Step 1: Count the calls
Many injury firms get 30 to 100 or more property-damage-only calls a month. To get your own number, and a feel for the firms around you:
- Ask your intake team to tally car-only calls for two weeks (a simple sheet next to the phone works).
- Look at your call tracking or CRM for calls tagged “no injury” or “property damage only”.
- Ask a friendly firm nearby what they see. Bigger advertisers usually get more.
Every call your firm turns away is a call another firm could be turning into a claim, and the same goes for every firm around you.
Step 2: Put a value on each one
Not every call is a claim. Some callers have no insurance coverage, some cars aren't worth pursuing, some people won't sign. The illustrative math below assumes about 1 in 3 referred claims qualify and sign.
| Average total loss increase with True Claims | +$7,500 |
| Your share on an average total loss (a third) | ~$2,500 |
| Most total losses settled within | 1–2 weeks |
| Diminished value usually settled for | $2,500–$6,000 |
| Your third on diminished value, on average | ~$1,000 |
| You front per total loss / per diminished value claim | $500–$600 / $200–$350 |
Step 3: Run the illustrative math
| Property-damage-only calls a month (one partner firm) | 30 |
| Qualify and sign (about 1 in 3) | 10 |
| Your share per claim (total-loss average) | ~$2,500 |
| Illustrative monthly total | ~$25,000 |
Run it with your own numbers, the number of partner firms you could realistically sign, and your own mix of totaled and repaired cars.
Run the numbers for your firm The missed-revenue calculator: partner firms, calls a month, and what they could be worth (illustrative).Why the value gets lost today
- The intake team has nowhere to send the caller, so they don't.
- Callers don't know a low total-loss offer can be challenged through their own policy's Appraisal Clause.
- Nobody follows up, so the claim simply expires.
Fixing it doesn't take new staff. It takes a place to send the call: a referral line that answers 24/7, qualifies the caller and hands them to a firm that handles property damage.
See how the referral program works The one-pager, the referral line, the AI assistant and the Appraisal Clause, set up for you.If yours is the firm turning these calls away, the same arrangement works from your side: forward the caller to a partner firm and get any injury case back.
Turning these calls away? Refer them instead Forward car-only callers to a partner firm nearby and get any injury case back. No cost, no fee sharing.Start taking the calls nearby firms turn away
Create your account, or book a 15-minute demo and we'll map out the firms around you.
Related answers
Questions people ask
›Is the $25,000 a month figure realistic?
It's illustrative, not a forecast: 30 calls from one partner firm, 1 in 3 signing, and the total-loss average share of about $2,500. Your own numbers depend on your partner firms, your market and your mix of claims.
›What about callers without insurance?
The AI assistant filters them out. Those calls are logged so you can see them, but they don't take up your intake team's time.
About the author. Jeff Zigman works with personal injury firms on property damage claims at TRUEclaims. Figures in this guide are past True Claims results or illustrative math, as labelled. This is general information, not legal advice.