Filing Farmers Insurance Auto Claims
When you’ve been injured in an auto accident that involves a Farmers Insurance Policy, you may wonder about the Farmers Insurance auto claims process. The process isn’t very straightforward when you're injured and seeking compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and more. Overall, it's typically challenging to deal with insurance companies because their goal is to pay you as little money as possible.
The auto accident injury attorneys here at our law firm know how to handle personal injury claims with Farmers Insurance, and we can help you take the right steps to maximize your settlement. We offer free legal consultations, so you can call us and talk to a lawyer about your potential personal injury case absolutely free. Also, we don't get paid unless you get paid, so you don't have to worry about any upfront costs or retainers.
Call us anytime at 321-LAWSUIT to talk with a lawyer at our office. We will talk about what happened to you and discuss your potential options.
Understanding Farmers Insurance Auto Accident and Injury Claims
One thing people always ask is whether they should reach out to their insurance company after getting into a car accident. You should report any car accident to your own insurance provider as soon as you can, even if you’re filing a claim with the at-fault driver’s company. You insurance carrier needs to know the crash happened, and that's often one of your responsibilities under the policy.
When you're injured, you have to be very careful when dealing with insurance companies because they will record your phone calls and use anything you say to try and minimize your injury claim. If the crash only involves property damage, there is not as much at risk because the damage is objective and easily quantified. Regardless, you should be very careful how you talk to the insurance company's adjusters.
Whether you're filing a claim with your own insurance company or as a third-party, the process is similar, but it’s important to understand what to do regardless of which company you’re filing with. It's also important to understand the difference between third-party and first-party claims.
Third-Party Claims
Filing a claim with an at-fault driver’s insurance provider is called a third-party claim. This is where you are bringing a claim against someone else's insurance company. If you are a third-party claimant bringing a claim against a driver covered by Farmers Insurance, you can file claim with Farmers Insurance on their website to enable easy tracking of the claim’s progress.
Exercise caution if you are bringing a third-party claim for injuries. The insurance adjuster assigned to your claim may try to do things they wouldn't do if you were represented by an attorney, like:
- Getting you to say something on a recorded call they can use against you;
- Offering you a lowball settlement; or
- Sending papers for you to sign that releases them from liability.
We can help you avoid common pitfalls. Having a lawyer by your side is the best way to ensure that your rights are protected.
First-Party claims
When you file a claim with your own insurance company, we call that a "first-party claim." If you suffered injuries in the crash, you may have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, which essentially gives you access to insurance money when the at-fault driver that hurt you didn't have coverage at all or didn't have sufficient coverage.
Regardless, Florida is a no-fault state, and every driver is required to carry personal injury protection or "PIP" insurance, which provides $10,000 in coverage, and it doesn't matter whether you were at fault for the crash. PIP insurance generally falls under the 14-day rule, meaning if you want to use the PIP money available for medical expenses, you need to seek medical treatment within 14 days of the crash.
Steps for Maximizing Your Farmers Insurance Auto Claim
The costs of property damage and medical attention for injuries can be high, so it’s important to take the right steps to make sure you get proper value for your claim. There's several steps you can take that will help you protect your rights and make it more difficult for the insurance company to minimize payout:
Get a Police Report
Right after a car accident, you need to make sure you or someone else gets in touch with the authorities so that an officer comes out to the scene and creates a police report. This document proves the essential facts of the accident and establishes when and where it occurred.
Take Photos and Videos of Everything
One often overlooked step is collecting evidence at the scene of the crash. Take photos and videos of everything as soon as possible. The more the better. You can always delete the photos and videos later if you don't need them. However, you can't go back in time and get that evidence later on. So, get photos and videos of the vehicles involved, the scene of the crash, the damage on the vehicles, your injuries, and the license plates of the vehicles involved.
Get Medical Treatment Right Away
You should get medical treatment right away to make sure your injuries are being properly evaluated and tended to. Also, if you don't seek medical treatment right away, the insurance company's defense team will use this to claim you're not hurt. Don't give them this ammunition. You take away one of their strongest arguments when you go get medical treatment immediately following a crash.
Do What Your Doctors Tell You to Do
Once you start getting medical treatment, be sure to do what your doctors tell you to do. If you don't, you give the insurance company's defense team one of their strongest arguments. When you miss appointments, we call this a "gap in treatment," and it's one of the insurance company's main ways to reduce the value of your case.
Your Florida Car Accident Insurance Claim With Farmers
Farmers Insurance states that you can file your claim in five minutes or less in their claims center. You can file online, through the Farmers app, or by calling their claims department. A claims representative will review your claim and reach out to you for more details.
You can use your own local shop for repairs or choose a shop from Farmers’ network of highly trained repair facilities, and Farmers offers options for rental cars while you’re waiting on repairs. You’ll have options for payment, including reimbursement for paying the shop yourself or having Farmers pay the shop directly.
How We Can Help You with Your Farmers Insurance Auto Claim
Insurance adjusters are trained to get you to say things they can use against you to reduce the value of your personal injury claim and give you lowball settlement offers. When you hire an attorney at our firm, you won’t have to deal with insurance adjusters alone. We’ll be there to manage the communication with them so you avoid mistakes that can hurt the value of your case.
Here are some of the main ways we can help you:
- Performing an Investigation: One of our first steps is to perform an investigation so that we can gather and preserve the evidence we need to be successful.
- Coordinating Medical Treatment: We will work with your medical providers to make sure we understand where you are in your medical treatment process. That way, when you're nearing the end of your medical treatment, we can work to get your case settled as soon as possible.
- Negotiating with Insurance Adjusters: We can deal with the insurance adjusters at Farmers so that they cannot use their playbook to minimize the value of your case. We can also negotiate with them and make sure you're getting the full value of your case.
- Filing a Lawsuit: When someone doesn't have an attorney, the insurance companies don't have any reason to pay maximum value on the case because there's no threat of litigation. Without an attorney, you're at their mercy to do the right thing. However, insurance companies aren't interested in what you are entitled to, they're interested in what they can get away with paying you. When you work with us, the insurance company has the choice to either deal fairly with you or get sued.
- Handling Mediation: The insurance company's defense team will typically want to conduct a mediation prior to proceeding to trial, and it's often required that the parties mediate the case before the case ends up in front of a jury. We can help navigate mediation and work to pressure the insurance defense team to pay what you're owed.
- Taking the Case to Trial: Sometimes, the insurance company will refuse to pay proper value for a case. In these situations, there is often no choice but to proceed to trial. Our attorneys can represent you in court in front of a jury.
Frequently Asked Questions About Farmers Auto Insurance Claims
Does Farmers Insurance pay claims?
Yes. In our experience, Farmers Insurance is one of the more fair insurance companies, and they will often pay proper value for a claim.
How long does it take Farmers Insurance to settle a claim with an attorney?
We've handled very many cases with Farmers Insurance, and the time it takes to settle a claim will vary, depending on the coverage available, the injuries involved, and the fault of the parties involved. More straightforward injury claims typically settle in 5-7 months, while more complicated claims that go into litigation can take several years.
What is the phone number for Farmers Insurance claims?
The phone number for Farmers Insurance claims is (888) 327-6335.
How long does it take Farmers Insurance to pay a claim?
When we settle a personal injury claim with Farmers Insurance, they will typically send a check within 20 days of reaching the settlement. However, the clock often won't stop running until you sign a release of claims. Thus, after the settlement, you generally need to get the release from them, which can take a few days or more. Then, you have to sign the release, and we will send the sign released to the insurance defense team. After that, they will generally promptly send the settlement check.
How do I file a claim with Farmers Insurance?
You can generally file a claim on your own through the Farmers Insurance website or through their mobile app. If you're injured and filing a personal injury claim through an attorney, the process is more simple. Once you sign an engagement agreement with our law firm, we will reach out to Farmers Insurance directly and send them a letter of representation, which lets them know that we are your attorneys and they need to reach out to us.