| August 12, 2026 | Maryland Law, Personal Injury
By Hunter Duke, Attorney | Chief Operating Officer
Insurance companies undervalue personal injury claims because paying you less is how they make money. A settlement offer is an opening bid, not a final measure of what your claim is worth. When you are hurt, bills are arriving, and a friendly adjuster is already asking for a statement. That low first number is a business strategy at work, not a fair read of your injuries.
Why Your Settlement Offer Comes In So Low
Insurance is a for-profit business. Every dollar an insurer does not pay on your claim is a dollar it keeps. Adjusters are measured and rewarded on how quickly they close files and how little they pay per claim, so the person handling your case is not on your side, no matter how reasonable they sound on the phone.
This is not a new or accidental pattern. In the 1990s, a widely reported consulting project pushed the industry toward computer software that generates low settlement ranges and a claims posture the American Association for Justice and other industry critics later summed up as the "three Ds." The three Ds are deny the claim, delay the payment, and defend against any lawsuit if you push back.
The strategy works because most injured people cannot afford to wait years for their cases to be resolved. You have an adjuster calling, bills stacking up, and pressure to make it all stop. The system is built to turn that pressure against you.
The First Call and the Quick Check
The adjuster usually calls within hours or days of the crash and asks for a "recorded statement." A recorded statement is a question-and-answer session the adjuster records and can later use to reduce what the insurer pays
At WGK, the advice is to remember that anything you say will be used against you. You may not even realize that what you’re saying is damaging to your case. Terms of art for liability, like left turns or merging lanes, may be used in ways you didn’t realize. Then, it’s hard to untangle those statements once they’re made.
Said in shock, a simple "I’m not really hurt" before the pain sets in, or "I didn’t see them either," can be turned into an argument that you share the blame and recover nothing.
Sometimes a check comes first. Within a day or two, the adjuster offers a lump sum, sometimes only a couple of thousand dollars, and frames it as fast help.
You might think that’s great, but you don’t realize how much treatment you may need. The insurance adjuster knows people need money quickly. The company is saving money. They’re not offering a quick, low-ball payment out of the goodness of their hearts.
Once you sign the release and cash that check, your case is closed for good. You cannot reopen it when new symptoms show up, or the medical bills keep coming.
This is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.
Cutting Bills and Running Out the Clock
If you keep your claim open, the next tactic is to shrink the bills. The adjuster reviews your medical charges and cuts what the insurer will pay, calling some of it "not reasonable and customary" based on internal software. Our attorneys have seen an adjuster offer to pay $8,000 of $12,000 in real medical bills, with no medical reason for the discount, while the doctor still expects the full amount.
Our attorneys think it’s unreasonable to cut the bills the client was charged. They’re expected to pay those bills in full, and the defense needs to pay them in full as well.
When the offer comes in below the medical bills, our attorneys do not keep trading numbers with the adjuster. They prepare the lawsuit.
Adjusters also watch for any gap in your treatment and argue it means you were not really hurt. Insurers tend to start discounting a claim when treatment is delayed past the first few days, and a long gap can put the claim itself at risk. Delay is its own weapon, because the closer your claim drifts toward Maryland’s filing deadline, the less power you have to push back. Most Maryland injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101. After that, the right to sue is gone.3
This is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.
Not Every Carrier Plays It the Same Way
Some insurers are harder than others, and the differences are real. In our experience, the toughest carrier to deal with in Maryland is Progressive, which forces lawyers to go to court more often than any other carrier we see.
We find that they do not value their own insurance cases at their fair value. And when the defendant driver is represented by Progressive, they typically deny any fault or liability and force you to file a lawsuit to make any recovery, no matter how clear fault may be.
Our attorneys have also observed that Progressive undercuts bills at 50 to 75 percent of billed value. Initial offers seemingly come in below the total of the itemized bills 9.5 times out of 10.
By contrast, our attorneys find that USAA, Travelers, and Farmers usually start with fair offers and will re-evaluate when new information is presented. GEICO sits somewhere in the middle, and because it is one of Maryland’s most common auto insurers, you may end up dealing with it whether you want to or not. GEICO tends to make early offers before treatment is finished and then raises them once a lawyer is involved, so the floor on a GEICO claim usually rises the moment representation enters the picture.
Knowing how a Maryland car accident claim works and which carrier you are facing changes how a claim should be handled, because the same injury can be valued very differently depending on whose logo is on the letterhead.
This is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.
What the Numbers Say
The data backs up what injured people feel. Insurance Research Council studies have long found that auto-injury claimants who hire an attorney tend to recover meaningfully more than those who settle directly with the insurer. The research also shows that the vast majority of the money paid out on auto bodily-injury claims goes to claimants represented by a lawyer.
Regulators see the pattern too. In recent reporting, claim handling made up about 65 percent of all closed insurance complaints to state regulators, with delays and unsatisfactory settlement offers the two largest categories, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.1 Those are exactly the tactics described above.
The Maryland Insurance Administration, the state’s own insurance regulator, recovers millions of dollars for policyholders every year through complaint investigations and enforcement.2 That is money that would have stayed in the insurers’ pockets if no one had pushed back. The lesson is simple. Pushing back works, and the way insurers fight your claim is predictable enough to counter.
How a Lawyer Changes the Math
A lawyer changes the value of your claim by removing the advantages the insurer counts on. At WGK, that means we investigate the crash, preserve the evidence before it disappears, gather your complete medical records, and build a demand from documented facts. You stop talking to the adjuster, so there are no statement traps. We get you to a doctor early, so there is no treatment-gap argument. And when the carrier will not move, we file suit, which is the only thing that changes the math for many insurers.
After a low offer, our lawyers feed the adjuster fresh evidence in rounds: first, the impact and property damage; then, the treatment and injury details; then, the effect on daily life, such as missed work and missed time with family. Each round gives the adjuster a new reason to raise the number, and because the demand is built from documented facts rather than argument, the carrier ends up paying more without anyone losing face.
The fee on the other side of that work does not erase your gain. Most Maryland personal injury attorneys, including our firm, work on a contingency fee, so there is nothing to pay up front. The standard fee is 33.3 percent if the case settles before a lawsuit and 40 percent if a lawsuit is filed. Because represented claimants typically recover significantly larger settlements than unrepresented ones, the larger payout leaves you ahead even after the fee. You can read more about what it costs to hire a personal injury lawyer and decide for yourself.
This is marketing material and is not legal advice. Every case is unique and laws change frequently. Please contact our office to speak with an attorney about your specific situation before making any legal decisions.
What You Should Do
- Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurer. You are not required to, and it almost always hurts your case. Politely decline and point them to your attorney. If you are unsure, learn whether you need a lawyer to submit a claim.
- See a doctor within three to five days, even if you feel okay. Soft-tissue pain often shows up after the adrenaline fades, and waiting supplies the adjuster an easy argument.
- Document everything. Pain levels, missed work, missed family events, prescription co-pays, and every mile driven to treatment. Adjusters discount anything they cannot see in writing.
- Do not sign anything before talking to a lawyer, including from your own insurer. The release in a quick settlement ends your claim for good. A free call first costs you nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the insurance company’s first offer so low?
The first offer is an opening bid, not a final measure of your claim’s value. Adjusters are rewarded for closing files quickly and paying as little as possible, so the opening number is set below the amount they are authorized to pay. They hope you accept before you see your full medical picture or talk to a Baltimore personal injury lawyer.
Do I have to give the insurance company a recorded statement?
No. You are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurer, and you should not. Anything you say can be used to cut your recovery, even something as small as "I feel okay" before pain develops. Politely decline and direct the adjuster to your attorney.
How much more is my claim worth with an attorney?
Insurance Research Council research has found that auto-injury claimants with an attorney tend to recover meaningfully more than those who settle on their own, and that the large majority of bodily-injury payouts go to represented claimants. Even after the contingency fee, represented clients usually come out well ahead.
Can I sue an insurance company in Maryland for bad faith?
Bad faith, in Maryland insurance law, is an insurer’s failure to handle a first-party claim reasonably and in good faith. Under Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-1701, you can pursue your own insurer for actual damages, interest, and attorney’s fees, but the law generally does not cover the at-fault driver’s insurer. A bad faith claim is complex, so talk to an attorney first.4
What if I already accepted the insurance company’s offer?
Once you sign a release and cash the check, your claim is usually closed for good. You generally cannot reopen it, even if new symptoms or bills arise, except in narrow exceptions such as fraud. If you have not signed yet, don’t. Instead, review the Maryland car accident claims process with a lawyer first.
Talk to a Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer
If an adjuster is pressuring you to settle, the offer is probably lower than your case is worth. For nearly 50 years, WGK Personal Injury Lawyers has fought insurance companies for injured Marylanders, and our attorneys bring nearly 100 years of combined attorney experience to that fight. We have recovered over $100 million for our clients.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different. These figures represent aggregated data from cases handled by our firm and are provided for informational purposes only.
We work on a contingency fee, so you pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Get a free case review with a Maryland personal injury lawyer by calling (410) 837-2144. The call is free, and you will speak with someone who can tell you what your claim is actually worth before you sign anything.
Sources
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), 2024 closed-complaint data. Claim handling accounted for 65.2 percent of closed insurance complaints; delays, 22.2 percent; and unsatisfactory settlements/offers, 12.2 percent. https://content.naic.org/cis_agg_reason.htm
- Maryland Insurance Administration, 2024 Annual Report and January 2025 news release. The agency recovered $33.3 million for Maryland consumers through complaint investigations and enforcement. https://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Documents/publicnew/News-Release-Maryland-Insurance-Administration-recovers-nearly-$33.3-million-for-consumers-in-2024.pdf
- Maryland General Assembly, Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101; Maryland People’s Law Library. Most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/laws/StatuteText?article=gcj§ion=5-101
- Maryland General Assembly, Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-1701. First-party bad-faith cause of action allowing recovery of actual damages, litigation expenses, attorney’s fees (capped at one-third of actual damages), and interest. https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/courts-and-judicial-proceedings/title-3/subtitle-17/section-3-1701/