Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject: What is a fair offer for settlement?
My son, my father and I were recently in an accident where the other driver ran a stop sign, hit the rear of our van causing it to first flip on its nose then roll, leaving the vehicle driver's side up.
My son was taken to the ER and checked out for a large abrasion and bruise on his forehead. Even more than that, he has been absolutely TERRIFIED to be in a vehicle since the accident.
His medical bills were in excess of $4000 and the claims adjuster has offered a settlement of payment of all medical bills (which I assume is standard, as her client is the one at fault and has appropriate coverage) and $600 for pain and suffering. Given his condition after the accident, this seems low to me.
I did not seek emergency room treatment after the accident and only incurred a $70 doctor bill for a general checkup after the accident. The adjuster offered me $400 plus payment of my doctor bill.
Do these totals seem fair? The at fault party's insurance coverage is OH's state minimum - $12,500/$25,000. Having never had an experience with an accident before (and hopefully never again), I'm not sure what my rights may be and if her offer is a reasonable one. I'm not so worried about me, but I definitely want to make sure that my son's interests are protected.
Also, I've have been told that unless we come to a settlement for my son, that his claim may be left open until he reaches the age of 18. Is this true? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Last question first... his claim would be left open from when it turns 18 _plus_ whatever the statute of limitations is in OH. So if it was 4 years, he could file a claim until he was 22 years old.
I'm not going to tell you if it's a good settlement... I will say that I don't disagree with the adjusters offer. Is your sons mental condition worth something? Probably some consideration but with no medical information to confirm this I'd not place much weight on it. This happens a lot... a few weeks later everything is back to normal and its like the accident never happened. If your son would like to wait to see what happens and seek medical treatment to explain his condition, the adjuster would probably place more weight on this complaint. I sounds to me like your son had $4000 in diagnostic treatment and there were no negative affects from the accident. As such, I'd place little weight in the amount of medical bills... as they don't reflect and injury. If this is correct, I can see the reason for the low offer. Same for your situation.
Do I think the adjuster would increase the offer to settle the claim? I have no doubt about that... it's almost a given. My recommendation would be to sit down and figure out what your loss is composed of and then figure out what you want to get paid. Make the demand and explain _why_ you feel the demand is fair. That is, have information to back it up. I made a $500 offer to a person. Her step-smother sent me a sheet of paper showing the dates and miles that her mother had to drive over and pick up her son to baby sit as the daughter was on bed rest. It amounted to around $1000. No one told me about this. Explaining this and giving me a breakdown made it easy for me to consider... but if they just said that they wanted another $1000... I'd probably have not considered it.
Again, if this is a first offer, it's a low amount on their end. But if you can't show that additional (or any injury) was sustained, I don't see the offer moving very much.
To me IMO the offer they made for your injury was a good offer.....
Don't think you told us your son's age...and what about dad was he hurt as well?
If you think your son should see some type of therapist then by all means go...and let the adjuster know this as well...
What about his abraision? any lasting visual effects? _________________ Have you been helped by a poster? Do you want to show your appreciation? YOU CAN !! Just simply click on the donate button and send them some coin!
