Motorcycle accident victims would begin by filing a claim with the at-fault party’s insurer. Victims would list all of their damages after a collision, including totals on medical bills, totals on lost income, and the cost to repair a motorcycle.
Riders would turn in all evidence they had and documents backing up their financial losses due to an injury. The insurance company’s adjusters would examine the information and hopefully extend a settlement offer.
Of course, insurance adjusters don’t always make the process easy. They can use many unfair tactics to avoid taking the blame for the most expensive accidents and injuries. They also like to find ways to reduce the settlement money victims receive. There are things injured riders should watch out for when dealing with a car insurance company.
Insurance Tactics Motorcycle Accident Victims Often Encounter
With each step in the claims process, there are big and small actions that insurers can take to limit the support you receive. These are just a few of the tactics they may try at each stage of a motorcycle accident claim.
Determining Fault – The first strategy insurers may use is to question whether their policyholder was truly responsible for what happened. They can try this with any accident, but they especially love to trick motorcyclists into accepting blame for car accidents they didn’t cause. Insurance adjusters can question the facts, even if a police accident report clearly shows their policyholder was liable. Insurers hope riders give up hope and drop their claims, paying for their recoveries out of their own pockets.
Submitting Your Claim – The next tactics deal with timing. Insurers may either respond to you quickly or drag out the claims process for months, depending on what gives them the advantage. They may extend a quick settlement offer if your accident is expensive. They’ll offer you far less than you’ll need to fully recover, hoping you don’t realize the extent of your damages now and in the future. Insurance adjusters might also delay responding to your claim, hoping that you’ll get more and more frustrated as your medical debt grows and your paychecks dry up. Once you are desperate for financial help, they come in with a “lowball” offer and hope you sign it.
Negotiating Your Settlement – This part of the claims process can be the most important. Not every motorcycle victim gets the same in support, even if they’ve had similar accidents and injuries. It’s often how strong your negotiating skills and your legal knowledge are. If you have no legal background or experience, you’ll have a difficult time bargaining with a giant insurance business. Many victims don’t even know they can reject an offer and demand more. Insurers realize this and don’t fear giving you as little as possible and standing firm on an inadequate offer. A skilled attorney should be experienced at the negotiating table and can often win you much more in support than you could yourself.
Filing a Lawsuit – When you don’t have a Thousand Oaks Motorcycle Accident Lawyer handling your case, insurers won’t be under much threat of a lawsuit. If insurers don’t accept full blame for what happened to you and compensate you at a level that’s fair, your lawyer will have a lawsuit prepared and take the company to court. Insurance providers try to avoid going before a judge due to the enormous expense and the bad publicity. But if you don’t have a lawyer, this isn’t much of a threat. Insurers won’t feel any risk by denying your claim or standing firm on their “lowball” offer.
The Motorcycle Accident Injury Claim Process If You Have a Lawyer?
If your injuries are serious (i.e., expensive) and a careless driver caused the collision, you’ll want to turn your case over to a reputable Thousand Oaks attorney. It’s an important step to safeguard your innocence, earn more for your recovery, and earn peace of mind while you work on getting better.
This is a look at how the motorcycle accident claims process might go if you trust your case to a Quirk Accident & Injury Attorney, APC:
- After your injuries have been stabilized, alert your insurance company about what happened
- Then, contact a lawyer as soon as possible.
- Meet with the attorney in a free, no-obligation consultation and explain what happened.
- If you felt Quirk Accident & Injury Attorney, APC could secure more in recovery support than you could by handling your case yourself, you’d sign a “contingency agreement” and hire your attorney. A contingency agreement means you’ll need no upfront money to hire our services. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then, our fee comes out of the settlement money you receive.
- Your lawyer fully investigates your accident and collects all evidence. This evidence is prepared to build a strong case for your claim. It’s also ready to be used in a lawsuit if an insurance company forces you to take them to court to get justice.
- A lawyer would handle all communication with insurers and any opposing lawyers, while you were given that time to focus on healing.
- Your lawyer submits your claim. It would include every hardship you’d faced, like medical bills and paychecks lost at work. It would also seek compensation for things you might not have known could earn support, like your emotional struggle in recovery and the physical pain you’ve endured. Being kept off your bike and other changes in your normal routine due to injuries should earn more on a settlement check.
- Your attorney uses experience and negotiating skills to get the maximum in compensation for you and your family.
Once a settlement or judgment in court is secure, you can start to rebuild your life and get back to your normal routine.
Trust a Thousand Oaks Lawyer with Your Motorcycle Accident Case
If you or a loved one is seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident, and a driver’s carelessness is to blame, speak to Quirk Accident & Injury Attorneys, APC. We offer a free consultation to all Thousand Oaks and Ventura County victims. It’s a no-obligation way to stay informed of the benefits an insurance company won’t tell you about.
Remember, if you feel we can help you earn more to rebuild your life. You’ll pay nothing to hire us. We only get paid if we win your claim for you. Then our attorney’s fee comes out of the money that a car insurance company must pay you.