How Do Insurance Adjusters Value a Car Accident Case in Long Beach?

[00:09] McCartney: Welcome back to Car Accident Attorney with Robert May. I'm McCartney, and today I'm here with Robert May from The May Firm. Great to see you, Robert. Thanks so much for being here

[00:17] Robert May: Thanks for having me. Nice to see you

[00:19] McCartney: So today we're talking about what a California car accident settlement is actually worth here in Long Beach. It's the question every injured person asks first, and the one insurance companies work hardest to keep low. We're gonna walk through what really decides the number, the pieces that make up a claim, and how to make sure a case is valued for everything that it's worth The adjuster is running a very different calculation than the injured person is. How does an insurance adjuster decide what they think a car accident case is worth?

[00:44] Robert May: Well, they're gonna take whatever information they have, uh, uh, medical records, police report, facts, property damage, sort of all these collection of data points. And then if you don't have a lawyer, they're gonna come up with the lowest... I mean, they really come up with, it's almost like a fake number. It's just a fake number. It's, it's what emotionally will get you out of the system for pennies on the dollar. You'll see a lot of like 1,500, 2,000. Oh, if you're like, "No, not me, I'm getting more." It's like, "All right, you, you drove a hard bargain. Here's your $2,500. See you later." It happens all the time. So I think they're given, um... It's almost like, um, think about your kids getting, allowance. It's like they have an allowance. They get probably $2,000 per case, and no matter what, they can give you two grand. The case could be worth 50, 100, 25, whatever it is. If they give you the $2,000 in the first month and you don't have a lawyer and you, you don't have any good information to go on and you're stressed out and get out of the case, like, like, I mean, that's how they get, that's how they get bonus, that's how they get promoted, is effectively by getting rid of you as fast as they can for pennies on the dollar

[01:44] McCartney: So that first number sounds like a relief when bills are piling up, and that's exactly the point. Why is the first offer from the insurance company almost never what a case is actually worth?

[01:53] Robert May: Because they're experts in undervaluing claims and getting rid of them. I mean, insurance c- uh, insurance companies just like, think of it like a bank. They, they get deposits in the form of premiums. They take all those premiums, they invest them, they make more money, and then they have claims against them that they have to pay out. So how do they make their money? The arbitrage is, of course, collecting more, paying out less. So every time, if they have a debt, a case that's worth 100,000 and they pay out 20 on it, they're like, "Great, we just made $80,000 based on the- Mm-hmm ... uh, the loss we've, quote unquote, "incurred," but we didn't have to pay on it. So, like asking a shark why they ate a fish or something like that. Like, that's what they do

[02:28] McCartney: So the demand letter is where the case for value gets made on paper. Walk us through how a demand letter actually builds the case for a settlement figure

[02:36] Robert May: Sure. So a demand letter is an amalgamation of all the information you have today. So it's what happened in the case, who the client is as a human being, of course, what they've endured, what they will endure in the future, what's likely to happen in the future, and then your attorney's gonna make an associated valuation based on past, future, economic, non-economic losses and get a sum total of, "Hey, we think this case is worth X." So that's what a demand letter is. It's a narrative to tell your story in written format. Oftentimes it'll include, um, supplemental information. You know, in my office, we'll create videos. We call them like a life care story, a life care plan, or, something that sort of shows the narrative arc of what the client's been through. because, you're an insurance adjuster and you're getting demands all day long and it says, "Claim XYZ93, name John Smith, city X, Y," whatever it might be, I mean, they're very dehumanizing. They're looking at them. They're trying to get out of it for as cheap as they can. So the more you can humanize it, because, you know, on some level adjusters hu- people too, so, you know, they, they have the ability to differentiate between what's this and what's that. And so your, your lawyer's job is to do the best job possible to create a narrative, usually in advance of litigation, to get what the case is worth. And it can be very effective. They are very time-consuming to do them correctly, though

[03:56] McCartney: So that's how the insurance company built its number. The adjuster's math, the lowball first offer, and the demand letter that pushes back on it. Now let's cover a piece people forget because the damage to your vehicle is valued on a completely separate track from the injury claim. The car and the body are two different claims, and people often blur them together. So how is the property dam- so how is the property damage to a car valued separately from the injury claim?

[04:20] Robert May: they usually-- they're not only separate claims, they're usually handled by different departments. So if you're an insurance company, usually they have a property damage division within the entire group. So that could be, whatever it costs to repair the vehicle combined with the loss of use, combined with-- Loss of use being like the time that you as the person whose car was damaged, you don't have use of your vehicle. So, you know, all that. It's kind of like the inconvenience for not having your vehicle. Or it could be, what you paid in a rental car while you're waiting for your vehicle to be repaired. You know, that's property damage. personal injury lawyers, oftentimes they don't, quote-unquote, "represent clients for property damage," but they will assist them with the process throughout the way. At least in my office, we don't-- there's no charge associated with, um, assisting clients with their property damage case. Uh, and it's a separate-- It's a completely separate track than the bodily injury cla- case.

[05:05] McCartney: Even a perfectly repaired car is worth less once it has a wreck on its history, and California recognizes that. If a car was totaled or lost resale value, can someone claim diminished value in California?

[05:17] Robert May: They can, and you, you'll often see this in very new low mileage vehicles that suffer big property damage so that the immediate value, even the repaired value of the car is so significantly changed. Or you see this last, la- uh, quite a bit in classic cars where, you know, the damage might be $8,000 to fix, but the car's... transformed the actual valuation of the car, 'cause so many of these classic cars, what makes them valuable is their sort of the heritage of no repairs, same paint, original seats, et cetera. So originality is like the linchpin to valuation of classic cars. So that's where you... A lot of times what we'll do is you'll get an appraiser involved and actually kind of bring in an outside party to differentiate between the now current value of even a perfectly repaired vehicle and what was a pristine example of, let's say, you know, '88 Carrera or something like that, and try to come up with the gap between the two

[06:09] McCartney: So the car itself, the property damage, and any lost resale value is its own claim worth pursuing. Now let's bring it home because where a Long Beach case is filed changes its leverage, and there's a clear first step to take. where a case would be tried quietly shapes what an insurer will pay to settle it. How does the local court a Long Beach case is filed in change what the case is worth?

[06:29] Robert May: So insurance companies, def- defense attorneys, plaintiff's lawyers, we all sort of are keeping tabulations on verdicts that are coming in across different counties and different parts of the state. And so yes, there are more desirable venues to try cases than others, um, throughout California. Long Beach, you're a good venue. But yeah, there are others that are more and more difficult, and there are other places people like trying cases more because they're-- they generally believe the jury pool is more likely to be understanding, sympathetic, and willing to award damages for human harms that are suffered. And there are o- other venues. This isn't 100% true, and it's not based on which way you vote, but there are other venues that people are a little more cautious in that, you know, based on the jury pool, can be perceived as more difficult to get great verdicts in

[07:14] McCartney: So let's leave the listener with one clear, no-cost first step. For someone who wants a real sense of what their case is worth, what is the first thing that they should do?

[07:23] Robert May: First thing you should do is know m- have all the information available to date about your case, and then provide that to an attorney that's done this for a long time, and let them give you an evaluation. Now, lawyers are always really cautious in giving evaluations, 'cause you could send me a case that's worth $10 million, but if there's only $25,000 of insurance available, they're two different questions. So what a case is truly worth and what is recoverable are totally different things. And so, um, oftentimes what you'd want an attorney to do right away is just find out what coverage is available, which can help shape the valuation or what you think you can ultimately recover for the client at the beginning of the case.

[08:04] McCartney: So that's the real path to knowing what a case is worth. A free case review, not a calculator, and the right documents in hand before that call. For someone in Long Beach who just wants to know what their case is really worth, what is your one piece of advice?

[08:17] Robert May: contact an expert right away. Reach out to the, uh, a personal injury lawyer in Long Beach. You know, contact the May firm. We'll give you a c- free case review anytime. Um, give you an estimate. You know, these aren't promises. Uh, there's so many cases. Some c- uh, I can't tell you how many times the cases come in that you think like, "Oh, it might not be the biggest case," and then people take a turn for the worse. What seems like something simple doesn't heal. I'm sure you know people in your life who go, "You know, I had this accident." whatever, whatever. Now we're eight years later and they're like, "I'm still dealing with this low back issue, this neck issue, this shoulder issue," what, what have you. So it's often very difficult to prognosticate with specificity at the very beginning of a case what it's worth. But, if you told me something about coverage, something about your injuries, and something about your health today, could probably give you a pretty, pretty darn good range as to what a settlement would be or what would be offered in a case like this

[09:06] McCartney: Thank you so much, Robert. If you have been in a car accident in Long Beach and you want to know what your case is really worth, make that call. You can reach The May Firm at 562-800-0529 or at mayfirm.com. Thanks so much for watching, and we will catch you on the next episode of Car Accident Attorney with Robert May

[09:26] Robert May: Thank you