Getting into a serious car accident in Kentucky can leave you in a precarious position. If you suffer injuries in a crash caused by another driver, you may not be able to work for some time. When you don’t have income, even moderate medical bills can quickly cause major problems. Hearing from an insurance company with a settlement offer after a crash can feel like a wonderful thing. After all, you probably need money to pay your medical bills as well as your standard living expenses. Before you sign anything and take that check, make sure the settlement offer is fair.
Insurance companies offer lowball settlements to minimize their financial losses
Every claim an insurance company has to pay out is a reduction in their overall profit. Companies will do anything they can to limit how much they pay. Car crashes with serious injuries are often a major source of financial liability for insurance providers. They understand how frightened people can feel after a crash, and that knowledge helps them. They will offer low settlements, knowing that most people will jump at a lump sum check in the hope of addressing their financial issues. Unfortunately, many times those checks do not cover the full, ongoing costs associated with the injuries from the crash. people who accept settlements often do not have the right to pursue future compensation, even if the settlement does not cover all the expenses from the injury.
You need to look at your medical and financial records before accepting a settlement
The most important thing to do when deciding if a settlement is fair is to determine what the crash actually cost you. There are a lot of expenses associated with trauma care and emergency medical care in the wake of a crash. Whether you had to be flown by helicopter from a remote crash site or needed emergency surgery to stop bleeding, those expenses are probably significant. Hospitals may often take some time to bill in full for all expenses. If you receive a settlement offer, you should reach out to the medical facility where you receive care. Make sure you have the names of all secondary billing parties, as you may get additional bills from a company that transported you, as well as from any specialists who attended to you. You need all of the current medical costs to determine what expenses you have already incurred. You should also factor in any future care that you will need, such as additional surgery or physical therapy. Compare those figures with the amount offered by the insurance company. If you don’t have more than enough to cover all of the medical costs you are experiencing, not to mention your lost wages from all of your missed work, that could be a sign that the settlement offer is too low.