Weighing a Policy Limits Offer After a Rear-End Crash

Attorney Answer

This decision belongs to the lawyer you already have, and it should not be made on the phone with an adjuster. An offer of "full policy limits" is almost always paired with a release, and a release is the part that matters. Until your lawyer has read it, do not sign anything and do not endorse a check.

There is a reason these offers arrive quickly and a reason they are often smaller than people expect. Florida does not require most private drivers to carry bodily injury liability coverage before a crash at all. Fla. Stat. § 324.022(1) requires an owner or operator to "establish and maintain the ability to respond in damages for liability on account of accidents arising out of the use of the motor vehicle in the amount of $10,000 because of damage to, or destruction of, property of others in any one crash," plus the personal injury protection coverage Florida separately requires. The familiar 10/20/10 figures in § 324.021(7) are the post-crash proof-of-financial-responsibility numbers, not a pre-crash insurance mandate. So a driver's whole liability policy can be a modest number, and an insurer offering all of it early is often telling you the injuries look larger than the coverage.

That is exactly why what remains after the release matters more than the offer itself. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is the usual next layer. Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1) requires that coverage to be included in a bodily injury liability policy, with one carve-out: "However, the coverage required under this section is not applicable when, or to the extent that, an insured named in the policy makes a written rejection of the coverage on behalf of all insureds under the policy." Whether you have that coverage, and whether settling with the at-fault driver's insurer affects a claim under it, depends on the policy language and on steps that have to be taken in the right order. Your lawyer is the person to answer that, and it is the single most common way a limits settlement goes wrong.

Two other threads run underneath the question. Your personal injury protection benefits under Fla. Stat. § 627.736 are a separate coverage and are not what the liability insurer is offering; a settlement with the liability carrier does not turn them off. And a settlement can carry reimbursement claims by others who paid your bills, which reduces what actually reaches you. Finally, you mention an earlier case already with your lawyer. How injuries are divided between two accidents is one of the harder questions in this area, and it is the reason your lawyer needs to be told about this offer before anything else happens.

What you can do

1. Forward everything the insurer sent — the letter, the release, any check — to your lawyer today, and tell him in writing that the insurer contacted you directly.

2. Do not sign a release, endorse a check, or give a recorded statement until your lawyer has reviewed the papers.

3. Ask your own insurer for the declarations page of every auto policy in your household, so the uninsured and underinsured motorist question under § 627.727(1) can be answered from the actual policy.

4. Ask your lawyer whether this crash falls under your existing fee agreement or needs its own.

5. Ask your lawyer how this accident and the earlier one interact, and in what order any settlements should happen.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who can hear the whole story is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Fla. Stat. § 95.11 sets the limitations period for an injury claim, and it changed in 2023: accidents before March 24, 2023 fell under the former four-year negligence period, and later accidents under a shorter one. Policies also carry their own notice and suit deadlines that are shorter than the statute. Your dates drive all of it, so have your Florida attorney confirm them rather than relying on a general rule.