Warning: Progressive Insurance Co. Tactics

For a few years now Progressive insurance company has been pursuing an aggressive policy about settling personal injury claims against them. Shortly after an accident is reported (usually within a few days) Progressive will dispatch one of its claims adjusters in one of those little white trucks to visit the injured person. Ostensibly this visit is to discuss the claim and make sure that everything is okay. However, what I am seeing more and more is that these meetings turn into a high-pressure sales visit in which the claims adjuster does everything they can to get the injured person to sign off on the claim for an immediate cash payment of some small sum, usually in the area of $1000-2000.

It would be a very serious mistake for anyone to sign such an agreement. Oftentimes it can take weeks or months or even longer for the true nature of any injuries to become apparent, and effective treatment received. Everyone wants to think that they will get better soon. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

Once one of these releases is signed, it is very, very difficult to get out of them. It can be done, because the courts don't like to see people being taken advantage of, but it is a discretionary call on the part of the judge and some judges have little or no sympathy for consumers who try to practice law for themselves, without a license.

The best advice I could give someone is to hold off on any settlement. If Progressive is offering $1000 today, I can almost guarantee you that money will still be on the table a week or a month from now. In fact, it's likely to go up. I'm not saying you need to run to an attorney right away, but I am saying that you should hold off on signing anything until you know for certain what is wrong with you, how it is going to affect you now and years down the road, and what kind of medical treatment you are going to need to deal with this problem.