to you when you file a claim. As a result, there will probably be a disagreement or two during this process. If you try to deal with the insurance company by yourself, you will get poor results. To make sure you get the damage claim you deserve, let a Los Angeles personal injury attorney at Grey Law take on the insurance company for you and hold it accountable for honoring your policy.

Be Wary of Release Forms

If everything goes as planned, most vehicle damage claims can be completed over the phone. However, things can begin to get complicated if you sign a release form given to you by the insurance company. While the release form may come with your claim check, it may also come ahead of the check, with the insurance company requiring you to sign and return the release form before being given the check. Since this can be intimidating and confusing, never sign anything unless you are absolutely clear how it pertains to your claim and possible personal injury lawsuit. To get your questions answered by someone who knows about these matters, talk to a Grey Law car accident lawyer.

“Property Damage Only”

Upon receiving a check and release forms from the insurance company, inspect them carefully to make sure they have the words “Property Damage Only” on them. If they do not, you should never deposit the check or sign and return any release forms. Should the check and forms have the words “General Release” on them, this is an automatic red flag for an experienced car wreck compensation attorney who Los Angeles car accident victims work with at Grey Law. If the words “General Release” appear, this could substantially impact the amount of money you could receive in a personal injury settlement, or could potentially prevent you from even pursuing a lawsuit altogether.

Once It’s Done, It’s Done

An important point to remember is that once you sign a release form and deposit a check from the insurance company, that is the end of your claim. Should you discover additional damage to your vehicle afterwards, you cannot go back and try to continue the prior claim. Therefore, when getting repair estimates for your vehicle, always make sure those doing so give your vehicle a thorough inspection top to bottom. For example, should you discover you have a cracked engine block after you have already accepted a settlement, you will be out of luck if you are expecting the insurance company to pay for the damage. Thus, if an insurance company is pressuring you to accept a settlement, never do so until you have expressed your concerns to an injury attorney and received tips on how to move forward with your claim.

Reducing Your Settlement Amount

In an effort to keep from paying you the compensation you deserve for your vehicle, the insurance company may try to do all it can to put substantial blame for the accident on your shoulders. If this is allowed to happen, the amount of money you will receive in a settlement will be far less than you need and deserve. If you know you were not at fault in any way for the accident, don’t let the insurance company railroad you into getting less than what you deserve. To get the best results for your situation, let an auto accident settlement lawyer in Los Angeles take charge of the matter.

What if I Was At Fault for the Accident?

Even if it turns out you did have some role to play in causing the accident, you can still receive substantial compensation regarding your vehicle damage claim. While your amount may be reduced somewhat if your claim is filed with another driver’s insurer as a third-party claim or with your own company as an uninsured motorist claim, your Los Angeles lawyer can protect your rights and see that you get the amount of money to which you are entitled.

Collision Coverage Claims

Since insurance companies never enjoy paying out claims, you should not take anything for granted in these situations. For example, if you have collision coverage as part of your auto insurance policy, the insurance company is obligated to pay your claim regardless of which driver was at fault for the accident. However, there may still be questions raised by the insurance company in these types of situations, which can lead to substantial delays in you getting the money needed to repair your vehicle. Due to insurance companies being well-known for using numerous tricks to get out of paying claims to customers, don’t let this happen to you. When you need a traffic accident lawyer who understands how insurance companies operate, hire a car wreck attorney accident victims know will never back down from insurance companies during negotiations.

Always Hire a Lawyer

Whenever you have a dispute with an insurance company regarding a claim, always hire a personal injury attorney who has years of success winning these cases. If you do not have an attorney representing you in these matters, an insurance company will simply not take you seriously, and thus will do little if anything to resolve the situation to your satisfaction. By having a lawyer who can speak to the insurance company and let them know in no uncertain terms that you expect to be paid what you deserve, good things usually happen. If you are prepared to hire an auto accident lawyer in LA, contact attorney David Grey.