Anatomy of an Auto Accident

Either you know you could have done something or the other party involved could have done something to avoid the collision. At any level, you’re upset the auto accident occurred. This is creating some stress.

This damage may not amount to much or it may have ‘totaled’ the value of the vehicle (and this may be good or bad news to learn). This also contributes to some growing amount of stress.

The Adjuster tells you to rest assured that everything will be taken care of as soon as practical. They tell you where to have your car taken for an estimate (or they tell you where to have it towed!). Then you’re told about your rental car options.

When you inquire regarding your health, the Adjuster is quick to tell you that you should seek any and all means to receive the ‘necessary’ care to evaluate and treat your accident related injuries. Generally, you’re being told and directed which typically compounds the growing levels of emotional/biochemical and physical/biomechanical stress since the accident occurred.

At last, you get an estimate from the repair shop which totals some amount (you really don’t pay too much attention since you generally believe the insurance will cover it), and you learn how many weeks you’ll be without your ‘vehicle’. Just a little more stress comes rolling in.

The information is either there, or not there.

You must never forget that the Insurance Adjuster works for an Insurance Company who wants to pay as little as possible to keep their company profitable. So, if specific information is absent from the ‘doctor’s notes’, then you are going to receive less payment toward your claim.

They typically will down play your injury and say that you couldn’t have been injured too badly because of low body damage to your car; or, the speed of impact; or, that you returned to work right away; or, you never really seemed in too much pain; or, that you waited too long after the accident to seek any type of care.

Typically, the Adjuster then will go on about how you received too much care for your injury and that the place, wherever you received your care, was way too expensive. So, after review of the notes and making you feel like you got an improper amount of care, they present a settlement offer of some amount of money. The amount is only as high as the effectiveness of the ‘documentation’.

The Adjusters are trained to read your response and pressure you into a quick settlement to save their company money. So, at this point, you either accept their offer or beg for a couple more dollars and then accept their offer. You get enough to settle your healthcare bills with little left over to represent your ‘pain and suffering’. And your case is closed.

Don’t misread this paragraph. We frequently refer patients to attorneys, especially when special circumstances are present; such as: children involved; disability and impairment ratings; significant loss of work and income; pregnancy; body damage to vehicle greater than $3000; and many other factors.

There are also many cases where the trauma is less significant, or the body damage is less significant, and it’s unlikely an attorney will be to the advantage to the patient. Each accident has many variables involved and is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

If you’ve ever been in an accident before, this whole story should sound very familiar.