Why you should never take
the first insurance offer.

The first thing the insurance adjuster will ask is how you are. Often this happens before you have left the hospital. The voice on the phone is patient, sympathetic, well-trained. They want to know what happened. They want to make sure you are getting the medical care you need. They want to help.

What they want, professionally, is to close your file as quickly and inexpensively as possible. That is their job. They are not the villain — they are simply doing the work the carrier hired them to do. But the entire structure of that early phone call, the friendly tone, the quick check, the paperwork that "just needs a signature so we can get this taken care of for you" — every part of it is engineered to get you to settle for less than your case is worth, before you understand what your case is worth.

Settling early is rarely the right move. Here is why, and what to do instead.

The adjuster knows what you don't

By the time the adjuster calls you, they have already pulled the police report, looked up your insurance coverage, run your name in their internal claims database, and made an initial reserve estimate — a number representing what the carrier expects to pay on your claim. They have a range in their head. The opening offer they make is not at the top of that range. It is not even in the middle. It is calibrated to the lowest number a reasonable claimant might accept while distressed, in pain, and worried about bills.

You, by contrast, are early in the process. You may not know yet whether your injuries will fully heal, whether you'll need surgery in six months, whether your back pain is going to become a permanent condition that affects your ability to work for the rest of your life. You don't know what the medical bills will eventually total. You don't know what the lost wages will look like if your recovery takes longer than expected. You don't know what your case is worth.

Asking you to settle in that condition is not a fair negotiation. It is asking you to bet against the carrier's actuaries with no information.

Once you sign the release, it's over

The thing the adjuster will eventually ask you to sign is a settlement agreement and release. That document, in a few hundred words of dense legal language, says that in exchange for the agreed payment, you give up — forever — the right to bring any claim related to this accident against the at-fault party or their insurer. Any claim. Whether or not you knew about it when you signed.

If your back injury turns out to require surgery a year later, you cannot reopen the claim. If your concussion symptoms develop into a long-term cognitive issue that affects your work, you cannot reopen the claim. If a related condition manifests three years from now and your doctors trace it to the accident, you cannot reopen the claim. The release is written to be airtight. The carrier's lawyers wrote it. They wrote it for the carrier.

What your case is actually worth

The value of an injury claim is the sum of several categories of damages, only some of which are easy to count.

Medical bills. The total cost of treatment to date — emergency care, hospitalization, follow-up appointments, physical therapy, prescriptions, mileage to and from appointments, equipment and supplies. This is the easy part to calculate, but it is also the part that grows. The bills you have today are not the bills you will have in nine months.

Future medical needs. If injuries are likely to require ongoing treatment, that future cost is part of the claim. This is why settling before you have reached maximum medical improvement — the point at which your doctors can say with confidence what your long-term condition will be — is so dangerous. You can't put a price on care you don't yet know you'll need.

Lost income. Wages you couldn't earn while recovering. For self-employed people, lost business. For people whose injuries permanently affect their ability to do their job, lost future earning capacity over the rest of their working life — often the largest single component of a serious case.

Pain and suffering. A category of compensatory damages covering the physical pain, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life caused by the injury. There is no fixed formula. The value depends on the severity and duration of the pain, the age and life circumstances of the injured person, and a long list of other facts. Carriers consistently undervalue this category in early offers because it is the hardest part for an unrepresented claimant to argue for.

Property damage. The cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle, replacing personal property destroyed in the crash. This is usually the part the carrier handles most fairly because it is verifiable.

The role of the lawyer

An experienced personal injury attorney does several things that change the value of a case dramatically.

We document the full scope of damages. That includes obtaining all medical records (not just the ones you've already submitted), getting written prognosis statements from treating physicians, calculating the present value of future care needs and lost earning capacity, documenting the daily impact of the injury on your life. We put together what is essentially a settlement demand package — a comprehensive presentation of the case, with supporting documentation — that fundamentally changes how the carrier evaluates the file.

We negotiate from a position of preparation. The carrier knows the difference between a claim handled by a lawyer who is ready to file suit if necessary and one handled by an unrepresented claimant. Offers from the same carrier on similar cases are routinely several multiples higher when the claimant is represented and the carrier knows the file is being prepared for litigation.

We file suit when negotiation fails. The threat of a trial is what gives a settlement demand its weight. Carriers settle most cases not because they want to be generous but because trying the case in front of a jury is expensive and unpredictable. Filing suit changes the carrier's calculus.

Contingency means no cost to you for trying

One of the most common reasons people settle early is that they assume hiring a lawyer means another bill on top of the bills already piling up. It doesn't. Personal injury work is handled almost universally on a contingency fee basis. There is no fee unless and until we recover for you. There is no charge for the consultation. The costs of obtaining records, expert witnesses, and litigation are advanced by the firm and deducted from the recovery if there is one.

If we recover, our fee is a percentage of that recovery — typically a third for cases that settle without trial, larger if the case requires going to trial. The fee comes out of the gross settlement, after which the costs are reimbursed and the remainder goes to you. If we do not recover, you owe nothing. There is genuinely no financial risk to you in having us evaluate your case.

What to do instead of accepting the first offer

1. Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver's insurance company. They will ask. They are recording. Anything you say can be used to undermine your claim later. You are not legally required to give one, and you should not.
2. Do not sign anything. Especially not a "medical authorization" the adjuster sends. These are often broader than they need to be and give the carrier access to your entire medical history, not just records related to the accident.
3. Continue all medical treatment. Gaps in treatment are weaponized by carriers as evidence that your injuries weren't serious. If your doctor recommends physical therapy, go. If they recommend follow-up imaging, get it.
4. Document everything. Photographs of injuries as they evolve. A daily log of pain levels, missed work, activities you can no longer do. Receipts for everything. Communications from the carrier.
5. Talk to an injury attorney before agreeing to anything. Most personal injury attorneys offer a free, no-obligation consultation. The cost of having someone qualified evaluate your case is zero. The cost of settling without that conversation can be enormous.

The Missouri statute of limitations

Missouri's general statute of limitations for personal injury claims is five years from the date of the injury. For wrongful death, it is three years. Claims against governmental entities can require formal notice within ninety days. These are deadlines after which the right to sue is generally lost forever. They are not deadlines for settling. Take the time you need to understand your case fully — but take it within the window the law allows. A free consultation will tell you exactly where you stand on the calendar.

The first offer is the carrier's opening number, made before you understand your case. The right number is the one that fully accounts for everything the accident took from you — and that number almost never reveals itself in the first thirty days.

For more on our approach to personal injury work, see our practice-area page. For our recent results in personal injury and wrongful death cases, see case results.

This article is general legal information for Missouri residents. It is not legal advice. Missouri law changes regularly — statutes are amended, case law evolves, and the application of any rule depends on the specific facts of each case. Do not act, or refrain from acting, based on this article without consulting a qualified Missouri attorney about your particular situation. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice on your specific case, contact David Naumann & Associates at (314) 831-9350. The initial consultation is free. See the full Legal Disclaimer for complete terms.