What is my Progressive Auto Insurance Claim REALLY Worth?
Every case is unique. Your case is unique.
But we can estimate your Progressive claim settlement value by reviewing other progressive claim settlements.
Here I will dive into ten progressive settlement examples. I will also give tips on increasing the settlement value of your claim. But first, a few faqs.
Is Progressive A Good Insurance Company For Resolving Claims?
Not really. Progressive has been extremely cheap in recent years. They are even now cheaper than AllState, which traditionally was the worst of the big insurance companies doing business in Florida.
You can still get fair justice for your claim from Progressive. You just need to be prepared to let your car accident attorney litigate the case to get fair justice. We usually have to file a lawsuit to get reasonable pain and suffering for our clients hurt in a car wreck.
Progressive Wrote Me a Check for $1500. I cashed it. Did I waive my claim?
Likely. Progressive likes to offer car accident victims a low ball number to resolve the case right after a collision. The catch is that if you deposit the check and sign a bodily injury release, you likely have given up your chance to bring a real injury claim with a lawyer.
I’ve met with injured car accident victims with serious spinal injuries with claims worth serious five or six figures who unknowingly signed away their rights to get full justice.
Progressive is one of the few insurance companies that do this. Do not cash a check from progressive after a wreck until you have talked with an attorney.
Progressive Says My Cases is Only Worth X. Do I Have To Take Progressive’s Settlement Offer
Florida law is clear: Your case is worth the sum total of your past and present economic damages. If a doctor determines you have a permanent injury because of the collision, then your case is also worth your past and present non-economic damages (pain and suffering).
Progressive uses a computer program that undervalues almost every case. You will see in our examples below that we get results that can be many many multiples of what Progressive first offers.
$150,000 Settlement For a T-Boned Collision In Pinellas County Florida
Our client was riding in the back seat of an Uber in St. Petersburg, Florida when another vehicle T-Boned his vehicle.
There were quite a few good facts that built the value of this case.
- Our client was young: He was 21 at the time of the collision.
- Our client did not have any pre-existing conditions.
- The impact on the vehicle was severe. This was not a minor collision.
- He had a neck disc bulge at C4-5 that his Doctor believes was caused by the collision.
Of course, the Defense pointed out the following to try to devalue the case:
- The client only had one lumbar steroid injection and one cervical injection early on in the case, and never had another one. They argued this meant the injections fixed our client, and future pain and suffering damages were not needed.
- The client “only” had a disc bulge and not a herniated disc.
- The client had substantial gaps in treatment (This was a long case that took a couple of years to resolve!)
This case actually had two insurance policies: The first was the bad driver’s 25K bodily injury insurance with Progressive. The second was Uber’s Uninsured motorist coverage with James River Insurance, in the amount of $1 million. In this case study, I am putting this case under the umbrella of Progressive because Progressive is the first line of insurance.
We made our first demand to Progressive for the $25K policy. The initial counteroffer from Progressive was $5000.00
After negotiations, Progressive agreed to tender the $25,000. We were then able to turn our attention to the UM insurance. After some back and forth, the UM adjuster in presuit got up to $30,000 and stated, “This is not a 6 figure case”.
Ha.
We filed a lawsuit. Approximately four months after the adjuster told us it was not a six-figure case we resolved UM portion for $125,000. That made the total settlement for our client $150,000.00. Let’s look at the take-home to the client:
The client brought home $67,406.50 in fees after all expenses, medical bills, and attorney fees were paid. Note that our attorney fees were 40%: It is standard for lawyers to charge 33 1/3 in pre-suit, but to up the percentage to 40% if a lawsuit is filed.
Client Buys Brand New Vehicle with 41,811.75 Settlement With Progressive For T-Bone Collision
My client’s vehicle was hit by a negligent driver’s vehicle on the front driver’s side. My client was driving.
Shortly after the wreck, my client went to an Urgent Care on 66th Street in St. Petersburg, Florida. They diagnosed him with spinal injuries. He decided to go to a chiropractor for help.
His chiropractor put him on a course of conservative care. This means my client would go to conservative therapies multiple times a week for 8-10 weeks. The concept is to increase the range of motion and reduce inflammation and pain.
His chiropractor sent him for MRI’s. The MRI’s showed herniated discs at C4-5 and C5-6 and another herniated disc in his lower back.
His neck pain started to resolve, but his lower back continued to act up, causing radiating pain down his leg.
The chiropractor sent my client to an orthopedic surgeon, a doctor who specializes in fixing the spine. The doctor diagnosed my client with lumbar radiculitis and gave him an epidural steroid injection.
When appropriate and recommended by a Doctor, medical treatments like steroid injections can alleviate pain. They can reduce inflammation. And they can increase the value of a case settlement. That is because it makes it harder for the Defense attorney to use his or her favorite defense: The injury was a minor sprain and completely resolved.
This was an all-inclusive $50K policy (property damage was also paid out of this policy). And there was also another plaintiff. In the end, the policy was exhausted and we settled the case with Progressive for $31,811.75.
However, we also did a policy “trace” with a private company and found another $10K policy for the negligent driver. This 10K was with Geico. (We discuss car settlement claims with Geico on this site as well).
We asked Geico to tender the 10K. They refused. We filed a lawsuit and Geico had a change of heart and paid the money.
The total take home for our client after fees and costs were $21,962.68.
Our client was able to use this money to buy a brand new car and put money into his business.
$10,000 Settlement For a Scooter Colliding With a Motor Vehicle
Our client was on his scooter. A vehicle backed out and hit him, causing him to fall off his scooter.
The bad driver was insured by progressive.
Our client went to the hospital the next day. Four days later, he went to a medical clinic that specialized in auto accident cases.
MRI’s of his spine showed inflammation and injury. His treatment provider put him on a course of conservative care multiple times per week.
Minor Limits
We opened a claim with the bad driver’s insurance company. The bad driver was also the owner of the vehicle. Progressive notified us under oath that there was only $10,000.00 in bodily injury coverage. This is the smallest bodily injury policy that Progressive writes.
Our client needed to see his doctor to heal his body. But we need to monitor the bills associated with the treatment carefully because of the limited coverage. Our client had been through alot. It was important that we max out the policy and we don’t let all of his settlement get spent in medical bills.
So, we prioritized a “quick demand”, gathering up medical records and MRI scans quickly. As soon as our client reached maximum medical improvement, we had the demand out and ready to go.
Progressive initially came back with an offer over the phone of $3,000 and some change. Clearly, that was unacceptable. However, before our demand expired, progressive paid the demand for the limits.
Now, we had to make sure the medical bills did not take away from the settlement for the client. They were a little high, so we negotiated them on his behalf. In the end, he was able to take home $3,597.78 after all his medical bills were taken care of and after attorney fees were done.
While it was a nice result for the client (the treatment helped), the result could have been much better if the client purchased uninsured motorist coverage. However, insurance companies like progressive like to get people to give up their rights to uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage. The coverage is cheap and insurance companies do not make much money off the coverage.
Progressive Tenders $25,000.00 Limits on Contested Liability Case
Our client was a fully restrained driver driving on a three-lane road nearing an intersection.
She attempted to switch lanes from the far left through lane into the middle lane. When she had finished her lane change, the vehicle in the far-right lane began to change into the middle lane and collided with my client. The impact of the collision caused my client to be pushed into the vehicle traveling in the left-turn lane.
At the time of the accident our client was heading home from work.
Liability
This case was contested liability, with the other driver saying our client merged into him.
According to the other driver, he was traveling in the far left through lane (the lane our client said she was in) and our client was in the left-hand turn lane. The other driver said our client changed lanes into his vehicle, which is what caused the collision.
Our client made a fantastic appearance at her deposition and testified that she was on her way home from work when the accident happened, a route she has driven hundreds of times.
She stated her route was to go straight through the intersection near where the accident occurred, so there would be no reason she would be in the turning lane to turn left at the intersection. Additionally, the fact that my client’s vehicle was the one that was pushed indicates that it was the other vehicle that was merging into her car.
The damage to my client’s vehicle was relatively minor, as you can see below.
Injuries
Immediately after the accident our client began to experience neck and back pain. Eventually she was sent for imaging on her neck and back, which revealed herniations at both the cervical and lumbar levels.
Because of her ongoing pain, she received medial branch nerve blocks in her lower back. As she sat for her deposition, she stated she still experienced significant discomfort in both her neck and back.
The insurance company final made an offer, but it was for a measly $2000.00.
We knew our client’s story about the incident was accurate, so we moved forward with a lawsuit. The same day of the depositions we filed a proposal for settlement for the policy limits of $25,000.00.
A proposal for settlement is a special tool we can use when in a lawsuit. If the insurance company does not accept the proposal in 30 days and we go to trial and beat the proposal by 25%, we then get attorney fees and costs! Insurance companies need to take this seriously.
Result
Ultimately, the insurance company accepted the proposal for settlement for $25,000.00
After all is said and done, the client was able to walk with $7,839.29 in her pocket. This was a welcome result for our client, who had been experiencing COVID related hardships.
