The first thing I’d be is very skeptical if an insurance company offered you a check right away. If the check was for policy limits, I would then immediately retain an attorney to make sure that the at fault party did not have any assets or excess insurance over the policy limits showed to you. Many times, a person will have an umbrella policy in excess of their underlying liability policy. For instance, someone could have $100,000 liability coverage and have a million dollar excess and their $100,000 liability carrier will tend to their 100 to you, when you wouldn’t even be aware of the fact that they had a million dollar excess. Therefore, it’s very important that you contact an attorney and notify him if any offers are made to you to settle a case.