car accident settlement, is the insurance low balling me?

[aleksander7]

Hey guys, I was in a car accident back in february. It wasn’t my fault. The insurance from the guy that hit is USAA Insurance. The car accident was not very big…i was rear ended & the damages to my car were about $2500 (i drive a honda accord LX 2019), the guy that hit me drives a RAM Truck. Anyways, I had to go to physical therapy for 2 months for the whiplash & bruises on my neck…the insurance ended up giving me an offer of $1000 to settle…they also paid for the time I wasn’t working which was about 2 weeks & also paying for the total medical bills so in total the settlement is about $4000…1000 in pain and compensation, $1000 for lost wages, 2000 for medical bills. Is that an ok offer? like i said, the car accident wasn’t huge but I have went thru so much since this accident. It happened on February 17th which was my first day of school for the spring semester for college and I had a class to attend that friday but because of the accident, I couldn’t attend & the class dropped me for missing the first day of class…I contacted my professors about it and they said i’ll have to take it during the summer but my FAFSA doesn’t cover summer classes and i’ll end up having to pay $2000 to take just ONE class this summer (can’t take it at community college since i’m already maxed out of transfer hours). I also lost my job shortly after the accident…I was on leave for 2 weeks & when I came back from leave, I worked for 3 days and my managers didn’t put me back on the school after that, they quietly fired me…then it took me almost 2 months to get paid for those 3 days I worked & they wouldn’t verify my lost wages verification form for USAA Insurance so that I could get paid for those 2 weeks I was on leave. I also still haven’t been able to find a job because of the anxiety I get from driving and it has been difficult finding a work from home job that works with my school schedule. Does anyone have any tips to negotiate my settlement claim? I don’t want to get a lawyer since I don’t have the money to pay for one. Does anyone else think $1000 for pain and compensation is kind of crazy?

 

[christianmom21]

@aleksander7 USAA has a strong profit sharing incentive for all of their employees. Hence, each rep has a personal financial motive to save where they can. Their auto adjuster in town aggressively tried to hide the obvious fact that the frame was bent on my truck from the negligence of their insured. They have savy ways. Against the adjusters advice, saying I would likely have to pay for the inspection out of my own pocket, I took it directly to a frame shop who confirmed was bent which totaled the vehicle. The adjuster then ghosted me and I later heard from the totaled department.

 

[christianmom21]

@phdjones What I am saying is what someone in that industry told me was happening. "The annual bonus is one part of USAA's benefits package, which it has said ranks among the highest in its industry." But plz continue impressing us with your great intelligence.

 

[phdjones]

@christianmom21 Lol what I’m saying is you have a fundamental misunderstanding of profit sharing. Based on what you’re saying any company that has profit share is out to screw you. If you don’t see how asinine that is I can’t help you. Insurance is the most regulated industry only behind maybe financial services. What they would lose in one bad faith law suit or DOI fines is more than they could save on claims. But your misunderstanding clearly will not be clarified so I bid you farewell. The average persons understanding of insurance is the biggest detriment to the insurance industry.

 

[phdjones]

@christianmom21 Lol what I’m saying is you have a fundamental misunderstanding of profit sharing. Based on what you’re saying any company that has profit share is out to screw you. If you don’t see how asinine that is I can’t help you. Insurance is the most regulated industry only behind maybe financial services. What they would lose in one bad faith law suit or DOI fines is more than they could save on claims. But your misunderstanding clearly will not be clarified so I bid you farewell. The average persons understanding of insurance is the biggest detriment to the insurance industry.

 

[christianmom21]

@phdjones Oh please help me see how altruistic businesses are in your delusion. Especially the part of your delusion where you overgeneralize my specific incident with a specific company to all incentivized companies. "Dumbest" and "asinine?" Is your mothers name USAA or you just their only super honest rep that would never put your own profit share ahead of finding a last dollar USAA owes to a claimant. It is a factual record that an auto adjuster with30 years experience ignored the very obvious bend in the frame of my vehicle and then tried to get me to take it to one of his vendors instead of a professional auto frame shop while overtly discouraging me from doing so. If not for personal financial incentive they why?

 

[phdjones]

@christianmom21 Again addressing the fundamental misunderstanding of insurance. “Take it to one of his vendors” USAA provides insurance not automotive services. All vendors on any insurance companies network are also independent shops who can write estimates and do work. My favorite is when someone hires a contractor for property insurance and then find out they’re a network contractor all of a sudden we’re in cahoots even though you called them yourself lol. I’m genuinely not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not but if one adjuster did this on every single claim they handled it would account for a rounding error in the total claims payments for an insurer like USAA. Business and insurance is clearly not your forte. Please do a little research before making post like this. The clear lack of understanding is shooting your self in the foot

 

[christianmom21]

@phdjones A third straight ad hominem response ignoring the point. Troll for usaa much?

 

[phdjones]

@christianmom21 I’m sorry you feel that way insurance is a lot to understand. If you want to actual learn and understand I’m here. Otherwise good luck

 

[resjudicata]

@christianmom21 I have USAA (I’m a customer of 31 years with great driving record) and was t-boned by a gal also insured by USAA; my car was totaled and when USAA assessed how much to give me for my car, 8 of 10 comparables they used on their valuation report weren't even for sale; I drafted a letter and countered with comparables that were actually for sale and got $2000 more for it than their initial offer. I’m betting they didn’t believe that I would actually fact-check their valuation report. Anyways, this experience with them is precisely why I hired a lawyer to handle the personal injury portion of it.

 

[levarchknight]

@aleksander7 Talk to an attorney. If you take that money, you get nothing else. For what you have been through, not enough.

 

[aleksander7]

@levarchknight ok I’m on the process of talking to some attorneys right now, thank you.

 

[davelew86]

@aleksander7 If you don't feel that this is fair, you can counter it. Tell them why you think you deserve more.