North Carolina Car Accident Lawyer

• Negotiate Higher Settlements: Attorneys can push insurance companies to offer more than the initial low offers, ensuring fair compensation.
• Identify All Damages: Help document and claim all losses, including medical, property, diminished value, and future costs, which are often overlooked.
• Challenge Insurance Company Tactics: Use legal knowledge and evidence to counter unfair practices, such as undervaluing your vehicle or denying claims.
• Navigate Contributory Negligence: Use defenses (see below) to overcome barriers to recovery.
• Handle Paperwork and Deadlines: Ensure all forms, appeals, and claims are filed correctly and on time to maximize payouts.
• Represent in Disputes: Advocate for you in negotiations or in court if the insurance company disputes total loss, repairs, or value.
• Overcome Liability Defenses: Counter arguments from the other party that try to shift blame, protecting your right to compensation.
• Locate Hidden Defendants: Identify all responsible parties, such as employers or third parties, to ensure all potential sources of payment are pursued.
• Control Insurance Communications: Manage all interactions with insurers to prevent damaging statements and ensure strategic responses.
• Collect Future Medical Care Costs: Secure compensation for ongoing or long-term medical needs resulting from the accident.
• Highlight Admissible Injury Evidence: Present only evidence that courts will accept, strengthening your case for damages.
• Present Proper Income Loss Evidence: Ensure all current and future lost wages are documented and argued effectively to increase your payout.

As stated above, insurance companies assess whether a vehicle is a total loss or repairable by comparing the estimated repair costs to the car’s pre-accident Fair Market Value. In North Carolina, the vehicle is declared a total loss if the total repair costs (including rental, towing, storage expenses, and any diminished value claim) exceed 75% of the pre-accident FMV. This is a simple yes-no calculation, and there is generally little way to dispute this determination.

How much an insurance company will pay is an entirely different question. This amount is called your vehicle’s Actual Cash Value (ACV). Determining this number begins with the Fair Market Value and is then adjusted based on specific data used by the insurance industry. Generally, the ACV is calculated by loss adjusters and accounts for the condition of your vehicle at the time of the accident, the availability of cars like yours, damage assessments from auto body shops and engineers, and market value data. If the vehicle is deemed repairable, insurance companies approve repairs based on quotes and ensure safety standards are met before releasing funds.

The goal for the insurance company is to pay the cheaper option:

1. The costs of rental, towing, storage, any diminishment in value, plus repairs or
2. The Actual Cash Value of the car and any costs already paid out before the total loss is declared (for rental, storage, and towing).

Disputes can arise if owners disagree with the insurance company’s valuation over either the diminished value of the vehicle (loss of value due to the accident) or ACV (what the car was worth before the accident).

Note: Actual Cash Value and Fair Market Value are not the same thing. The Actual Cash Value is more researched and specific to the vehicle and the local market than the Fair Market Value. Therefore, insurance companies are hesitant to compromise on this. However, they are legally required to disclose their research, which isn’t necessarily accurate. The Personal Injury Team at McMinn, Fradin, Gray & Logan is highly experienced in challenging this research. We have working relationships with experts in the field who regularly conduct their own assessments and ensure clients receive fair payments for their property.

Please note, the following is a very general overview for illustrative purposes only of how valuation disputes are handled. We do not recommend using this as a guide without legal representation. Each case is different, and an experienced attorney in injury and recovery law will be able to apply their knowledge of negotiation tactics and legal strategy within this framework to maximize your recovery.

Step 1: You and the insurance company cannot agree on the fair market value of your vehicle, both before and immediately after the accident.

Step 2: The difference between your opinion and the insurance company’s opinion of the value of your claim must be greater than either $2,000 or 25% of the fair market value of your car, whichever is less.

Step 3: You must send a request in writing to the insurance company to select an objective third-party appraiser.

Step 4: You must also obtain and pay for your own appraiser.

Step 5: You have to notify the insurance company of whom you selected.

Step 6: If those two appraisers can’t agree on the value, they must find a neutral third appraiser.

Step 7: The appraisers must submit their appraisals and the evidence they used in making those appraisals to the neutral third party. The third appraiser must prepare a report determining the amount of your loss and give it to you and the insurance company. The neutral third party shall make no determination of liability and must award damages that fall somewhere between the determinations of the two primary appraisers (the insurance company’s appraiser and the one you hired).

Step 8: You have 15 days to reject the determination. If no one rejects it, the report is binding and falls to the insurance company for final settlement.

1. Hire a proven Injury and Recovery Attorney. They have the skills to negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf, can represent you in court, will collect valid evidence on your behalf, and ensure your recovery is maximized. We recommend the Team at McMinn, Fradin, Gray & Logan’s Winston Salem – West End Office. Our Attorneys have decades of experience and hundreds of pleased customers across the Triad.
2. Do NOT admit fault – keep all conversations with insurance companies to property damage and brief facts about the accident. Because of North Carolina’s strict contributory negligence policy, if you are even 1% at fault in an accident, you will lose your claim to recovery from the 99% at-fault driver.
3. Do NOT give written or recorded testimony to or sign any medical authorizations for insurance companies without your attorney’s approval.
4. Find out which policy/policies will pay for the damage:
   1. The Other Driver’s Liability: If they are entirely at fault
   2. Underinsured Motorist: Their Liability won’t cover all expenses
   3. Uninsured Motorist: They have no insurance
   4. Comprehensive/Collision: The accident was partly/wholly your fault, or you were run off the road
   5.  Med Pay: Medical Insurance attached to your auto policy, covers you and passengers regardless of fault
   6. Rental Coverage: Kicks in when an accident is partly/wholly your fault, and you need a rental vehicle
5. Retain all receipts (repairs, towing, storage, medical, pharmacy, travel, etc.), photos of the scene and car (interior and exterior), contact information for responding officers and witnesses, and photos of any cuts, bruising, or other medical issues caused by the accident.
6. Read all applicable policies carefully for claims details, deadlines, and limits.
7. Keep all medical appointments and comply with all medical advice.
8. Obtain at least 2 quotes to ensure fairness.
9. Hire your own appraisers if you intend to dispute a valuation (salvage value, ACV, FMV, or diminished value), especially in the case of a classic, high-value, or custom vehicle
10. Keep records of any loss of wages, both current and future

Don’t try to navigate a complicated car accident claim alone. The Car Accident and Injury Team at McMinn, Fradin, Gray & Logan is here to help simplify the process and recover the amount you deserve to help you move on with your life.