Progressive Claims

Insurance companies are going to play a huge role in your car accident. The amount of compensation you can recover for an accident that you did not cause will depend largely on whether the other driver was insured, the extent of your policy, and even who the implicated insurance companies are. When that insurance company is Progressive, recovering the compensation that you need can be difficult.

The personal injury lawyers at Gilman & Bedigian know this and strive to represent accident victims not just in the courtroom, but in front of their insurance company. Fighting for your rights and interests and forcing insurance companies to pay what they have promised to pay in the insurance policies that they wrote is a huge part of getting accident victims the financial help that they need and should be able to count on.

The Insurance Claims Process at Progressive

All insurance issues and personal injury situations begin the same way – with an accident. If you are insured by Progressive, you will file an insurance claim to notify them of the accident and to request that they come and cover its costs. If the driver who caused the accident was insured by Progressive, then you can file a third party claim with Progressive, requesting that they come forward and pay for the costs of the crash that their customer caused.

In either case, Progressive will likely send an insurance adjuster to gauge the damage from the accident. In accidents that caused you to suffer personal injuries in addition to property damage, this investigation can take longer than if there was only damage to your vehicle. However, most insurance investigations typically wrap up within a week of the initial insurance claim.

Based on the findings of the investigation, the Progressive insurance adjuster will offer an initial settlement offer. This offer includes a check and a form. You have to sign the form – which waives all of your legal rights to any further compensation for the accident and prohibits you from taking any further legal action related to the accident – in order to get the check. Accepting the initial settlement offer ends your case.

How Progressive’s Initial Settlement Offers Compare to Other Insurance Companies

Different insurance companies treat their customers or third-party claimants differently. Some are incredibly stingy in their offers, which allows them to charge low premiums and still make a profit. Others charge high premiums but tend to take care of their customers when they get hurt.

While Progressive tends to fall towards the middle in the cost of its coverage, it nevertheless tends to make very low initial settlement offers when compared to their competitors. When compared to what an accident victim really deserves – and what they can often count on, should they enforce their rights and take their case to trial – Progressive’s initial settlements are only a tiny fraction of what they should pay.

Of course, this should come as no surprise: Progressive is just another for-profit insurance company. When you get hurt in an accident and file an insurance claim, you are a risk to their bottom line and they will do whatever it takes to minimize their loss. That is why initial settlement offers are designed to seem incredibly enticing. They often cover the shockingly high costs of the medical care that you have already received and are made right when you are likely to be most worried about your financial situation. In reality, though, they are well-designed attempts to make you sign away your rights to pursue what you really deserve, all in exchange for a fraction of what the insurance company stands to pay if the case continues.

Filing a Lawsuit Against Progressive

If you refuse the initial settlement offer or hold out to talk to your attorney, there is a chance that Progressive makes another offer that is more reasonable. However, in most cases, there is very little movement until a lawsuit is filed against the insurance company demanding more compensation for your losses.

Filing a lawsuit against Progressive tends to make their compensation offer jump significantly. Progressive’s group of in-house lawyers is relatively small when compared to other insurance companies. With fewer attorneys to defend against a large amount of insurance claims in the Baltimore area – Progressive is, after all, one of the leading auto insurers in the area – it creates the need to avoid the time-intensive process of a trial. Settlements to stay out of court, therefore, tend to be higher when they come from Progressive than when they come from other insurers.

The vast majority of cases against Progressive do end up settling out of court. However, the longer a victim can hold out, the higher the compensation offer is likely to be.

The Personal Injury Lawyers at Gilman & Bedigian Help Victims Fight Progressive

Accident victims have a lot on their minds, especially if the injuries that they suffered were severe. When they were not the ones who caused the crash, the difficulties that they will have to overcome usually seem unfair, especially when there was little that they could have done to avoid the accident.

Dealing with insurance companies like Progressive is one of the worst aspects of the recovery process. Where the accident was not your fault, you should be entitled to full compensation for the costs of your recovery and your other losses. However, insurance companies are for-profit ventures whose entire business model is to leave their customers under-compensated so they can pad their bottom lines.

A big part of the legal representation that the personal injury lawyers at Gilman & Bedigian can provide comes out of court and involves negotiating with the insurance companies that will prove to be the front line in your battle to recover the compensation you need. With their help, you can work to make sure that Progressive pays the coverage that they promised and that you have been paying premiums to receive. Contact us online for help.