After being injured in a car accident, it is common to feel confused, overwhelmed, and shut down. In this vulnerable state, you may mistake a Mercury Insurance claims adjuster for an ally, when in fact, their job is to minimize, dispute, or completely deny your claim. Like other insurance companies, Mercury is a for-profit business that seeks to increase their subscriptions while minimizing their expenditures (claims payouts). They are anything but on your side.
A Personal Injury Lawyer Is Your Best Defense Against Ruthless Mercury Claims Adjusters
By partnering with an experienced, knowledgeable personal injury lawyer at Trust Guss, you can sidestep the deceptive, manipulative tactics used by Mercury to avoid paying your claim. Our car accident attorneys have over 25 years of expertise in dealing with aggressive insurers and their high-paid legal teams. We will go head-to-head with them, standing up for your rights and best interests and ensuring you can obtain the maximum in compensation.
How Much Will a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost Me?
At Trust Guss, we work on a contingency fee basis. This means you never owe any legal fees unless we are successful with your claim. We believe you already have enough on your plate to worry about in terms of the healing process at hand without having to concern yourself with how to pay your legal fees upfront. We also offer a no-cost, no-obligation case evaluation so you can get started right away. Don’t let Mercury Insurance lowball you. Instead, allow our attorneys to protect your financial future.
Mercury’s Staggeringly Poor Reputation
Mercury has around two million policyholders and is known for catering to higher-risk drivers with past DUIs, collisions, and traffic violations. The rate of accidents caused by Mercury-backed drivers thus tends to be higher than usual. In fact, they have a reputation as among the worst insurance carriers in the business, as noted by consumer advocacy organizations, industry regulators, attorneys, and policyholders.
They were sued by the California Department of Insurance in 2009 and accused of multiple violations by the Florida Insurance Commissioner’s office, including unwarranted termination of auto insurance policies when a claim was filed, failing to pay out the full amount on legitimate claims, and failing to provide reasons for denying claims. Consumer Watchdog in Los Angeles even went so far as to post a billboard on the highway citing Mercury as untrustworthy.
If you have been injured by another driver with Mercury Insurance, it is critical that you work with an astute personal injury lawyer who knows all their tricks and can fight against their ubiquitous denials and disputes. Because Mercury’s reputation is so abominable, hiring a masterful personal injury lawyer is mandatory if you hope to see your losses and injuries appropriately compensated.
How to Maximize Your Compensation With a Mercury Insurance Claim
When you hire one of our personal injury lawyers, they will immediately go to work on your case, investigating the causes of your collision, gathering crucial evidence, working with accident reconstruction experts, and calling on witnesses to support your claim. This makes it much harder for Mercury adjusters to pressure you, manipulate you, or cast doubt on your injuries and losses. To aid in establishing a solid, robust case, you should do the following after an accident:
- Call the police – You will need a copy of the police report for your claim, so don’t hesitate to get the authorities involved right away after a collision. Tell the officer anything you noticed about the other driver. Were they using their phone? Driving recklessly? Breaking traffic rules? Don’t be afraid to speak up. Also allow the paramedics to document your injuries. Let them take you to the emergency room if required.
- Get medical attention – Getting medical attention right away is good for both your well-being and your legal case. Some injuries like whiplash, concussions, and internal organ damage may not be immediately apparent to you, especially when you are fueled by adrenaline after a crash.
- Take photos and videos of the scene – If possible, gather as much evidence from the scene of your accident as you can before it is cleared away. Take photos of vehicle damage, license plates, your injuries, skid marks, road signs, road conditions, traffic lights, lane markings, etc.
- Exchange information with any potential witnesses – If there is anyone there who saw your accident, make sure to get their name, phone number, email, and any other contact information. Their testimony could help bolster your claim down the line.
- Trade information with the other driver – Make sure you get the other driver’s information and insurance card details.
- Don’t discuss your accident with anyone – While you may be tempted to make statements or talk about your injuries or property damage, be wary of what you say. Anything you utter could be used to invalidate your claim. Only speak to your personal injury lawyer.
- Keep careful records – In the coming days, keep a careful record of all phone conversations with Mercury claims adjusters and hold onto receipts, estimates, medical bills, repair invoices, pay stubs, and any other financial documents. Your lawyer may need these to support your claim.
- Hire a personal injury attorney – The sooner you call a car accident lawyer, the better your chances are of obtaining a fair settlement or having your losses covered through a lawsuit.
Damages You Can Claim After a Car Accident
If your injuries were caused by another party’s negligence or recklessness, you have the right to certain damages, both economic and non-economic. As your personal injury attorneys, our lawyers will calculate the monetary value of these damages, ensuring you receive the maximum in compensation to which you are entitled. Your damages may include:
- Past, present, and future medical expenses, including those associated with transport, hospitalization, surgeries, doctor’s visits, diagnostic testing, medications, assistive devices, at-home care, physical therapy, rehabilitation, and more
- Lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and loss of future career opportunities
- Property damage, including costs related to renting a car, repairing your car, or replacing your vehicle and anything that was inside it at the time of the crash
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
- Wrongful death
- Punitive damages
Why Choose Trust Guss?
At Trust Guss, our “Clients First” approach means you will always speak with a live agent whenever you reach out to us, night or day. We treat every client just like family and go to great lengths to protect their best interests. For over 25 years, our dedicated car accident lawyers have been fighting back against ruthless claims adjusters who seek to minimize payouts so they can maximize their profits. Thanks to our tenacity, commitment to justice, and insistence on excellence, our firm has garnered over 1400 five-star Google reviews and counting.
Trust Guss was founded in 1999 by Stewart J. Guss, a personal injury lawyer who Rue Ratings called one of the “Best Attorneys in America.” Over the years, Stewart expanded his practice to achieve a broad national reach, hiring over 100 legal professionals to support his mission of providing outstanding legal representation with a personalized touch. Stewart is an active member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and was included in the top 1% of personal injury attorneys in the country by the prestigious National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
Experiencing injuries in a major car accident is nothing short of a tremendous setback – physically, emotionally, and financially. Some accidents can even cause open-ended hardship, permanently altering the victim’s routine. If your injuries were the result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you may be entitled to significant damages.
If you have to deal with a car accident with AAA Insurance when filing your claim, you can rest assured our experienced personal injury lawyers at Trust Guss have decades of expertise and know exactly how to navigate the complex legal landscape that may arise.
All insurance companies are for-profit businesses, meaning that they have a bottom line to maintain. Insurance companies make a profit by increasing subscription sales and decreasing payouts. This means that it is in their best interest to deny your claim or present you with an egregiously low offer. Some claims adjusters may even use underhanded tactics to pressure you into accepting blame for your own accident. By choosing to work with a seasoned accident attorney, you can ensure your rights are protected, and you maintain your opportunity to recover the maximum in compensation to which you are entitled.
Understanding the American Automobile Association (AAA)
The American Automobile Association (AAA) has nearly 60 million members in North America. While the group is known for a variety of services, including its roadside assistance program, many clubs operate auto insurance agencies that let customers purchase insurance through companies like Auto Club Enterprises Insurance Group. You may mentally associate AAA with its roadside customer service, which tends to be quick, efficient, and friendly. However, when it comes to an auto accident claim, the dynamics at play are exactly the same as they would be with any other insurance company, like Geico, Progressive, or Allstate.
AAA is a for-profit business. They exist to make money and, therefore, must increase income while decreasing expenditures. Paying out a claim is a form of expenditure for AAA, so it is in their best interests to do everything possible to block you from recovering the funds you rightfully deserve and need to rebuild your life after devastating injuries and other losses. AAA professionals negotiate insurance claims every single day and are masters at what they do. You, on the other hand, are at a built-in disadvantage when it comes to negotiating just because it’s something you might only do once or twice in your lifetime.
By working with an experienced personal injury lawyer, you are essentially evening out the playing field and allowing for a fair negotiation process to take place. At Trust Guss, we will relentlessly fight for your best interests – not the best interests of the insurance company. If we are unable to get you the settlement you deserve, our trained trial lawyers have no problem taking your case to court to ensure justice is served.
Types of Disputes That May Arise When Dealing With AAA Insurance Claims
While you would expect a massive company like AAA to always do right by claimants in order to uphold its positive reputation, that is not always the case. Larger insurance companies have shareholders relying on them to increase profits, and one way to do that is to dispute or deny claims. Here are some of the tactics that AAA may use:
- Denying a claim – Claims adjusters will often try to pin the blame for the accident on you, as this gives them the right to deny your claim. They may twist your words or cite unjustified reasons for denying you compensation. A good personal injury lawyer will address their reasons for denial when handling your case and make sure you can claim the appropriate damages to which you are entitled.
- Disputing a claim – In order to fight back against withholding insurers, your personal injury attorney will obtain extensive medical documentation, witness accounts, and testimony from relevant experts. AAA claims adjusters may dispute your claim over the following:
- The nature of your injuries
- The severity of your injuries
- Whether you had preexisting conditions
- The necessity of certain treatments, medical services, or medications
- The financial costs of your losses
- Confusing or misleading a claimant – The less you know about how AAA claims work, the more the claims adjusters will seek to take advantage of your ignorance. The adjuster may:
- Hope that you blindly accept the claim denial without doing research on the insurance policy
- Pressure you into accepting fault for your accident
- Convince you that the first offer they give is the best you can do
- Your lawyer will protect you from these underhanded tactics, handling communication with AAA so you are not so vulnerable to their bad-faith antics.
How a Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help You Obtain the Settlement You Deserve
Your lawyer will stand in your corner and handle all aspects of your case, including negotiation with AAA Insurance. They will do the following:
- Resolve outstanding disputes with AAA, such as claim denials
- Prove who was liable for your injuries utilizing witness reports, police reports, video footage, testimony from accident reconstruction experts, and more
- Document your losses using X-rays, MRIs, doctor’s reports, medical bills, vehicle repair invoices, diagnoses from mental health providers, and more
- Calculate the monetary value of your damages
- Negotiate with AAA to achieve a fair settlement
- File a lawsuit if necessary
Recoverable Damages from AAA
If you sustained serious injuries and another party was to blame, you are entitled to certain damages, both economic and non-economic. These may include the following:
- Current and future healthcare costs
- Property damages
- Lost wages and loss of future career opportunities
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death
Can I Afford a Personal Injury Lawyer to Lead My Claim With AAA?
At Trust Guss, we work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you do not pay any legal fees upfront. Instead, we take a percentage of your award once we win your case. Our consultations are also performed at no cost to you, and there is no obligation to hire us once your case evaluation is complete. In other words, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by working with our esteemed attorneys. We have been advocating for client rights for over 25 years and are dedicated to making sure you and your family are well cared for after an unexpected and devastating accident.
How Long Does It Take to Settle an AAA Insurance Claim?
Every case is different, so this is a difficult question to answer. The time it takes to settle your AAA claim can depend on the complexity of your case, the extent of your injuries, and the willingness of the claims adjuster to negotiate in good faith. It can take anywhere from a few months to a few years.
Contact Trust Guss Today to Take the Next Steps with AAA Insurance Claims
At Trust Guss, we have over 1400 five-star Google reviews, a testament to our “Clients First” approach and dedication to excellence. No matter the time of day or night, you will always reach a live agent when contacting us. We are passionate about protecting you from unethical insurance claims adjusters who might pressure you to accept fault for your accident or accept an offer that is not appropriate. Contact us today to schedule a no-cost case evaluation and allow us to alleviate the pressure, confusion, and anxiety that can arise when having to deal with AAA Insurance. By partnering with our firm, you can refocus your energies on self-care while knowing you are obtaining the best chance at maximizing your compensation.