I am watching the news this morning and just like every other morning, there were a slew of commercials for personal injury attorneys and cars. I think at least 50% of the commercials were for these two industries. And this is the way it has been for years.

However, I know car sales are way down. People on this board have been furloughed and I have a friend who works at Audi that was furloughed. I can maybe understand how the big car companies can continue to run commercials, but how can local dealers like Toyota of Orlando, and Boniface Heirs Chevrolet, and Fields Auto Group continue to run commercials?

While none of my friends practice personal injury, I have at least a half dozen friends who are attorneys. All of them said that the phones just stopped ringing in the last week of March, so I have to assume the same has happened to personal injury. Especially when you consider how many less miles are being driven, that makes for less car accidents, and how many business are closed, that makes for less slip and falls.

Are these commercials bought way ahead of time? Or locked in, kind of like a lease? I would think these industries would be looking to cut some costs right now, but it does not seem that way at all.

I believe they are purchased in advance but also have to consider that everyone is at home with nothing it do but watch TV all day. Ratings are up everywhere so more eyeballs are watching those ads.

I'm not in that business, but I am going to guess a bit...

First, car dealerships are open, and they need to generate traffic. Most people probably don't know that the dealers are open but they are, and some sales are better than none.

Second, the ads are probably part of a package purchase of ads, and so they are made, paid for, and scheduled to run anyway, possibly with no chance of refund.

Third, as to the lawyers, most of their fees from this kind of litigation comes from insurance settlements. The statute of limitations on injury in Florida is 4 years, so there's still a vast pool of people who have potential claims out there. Some nice lawyer just needs to remind them that their back hurts because of that accident two years ago, ya know... Personal Injury Protection limit in Florida is only $10k, and a claim must be filed promptly after the accident. If a PIP claim isn't filed, then the entire thing needs to be a personal injury lawsuit.

As such, the ambulance chasers are still trolling for business, and many people stuck at home with bills mounting may remember an old injury.

Like I said, this isn't my lane, but this is my best guess.

We be open, sales aren't great but, enough to pay the light bill

A lot of the advertising $$$ are through a co-op with, in our case GM and a local dealer group. These funds have to be used quarterly and with a minimum amount of $$$ kicked in on our part or we lose these funds.

Some dealers spend a lot more than others and yes, there are advertising contracts we still have to fulfill

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Originally posted by ArtieS:
Third, as to the lawyers, most of their fees from this kind of litigation comes from insurance settlements. The statute of limitations on injury in Florida is 4 years, so there's still a vast pool of people who have potential claims out there. Some nice lawyer just needs to remind them that their back hurts because of that accident two years ago, ya know... Personal Injury Protection limit in Florida is only $10k, and a claim must be filed promptly after the accident. If a PIP claim isn't filed, then the entire thing needs to be a personal injury lawsuit.

As such, the ambulance chasers are still trolling for business, and many people stuck at home with bills mounting may remember an old injury.

Like I said, this isn't my lane, but this is my best guess.

I don't know about ads, but I can tell you that all of my friends on the plaintiff/claimant side are hurting for business and the phones have stopped ringing. Just spoke with a buddy of mine a few minutes ago trying to resolve a case and he told me flat out he hasn't had a new retainer signed since the end of March. He's fine for now, but he's a solo with very little overhead.

One of the little-discussed effects of all of this is also going to be a significant decline in the value of commercial real estate, as a lot of smaller companies - especially sole proprietorships - realize that a non-traditional business model like remote work is perfectly doable and a lot cheaper than leasing office space. My friend regrets having signed a 5 year lease in January.

-Rob

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While none of my friends practice personal injury, I have at least a half dozen friends who are attorneys. All of them said that the phones just stopped ringing in the last week of March, so I have to assume the same has happened to personal injury. Especially when you consider how many less miles are being driven, that makes for less car accidents, and how many business are closed, that makes for less slip and falls.

Know someone works for one of the largest PIA's in the area, according to him calls have dropped to near zero.... Outbound calls are having no effect, the PI case customers are not there.

Fewer accident, fewer slip n falls, clearly an unintended consequence of COVID Sheltering, and it doesn't bother me one bit, wouldn't be upset if it started a trend in reducing thee legalized extortion business.

I would not worry about the lawyers. They always survive. In fact I can think of something every day that I should litigate. Wait for the COVID 19 lawsuits.