Taking the Initial Offer From the Insurance Company After a Truck Accident

Answer:

Do you ever recommend taking the initial offer from an insurance company that represents a trucking company for a commercial motor vehicle accident in Orlando, Florida? We were just talking with a client about this when we were trying to resolve the case here in Orlando, Florida. They had been in a commercial motor vehicle accident. The trucking company and the insurance representatives reached out to them immediately, and they tried to negotiate with them and essentially tried to settle the case. The answer to that is no. In our experience, unless they’re offering full policy limits – which they rarely do – then it is never a good idea to accept the initial offer from the insurance company. There are many reasons to that.

One, even if they do offer the insurance limits, there could be other sources of liability. There could be other insurance sources. If you resolve your claim, you could be signing away your rights to getting that other compensation. Also, if it’s a larger insurance policy and they have not tendered their policy limits, accepting the lesser amount could bar you in the future from getting anymore for your claim. Usually, for the most part, at the beginning of a claim, if an insurance company or the attorney offers you an amount to settle the case, it’s never a good idea to accept that, only in the rarest of circumstances where you do have them offering you the policy limits and there’s no other way to get any other compensation in the case. You really need to be careful of that. If any time you’re in a commercial motor vehicle accident here in Orlando, Florida, make sure you contact an attorney. Sometimes, the insurance representatives or an attorney for the company will reach out to you that same day or the day after the accident, and you may not have an attorney by then. We would, again, always recommend, one, getting an attorney that’s knowledgeable in these types of cases and, two, don’t accept any initial offer without first consulting your attorney in these types of cases. Many times, these insurance companies are obviously trying to protect their claim, they’re trying to protect their clients, and they’re not out there to help you. If you have any other questions about commercial trucking cases and whether or not you should accept the initial offer from an insurance company, don’t hesitate to contact our firm.