Will My Car Accident Claim End in a Settlement?

The typical personal injury case reaches some kind of out-of-court resolution— usually an insurance settlement—and car accident claims are no exception. In this article, we'll touch on why settlement is the most likely outcome, the advantages of settling a car accident claim, the ins and outs of the settlement process, and more.

Why Do Insurance Companies Want to Settle Car Accident Claims?

In a typical car accident case scenario, an injured driver or passenger tries to get compensation for their crash-related losses from the person who was at fault. This is often a "third party" car insurance claim, filed with the company that insures the at-fault driver. (Learn more about the role of insurance in a car accident case.)

So, with most car accident cases, it's the at-fault driver's car insurance company, not the driver themselves, who ends up footing the bill for the losses of others who were injured or had their vehicle damaged in the crash. This compensation comes through a settlement check issued from the insurance company to the claimant.

Car Accident Settlements Avoid the Unpredictability of Trial

Car accident trials are unpredictable. You might think proving fault (legal liability) for the accident will be easy, but witnesses might not seem as credible on the stand as they did at the scene, or the judge might not let your accident reconstruction expert testify.

Proving car accident losses ("damages" in the language of the law) can be even more unpredictable than proving fault. Insurance companies fear that juries will be sympathetic toward an injured claimant, and award them much more than their case is worth. Plaintiffs fear that they will get less than what the settlement offer was, and have to shell out more in litigation expenses and attorneys' fees.

A Car Accident Settlement Costs Less Than a Trial

Litigation is expensive. Cases can go on for years and the costs can really add up. In addition to paying attorneys' fees, plaintiffs and defendants (or, more likely, their insurers) have to pay for things like court costs, depositions, expert witness fees, and travel expenses.

Learn more about the cost of taking your personal injury case to court.

Car Insurance Claimants Who Settle Get Paid Faster

If you're injured in a car accident, you might not have time to wait for the lawsuit process to play out. You likely have medical bills piling up, and lost income. The sooner the case settles, the sooner you can get out of potentially crushing debt and move on with your life.

Collecting a settlement is often easier (and more certain) than collecting a judgment after trial. After settling a car accident case, you'll probably just need to wait for the check to come in the mail or get automatically deposited in your account. If you go to trial and win, the defendant might appeal and it might take a year or more for the appeal to be decided. If the amount of the judgment exceeds the defendant's insurance coverage and the defendant has limited assets, you might not be able to collect at all.

Car Accident Attorneys Prefer Settlements

Most attorneys for plaintiffs get paid through a contingency fee agreement. The most common arrangement is for the attorney to get around 33% of any pre-trial settlement and 40% or more after trial begins. The sooner the case settles, the sooner the plaintiff's attorney gets paid. Overall, a quicker settlement is usually more profitable for a plaintiff's attorney because trials and pre-trial preparation require so much time, with no guarantee of a better outcome.

From a practical perspective, law offices aren't set up for every case to go to trial. Attorneys typically juggle dozens of cases at once. If every single case went to trial, lawyers wouldn't have enough hours in the day to fully work up each case.

How to Respond to a Low Settlement Offer

It's pretty common for insurance adjusters to start negotiations with a very low settlement offer. Like a bargain shopper at a flea market, most adjusters will try to get a sense of whether you know how much your claim is worth.

If the offer is unreasonably low, ask the adjuster to give you specific reasons why the offer is so low. Then respond to each reason in a letter. If the adjuster has some valid points, you can lower your demand, but not until the adjuster responds to your letter.

If the offer is low but reasonable, you can make a counteroffer right away. A little more bargaining should help you quickly settle your car accident claim.

What's the Average Car Accident Settlement?

This is a question that's on the minds of most car accident claimant's, and it's understandable why. But the truth is that even if this kind of data were readily available—and it isn't, partly because most settlements are confidential—it wouldn't do much to tell you what to expect in your particular case.

The value of a car accident settlement comes down to a whole host of specific factors, and every case is unique. Of course, some factors carry more weight than others. Learn more about how much a car accident settlement might be worth.

Do I Need a Lawyer to Settle a Car Accident Case?

You don't need a lawyer to settle a car insurance claim, especially if you're confident you can handle the process and stay with it until you get a fair result. But if your car accident injuries are serious, or if you'd just rather hand things off to an experienced legal professional, leave the heavy lifting to a lawyer, so you can focus on your recovery. Learn more about how an attorney can help with a car accident case.