When you’re involved in an accident, the first thing on a lot of our minds is, how long is it going to take for me to be reimbursed for my injuries and damages?
All claims and circumstances are different so payout timeframes will differ from insurance company to insurance company and claim to claim. Once you and your insurance company have agreed to a settlement, it typically takes 4 to 6 weeks to be issued a check.
When you receive your claims check, the insurance company will require you to sign a release form. What this will do, is officially settle the claim and usually states that you are giving up your right to sue the other driver for any injuries you may have had during the accident.
We understand that waiting on your claim to be satisfied can be frustrating. Please keep in mind that there are many determining factors that can impact the payout timeframe of your settlement.
To help you better understand what may effect when you receive your check, we go over a few of the most common reasons below;
The car insurance adjuster;
Auto insurance adjusters are very careful to cover all their bases before issuing a settlement. Often they will require signed releases, potentially notarized or signed in front of a witness, before they begin mailing or issuing your settlement check.
After the car insurance adjuster puts in the order for your settlement check, there’s still a good chance it can take a few extra days for the accounting department to issue and mail your settlement check.
Medical bills that are the result of the car accident;
There are some situations where the insurance company will decide to pay medical bills directly to the medical provider. This process will often delay the payout of the final settlement.
For example if Medicare paid for your medical treatment, the insurance company may choose to pay them back directly. The extra time for settlement consideration coupled with the exorbitant timeframes it takes Government programs to play out, will more than likely create delays in your overall settlement process.
Insurance companies issue checks from out-of-state banks;
Insurance companies are located all across America. This brings up the fact that many insurance companies will issue your settlement check from an out-of-state bank account. If this is the case, on average out-of-state checks take roughly 7-10 days to clear depending on the financial institution.
Other fees and bills that may be deducted from your car insurance settlement check;
- Auto Insurance Medical Bills and Subrogation Liens;
Most medical insurance companies will require that they are paid back for any services that may have provided to the injured driver. Some of the most common subrogation liens are for health insurance companies like Medpay, Medicare, or Medicaid. Most commonly called collateral services and are usually subject to subrogation claims. Basically what this means is any payments made by the insurance company due to a lawsuit will have to be paid back when the settlement is created. Receiving information from Medicare on the lien can be an incredibly slow process.
If you use Medicare as your medical provider, please be warned, after the insurance adjuster issues your settlement check, the proceeds from your settlement may be help up by the Medicare lien. It can take on average a few extra months for the lion to be cleared and you to be issued your final settlement check.
- Letter of Protection Claims;
In short the letter of protection claims, is contract formed between a lawyer and a medical provider. What this does is place a lien on the injured drivers financial settlement. It states that the medical provider will be paid by the attorney when the case is settled.
- Lawyer fees from the accident;
Contingency fees are fees from your lawyer for representing you in your personal injury case. The amount of the fee is based off a percentage, usually around 30%. This amount will be deducted from the final car insurance settlement total.
- Attorney expenses from the accident;
Some of the most common attorney related fees are investigator, deposition, medical records, jury, expert fees, & police records.
After all the above expenses are satisfied, your lawyer will issue a final account of the transactions involved in your case. Your attorney should at that time go over all of the expenses in full detail, explaining what you may not understand. When you and your attorney have come to an agreement, a check will be issued for the remaining balance of the claim.
Wrapping up; there are a lot of things to consider when determining when your settlement check may arrive. Be patient, cover all of your bases, do your homework and ask questions if you’re unclear with the status of your claim. If you have additional questions, reach out to one of our agents. They all have extensive knowledge and can answer any questions you may have about auto insurance. [click here to call an agent now]