December 16, 2019

You did everything right after your car accident. You reported the claim, you got treatment, you waited. Now the insurance company is dragging its feet, lowballing you, or flat-out refusing to pay, and you’re still in pain with bills piling up. Here’s exactly what you can do about it before you accept a penny less than your claim is worth. TL;DR — QUICK SUMMARY If a Florida insurer refuses a fair payout, you generally have two real options: reject the bad offer and negotiate, or file a lawsuit. Accepting a lowball offer is almost never the right move. Insurance adjusters are trained and paid to keep payouts low. A delay, denial, or insulting offer is a business tactic, not the final word on your case. When an insurer refuses to pay what it owes, Florida law lets you file a Civil Remedy Notice under Florida Statute § 624.155, which gives the company 60 days to fix the problem before a bad faith claim can move forward. You have two years from the date of your crash to file a personal injury lawsuit in Florida under Florida Statute § 95.11(3)(a). Waiting too long can cost you the right to recover anything. Under Florida’s no-fault system, your own PIP coverage pays first up to $10,000, but serious injuries can open the door to a claim against the at-fault driver and their insurer. The Reyes Firm Insurance Company Won’t Pay After a Tampa Crash? Get clear next steps when an adjuster delays, denies, or lowballs your claim. Had a bad day? Contact Us Now 2 Years Florida statute of limitations Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(a) 60 Days Insurer’s window to cure bad faith Fla. Stat. § 624.155 $10,000 Florida PIP minimum coverage Fla. Stat. § 627.736 50% Fault bar to recovery in FL Fla. Stat. § 768.81 Why won’t my car insurance company pay after a car accident? An insurance company refuses to pay because paying less is how it protects its bottom line, not because your injuries aren’t real. Whether it’s your own insurer or the at-fault driver’s, the adjuster handling your file is one of dozens of people whose job is to close claims for as little money as possible. You are one of hundreds of files on that adjuster’s desk. Some are reasonable. Others delay, deny, and dispute everything, hoping you’ll get frustrated and take whatever they offer. None of that changes what your claim is actually worth, and none of it is the final answer. Common reasons an insurer gives for not paying include disputing who was at fault, claiming your injuries existed before the crash, arguing your treatment wasn’t necessary, or simply making an offer so low it doesn’t begin to cover your medical bills and lost wages. Each of those positions can be challenged with the right evidence. What does it mean when a car insurance company acts in bad faith in Florida? Bad faith means an insurance company has failed to settle a claim fairly and honestly when it had the chance to do so. Florida law requires insurers to act in good faith toward the people they cover and toward injured claimants, and when they don’t, you may have a separate legal claim against the company itself. Under Florida Statute § 624.155, an insurer can be held liable for not attempting in good faith to settle a claim when it could and should have. Examples include ignoring clear evidence, refusing to explain a denial, or sitting on a reasonable demand without responding. Bad faith is not the same as a low offer you simply disagree with. It involves conduct that crosses the line from hard negotiation into a refusal to do what the law and the policy require. A Tampa personal injury attorney can tell you whether what you’re experiencing rises to that level. ⚠️ Deadline Warning: Under Florida Statute § 95.11(3)(a), you have two years from the date of your crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. Missing this deadline almost always means losing your right to recover anything, no matter how strong your case is. Don’t let an insurer run out the clock on you. Watch: What to do when your insurance company won’t pay in Tampa In this short video, Tampa personal injury attorney Edward Reyes explains your options when an insurer makes a bad offer or refuses to move on your claim. If an adjuster has already given you a number that doesn’t feel right, The Reyes Firm offers free consultations to review the offer before you sign anything. What is a Civil Remedy Notice and how does it pressure the insurer? A Civil Remedy Notice is a formal filing that tells Florida’s Department of Financial Services in Tallahassee that an insurance company is acting in bad faith. It is one of the strongest tools available when an insurer should have paid and hasn’t. Under Fla. Stat. § 624.155, once a Civil Remedy Notice is filed, the insurance company has 60 days to cure the violation, meaning it can pay what it owes and avoid a bad faith lawsuit. The notice gets the file in front of a supervisor and puts the company on official record. If the 60 days pass and nothing changes, the next step is usually filing a lawsuit. That decision is never automatic. We walk you through exactly what litigation involves before you commit to it, including the discovery questions both sides have to answer. 💡 Did You Know? Florida is a no-fault insurance state. Under Florida Statute § 627.736, your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays up to $10,000 in medical bills and lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. But PIP rarely covers a serious injury in full, and that gap is often where insurance disputes begin. Should I accept a low settlement offer or file a lawsuit? You should almost never accept a low offer when your injuries are serious and the number doesn’t cover your losses. Once you sign a release,