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Re: Thanks, Justin Posted by Justin VanAbrahams [Email] (#32) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Justin VanAbrahams) on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:35:08 In Reply to: Thanks, Justin, Jonathan Dennis, Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:11:49 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Since you would likely be hiring a Personal Injury (PI) attorney, it's convention that they are hired on contingency, not out of pocket. Also, such a small amount of money would never end up being a court battle - possibly a lengthy negotiating process and possibly an arbitration, but never court. A good PI attorney will have surely dealt with USAA and Progressive in the past, and will probably have down to a fine science a monetary and time formula that will help determine whether the fight is worth picking. Since PI attorneys are contingency (which means they take 25%-45% of the final number), it's in their best interest to be *very* good at assessing the likely outcomes... they are not going to fight for 45% of $500, but they might fight for 25% of $4000. They'll tell you with the first conversation what the numbers are and whether it's worthwhile or not.
These are tough cases, since the numbers involved are very small. USAA surely knows that $2k is what you want, but if in their formula they can defend $1100 (so the adjuster doesn't raise a stink with their boss), that leaves $900 on the table and no attorney will get involved for that. Insurance companies are good at this stuff, and it's always an uphill battle.
I'd see where the complaint with the commissioner gets you, maybe place a couple calls to local PI attorneys just for some feedback. Sucks to lose $900, but it is the risk of driving older cars. You can imagine my horror when the other guys offered $2000 for my pristine, 65k '90 SPG... We pay very little for insurance on these cars, so "making" very little when they're wrecked is kinda par for the course.
posted by 12.195.130...
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