Expert: Ron Cercone - 8/21/2010

Question
My daughter was in an accident in Florida and her car was totaled. We received about $9800 for the totaled car. The other party does not have insurance. Florida is a no-fault state, but supposedly Progressive, our insurance, has deemed that the accident was like 70% my daughter's fault and 30% the other guy's fault.  Now, we are dealing with the other part of the insurance involving uninsured/underinsured motorist. We received a call that my insurance wants to give my daughter $1700 after the $1000 deductible from the uninsured motorist side of our insurance. We don't know whether to sign off on this and take the money or try to get them to give more. My daughter went to the ER after the accident, had X-rays taken which showed neck spasms, and she had a slight burn on her leg which is still red from the airbag going off. The uninsured motorist part of our insurance pays up to $25,000. The accident happened about 3 weeks ago, so we don't know if anything down the road will happen with her being sore, etc. When I asked about what would happen if she started to feel something down the road related to the accident, they said that the other part of our insurance had a statue of limitations part for up to 4 years and we could use that if something else arose between now and the 4 years.

Any suggestions? - Should we be asking for more than the $1700 they are offering?
Thanks,
Margaret

Answer
Well, you can't use "the other part" if you sign a release. You did not say what the amount of your medical bills was and are projected to be. Multiply your medical and lost wages times 2 to 4 depending on whether a jury would like you. If the car value was low-balled, consider a Total Loss Auto eBook at UClaim.com.