It is still very important to contact a lawyer. Many lawyers will offer an intial 1/2 hour or hour meeting for no charge. Take advantage of that so you are fully informed of your rights.
Remember the $4000 cap only applies to sprains and strains - other injuries are excluded. It also only covers up to a WAD II injury, with $4000 theoretically being for the worst WAD II injury.
As troutman has pointed out, the Minor Injury Regulations are currently being tested in front of the Courts. I personally think that the Charter challenge has the best chance, but we'll see.
I used to practice as an insurance defence lawyer, but now do mostly commercial work and real estate. The adjuster's first offer is almost never their best or final offer. The claim is assessed at various stages and the insurance company sets a reserve, or essentially sets aside $ to pay the claim. They then grant the adjuster or legal counsel a $ figure or "authority" to settle the claim. You almost never start at your best number when negotiating.
Some low speed rear impact claims were very suspect. Quite often we'd get surveillance of a person claiming disability doing things like hard core weight training at the gym or shoulder checking showing a full range of motion when they show up at the discovery wearing a neck brace. We'd also often catch people stretching the truth or outright lying at discovery. However, some people were also legitimately hurt for a long time from what looked like very minor accidents.
Bottom line again - be aware of your rights - it never hurts. Remember as well that what may seem like a fairly minor injury now may actually cause degenerative changes which will only get worse with age.
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