[FRS Dad]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

$0.00. A conversation might not cost anything at all.

I had a problem with an insurance adjuster a while back and consulted an attorney. The attorney didn't charge me anything for the initial conversation and gave me very good advice in how to deal with the adjuster. That advice proved out when I ultimately got exactly what I wanted in the settlement without him having to do anything else. There was about a $2500 difference in the settlement that I could attribute directly to the attorney's advice. That was a pretty good return on an investment of $0 and 30 minutes on the phone.

If he had needed to get further involved, the next step would have been for the attorney to call the adjuster himself or possibly to write a letter on my behalf. He said he would charge me a couple hundred bucks for a letter, but he would probably get it back from the adjuster as part of the settlement. Only if we went beyond that into litigation would he start billing his hourly rate.

Back to my loaded gun, that insurance adjuster certainly had big guns on her side, because she worked for one of the largest insurers in the country. Yet the mere mention of having consulted an attorney changed the tone of the conversation and put a halt to the bullshit game she had been trying to play. And I didn't end up paying the lawyer anything.

The difference here is that I had an actual claim for damage that could be seen with the naked eye. Even so, my point remains the same: A simple conversation with an attorney may cost nothing at all. And even if you're charged a small consultation fee, that might be money well spent just to know the best way to deal with the dealership.

Yeah, that was a weak adjuster, or a dishonest one. If the disputed $2,500 was there she should have put it up in the first place. I was an adjuster for a major carrier for a decade. We dealt with attorney representation and the threat of attorney representation all day. In most cases, my preference was to deal with the attorney.

They're way more practical, pragmatic and they know the actual law, as opposed to internet car forum law. Plus odds were that I already had an ongoing professional relationship with the guy, and had been mailing him settlement checks for a long time, and we both did what we could to make each other's lives easier over the long haul. I'm still friends with a lot of the lawyers I worked with.

Can I ask what the case involved, and what the attorney advised you to say that made a difference? (Please tell me it wasn't to imply you'd claim an injury if they didn't find more money for you.)