why avoid an attorney?? thats what they are for! id go there for a few bucks before chancing it without. pm me if you want, there is a local one we race with here that can help you.

 

There is one problem with this, though, that I encountered in my situation. Neither yours or the other guy's insurance companies are in any hurry to start paying for anything. The other guy's insurance company is certainly in no hurry to pay you dime one. They can drag it out indefinitely and they know that they can wait you out. You don't want to give a statement? Fine. We have all the time in the world. Meanwhile, your car is at a body shop unrepaired and incurring daily storage fees. You are paying for a rental car out of your pocket or walking. And the medical.... Well, those bills have to get paid too. And the hospital will be sending them to your address. Not to the insurance company.

And your own insurance company may cover it if you submit it to them as a claim. But they aren't going to be in any hurry to start paying out either. Trust me. Been there, done that.

Get an attorney. Spot on advice.

 

I am not arguing that you should not tell the other insurance company to pound sand. My point is that you might not know the strength of their claims (or willingness to test you), and that you owe it to yourself to get a professional in your personal corners, because, in light of the requests for statements, you KNOW that they have professionals gunning for you.

The attorneys for your insurance company have a legal and ethical obligation to represent the interests of their client. Unfortunately, that is not you. They cannot put your interest above the interest of your insurance company. As such, you have one group of professionals gunning for you (the other guy's insurance company), another group of professionals looking out for themselves (your insurance company), and nobody watching your back. You may be smart, but if this is not your profession, I can assure you that there will be plenty you do not know, or, at the very least, they will assume you will not know, which is nearly as bad. This is a formula for disaster. For example, your insurance company doesn't care whether you are fully compensated or not. All they really care about is that their claims are minimized. As such, they might settle to reduce litigation costs, which could result in underpayment to you and your insurance company agreeing to cover part of the costs, which in turn could lead to rate increases for you. This is why it pays to have a professional watching your back. There certainly are crummy and/or unethical professionals, but that should not keep you from trying to find a good one.

Keep in mind that I have no desire to "win" this discussion. Really. I am just doing my best to share information I know as a result of my profession with my fellow track buddies. That's it.

 

Insurance companies are in business to NOT pay. Period. They will do anything and everything to keep any payment as small as possible or not pay at all. BTDT. They will not do "the right thing" ever.

 

If you get a lawyer, and I suggest it, get a good PI lawyer. A general practice lawyer is not likely experienced enough to get you what you need. Also, believe me, Progressive knows who is "in the business" and who is not. Believe it or not, all PI lawyers are not evil. Some of us actually have families, contribute to society and do human things like race cars.... By the way, do not let your kid give a statement. Good luck to you!

 

Very true. As I said earlier, despite the fact that I am an attorney, I would hire a professional who specializes in this area myself.

 

Lawyers do not serve many useful purposes (sorry Todd, Arkadi, and others ) but this seems to be one situation where one is required.

Marc

 

To echo the above comments, find yourself a personal injury attorney. I'm sure there are actually quite a few very good ones on this forum who practice in your state. If you need help locating on, feel free to PM me. Despite the spin continously presented by the chamber of commerce, the insurance industry, and big business, most of us PI attorneys are merely assisting people putting their lives back together after unfortunate events. I've never encountered a group of more selfless individuals than my PI buddies. (And, yes, like Arkadi, many of us enjoy days at the track.) Best of luck to you and your family.

 

There's something about this that kind of bothered me since I started reading this:

Can you get this in writing? Probably not. This could be a tactic to get you to lower your guard against them so you will be more apt to give them what they wanted. I don't know exactly why, but it just seemd kind of deceptive to me.

I hope everyone will make a full recovery from this, and that any financial issues associated with the accident will be resolved as soon as possible.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the advice. You guys have really made me do an about face from my original position on how to handle this legally. When stuff like this happens, it hard to think clearly. We're worried about the children and not the vehicle/money now, but it's obvious others don't hold our priority list!!
It's amazing to have folks all over the country, no WORLD show care and concern for someone they've never even met and I want to thank all of you for that!!
I'll keep you posted on the outcome. I know most, if not all of us will be in this position in our lives so it's good information to have.
Makes my on-track mishap seem so simple... and cheap!!!

 

Just to elaborate on my statement: when I say others don't hold our priority list, I'm talking about the insurance companies, NOT you guys.