What to do after an accident? Beyond car repair...

So on the 19th we purchased a CPO 2016 3 row crossover... on the 22nd someone promptly ran into the back of it while my wife was taking my kids to the book store.

Other party cited - their insurance is taking liability and fixing the car, paying for the rental and compensating for the car seats.

The kids both got checked and they are fine, my wife got checked out by a spine doc place referenced to us by her primary care- he took xrays that will be evaluated tomorrow (Monday the 3rd) - we got our info from our insurance on our PIP.

This is Florida, so PIP is no fault, we use ours - if its exhausted then we will have to look into taking action to claim against their PIP.

My main question is if anyone has gone through this.

We have not called or spoken to a lawyer yet - a few people have suggested we do so...but to me...it sounds like, no one directly says it... but its mostly "they are at fault, fleece them for as much money as you can"

The spine Dr said its most likely sprained and relaxing and a brace will allow it to heal and she should be fine - recommended 3 days a week PT (their office is only open 3 days a week...convenient)

We do not want to call a lawyer and have them stick it to the other party (their insurance) just for the sake of getting money- I am sure lawyers could play this up and get a few K for us (and of course, themselves)

The general statement I have gotten from people is "You should seek proper compensation as to unknown future issues that...may? happen." but all so thinly stated as "stick it to em, get some cccasssh!!! 1800AXEGARRY!"

Yeah, that's my feelings on the situation.

I have been on the other side of the coin - I was at fault and the driver and passenger sued (all taken care of by the insurance Co. I never saw court or anything) but the settlement was, you guessed it - magically at my max benefits for Driver and passenger.

It's like "how things work" - in fact, I have been quoted that... that I should not look at it as a suit, or anything- that's just the legal mechanism for the process... and then the wink nod and "enjoy your compensation..."

I suppose my thing is finding an honest lawyer... I fully understand the concept of getting properly compensated.

My adjuster told me to file a diminished value claim to their insurance after the repairs and completed. And that it should not be to bad for me in terms of forms and their wiggling out of it, as it was a CPO and only a few days of ownership- they can't say I haven't kept records or anything like that.

My boss' boss gave me his lawyer that he used after his accident. At least it's not a 800 lawyer.

We have not signed anything, nor given a recorded statement yet- their insurance asked if we were represented by a lawyer and I said "not yet, not at this time as we are still getting things in order"

I suppose the question is on the BI claim, how does one ask for it/demand it/claim it and where do you get the numbers from. Do I just say "My wife was injured and we want X$ in compensation" or do I have to "justify" the amount- I am sure that is where people give up their 1/3 cut to the lawyers.

Yes its Florida, I use my PIP first - and Florida law states I "should not" see a rate increase (LOL sure..) I do not mind- we have only had the first consolation- and yes they asked if we had representation also (again under the guise of, who they can talk to etc.) But I can almost tangibly feel them wanting to jump on the claim train with anything and whenever I state that we ave not yet decided up on representation (but not saying we will not have or get representation) they always tend to retract their fangs.

I suppose trying to be honest is just seen as dumb nowadays.

As for injury and the future, stubbing your damn toe on the step at work could POTENTIALLY cause issues YEARS DOWN THE ROAD.

As for the other insurance co, they have been very active in getting us taken care of once their ball started rolling - our insurance could not get an adjuster out until monday, but almost right after that their insurance contacted us.. they sent a truck to take it to our choice of shop, the adjuster was there about 10min after the car was dropped off- claim info sent to my email- the rental was set up - initially for a small car, then once I said it needed to be equivalent it was quickly moved to a "3 row SUV" and the rental was ready for me once I got off work.

They have moved much faster than my insurance...but they are a bigger company.

They have not done anything on the side medical or injury claim or money- I informed them all parties were getting checked out - that is all.

We got our PIP forms from our insurance.

But in terms of claiming money from them for anything "beyond" medical treatment, I do not know where to start- other than call them up and say "we want to do a BI claim?"

LOL - if anything should be known about me in the history of FOH and all the boards... I cant spell - if @Amod wants to fix the title, have at it... apparently our grammar Nazi snowflakes cant handle it.

As for all those who have replied - thank you very much for the insights and discussion, it is appreciated.

Hatorade said:

I know you want your future told, accidents are stressful. Just focus on becoming whole again and the BI claim will happen. It is also the law, insurance companies are required to pay what they owe whatever that applies to.

Wait for the offer and go from there, say thank you I will think about it and hang up. Discuss with the wife, talk about out of pocket time and money and see if you feel good about the offer or not.

If you want specifics I would need pictures and full access to your family's medical claims and you shouldn't send me those

Click to expand...

Thanks for the insights - so I should not explicitly ask them or tell them I want to do a BI claim, just wait and see what happens.

I am good with that, the wife however is a A-type and thinks everything should happen in a day and everyone involved should be working 24/7 at 110% efficiency.

Thanks to all again, well mostly all ;-) lol