Progressive Insurance: Claims and Settlements

        Progressive Insurance insures about 11 million cars and trucks in the United States.  Progressive has come a long way since it began selling car insurance in 1937.  It has made good use of the Internet as a means of decreasing the costs of selling insurance and has a hip and appealing advertising campaign that seeks to position itself as, not surprisingly, a "progressive" company.

Dealing with Progressive on Settlement on Injury Claims Before Filing a Lawsuit

         In Maryland, Progressive has good adjusters that respond promptly and professionally to our accident lawyers.  But Progressive’s settlement offers in auto accident cases in Maryland are simply below offer you would expect from the average car insurance company in an accident case.   In most Maryland accident claim against Progressive, the statistics for similar accident cases will dictate filing a lawsuit.

Typical Size of Progressive Insurance Policies           

Another thought on Progressive Insurance, at least based on our experience in Maryland: it writes smaller liablity policies. Progressive seems to write a lot of $20,000, $50,000, and $100,000 per victim policies for injury claims.  So if you have a personal injury lawyer with a serious injury claim against Progressive, do not be surprised if the coverage is limited and you need to turn to your client's uninsured motorist policy to make up the difference (or stack on top in some states). Given these small policies, as tough of a stand as Progressive takes on settlement before a lawsuit is filed, if you are an accident lawyer with a case that could exceed the policy limits, you need to send out a bad faith letter as soon as you realize the policy may not cover the loss.    

Dealing with Progressive on Settlement After a Lawsuit Is Filed

Progressive Insurance in Maryland because far more reasonable after a settlement offer has been rejected and a lawsuit has been filed. A part of the reason for that is practical: its in-house counsel, the Law Office of Donald Speidel, based in Owings Mills, has only four lawyers. While they are good lawyers, four lawyers can only handle so many cases given Progressive's market share in Maryland. Accordingly, lawyers typically get more reasonable offers after suit has been filed. (We may hate this practice but it may well be a good business model for Progressive.)

Accident Lawyers Handling Progressive Claims    

        If you have been injured in an automobile accident in Maryland where the at-fault driver is insured by Progressive, or if you are filing an uninsured motorist claim against Progressive and you have a question about your claim, call us at 800-553-8082 or click here for a free consultation.

More on Progressive Insurance Claims

Related Accident Settlement Links