What are MVA leads?
MVA leads are people who were recently in a motor vehicle accident, may have been injured, and have asked to speak with someone about a possible claim. Personal injury law firms buy them as web leads, inbound calls or live transfers. A lead is only worth paying for once fault, injury, medical treatment, timing and attorney status have been checked.
MVA stands for motor vehicle accident. In the US, personal injury firms usually work on contingency, taking a share of any settlement, so a strong accident case can be worth a lot to a firm. That is why MVA transfers are among the better-paid campaigns an offshore floor can run. It is also why firms are strict. They will not pay for a caller who was at fault, was not hurt or already has a lawyer, and their intake teams check every transfer. Our MVA lead glossary entry has the short definition for training.
How are MVA leads generated?
Most MVA leads come from advertising aimed at people who have just been in an accident. TV, radio, billboards, search ads and social ads invite people to call a number or fill in a form to find out whether they have a case. The form or call is then routed to a firm directly, sold to a firm as a lead, or passed to a call center that qualifies the caller and transfers them.
There are also outbound campaigns on data where people have given consent to be contacted about an accident claim. These need particular care. Contacting accident victims is regulated, and many states have rules on how soon after an accident a lawyer or someone acting for a lawyer may make contact, and how. Never use police reports, hospital lists or other records to cold call accident victims. If a vendor offers data like that, walk away.
Inbound and web-form leads tend to have higher intent, because the person reached out. Outbound consented leads are cheaper but need a stronger opener and more careful qualification. Either way, a firm will judge you on how many of your transfers become signed cases.
What makes an MVA lead qualified?
Each firm sets its own criteria, and they differ by state and by the firm's caseload. Most firms ask about the same core facts, which our MVA call script covers in order.
- Date of accident: recent enough that the claim is well within the state's time limit. Many firms only want accidents from the last few months.
- Fault: the caller was not at fault, or was only partly at fault. Firms want callers who were hit, not those who caused the crash.
- Injury: the caller was physically injured, not just shaken. Vehicle damage alone is usually not enough.
- Medical treatment: the caller saw a doctor, went to the ER or urgent care, or is receiving treatment. Many firms require treatment within a set number of days of the accident.
- Attorney status: the caller does not already have a lawyer for this accident. This is a hard disqualifier.
- Police report: whether a report was filed, which helps establish fault.
- Insurance: whether the other driver was insured, which affects the value of the case.
- State: the firm must be able to take cases in that state.
Why do MVA transfers get rejected?
The most common reason is that the caller already has an attorney. People who have just been in an accident are often contacted by several firms, and some will have signed with one already without thinking to mention it. Ask the attorney question directly and clearly: "Have you already signed with a lawyer or law firm for this accident?"
The next most common reasons are fault and treatment. A caller may say they were not at fault, then explain to the firm's intake team that they rear-ended someone. Or they say they were hurt but never saw a doctor. Ask follow-up questions that bring out the facts: "Can you tell me briefly what happened?" and "Did you see a doctor or go to a hospital after the accident?"
Firms also reject transfers that are too old, from a state they do not cover, or where the caller does not understand they are being connected to a law firm. All of these are fixable with a clear script and steady QA. Listen to a sample of transfers every day and compare them with the firm's rejection list.
How should an MVA fronter sound?
People calling about an accident may be in pain, stressed about bills or upset about what happened. A fronter who sounds like a sales pitch loses them. The tone should be calm, polite and patient, with short questions and time for the caller to answer. Start by checking they are okay to talk, and show basic care before getting into the questions.
Keep the language simple. Say "accident" and "injury", not legal terms. Do not tell the caller they have a case, that they will get a settlement, or how much it might be worth. Only a lawyer can assess that, and a promise from a fronter creates false expectations and possible legal problems for the firm. The fronter's job is to gather facts and, if the caller qualifies and agrees, connect them to the firm's intake team.
Before the transfer, explain what happens next: "I'm going to connect you with the intake team at the law firm. They'll ask a few more questions and let you know if they can help. Is that okay?" Then stay on the line and introduce the caller, with the key facts, when intake picks up.
What are the compliance limits on MVA campaigns?
MVA campaigns sit under two sets of rules: telemarketing law, and the professional rules that govern lawyers. Under the TCPA and telemarketing rules, you need appropriate consent for the calls you make, you must scrub against the national DNC registry and applicable state lists, and you must call within allowed hours. Calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice to mobile numbers need prior express written consent.
State bar rules restrict how lawyers can solicit clients, and those rules can reach the companies that market for them. Some states limit contact with accident victims for a period after the accident. Others restrict paying for referrals in certain ways. Your law firm buyer should tell you what applies to their campaign. If a buyer asks you to do something that seems designed to get around these rules, such as calling people from accident reports, decline.
Keep records of consent, call recordings and transfer details for every call. If a case is ever challenged, the firm will need to show how the client came to them.
Which MVA cases are worth more to a firm?
Not all qualified accident leads are equal. Firms generally value cases more when the injury is more serious and well documented, when the other driver was clearly at fault and insured, and when the caller has continued medical treatment. Commercial vehicle accidents, such as those involving trucks or company vans, are often worth more because the insurance limits are higher. Some firms also take motorcycle, rideshare, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, sometimes as separate campaigns.
This matters to you because buyers may pay different rates for different case types, or accept only some of them. Ask your buyer exactly which case types they want, and whether they pay more for certain ones. Then add the questions that identify them, such as "What type of vehicle hit you?", to your script. A fronter does not need to judge a case's value, only to capture the facts that let the firm do so quickly.
How do bots help with MVA qualification?
MVA intake involves a fixed set of factual questions, asked in the same order, with clear disqualifiers. That makes it well suited to an AI fronter. The B3 Voice MVA bot asks your firm's questions on your own script, records each answer, and warm-transfers qualified callers to the firm's intake team or your live closers. Callers who already have a lawyer or were not injured are dispositioned politely without taking a human's time.
Each Fronter bot is $40 per month with unlimited calls, with a minimum of 15 bots, running on your existing dialer. The client dashboard shows the live transcript and disposition of every call, so you can show a firm exactly what was asked and answered on any transfer. There is a 3-day free trial to test it on a slice of your list first.
How do you price and track an MVA campaign?
Firms usually pay per qualified transfer or per signed case, sometimes with a minimum call duration. Per-signed-case deals pay more but put more risk on you, because you only get paid if the firm signs the client. Per-transfer deals are steadier but firms will push hard on quality. Agree the definition of a billable transfer in writing before you start.
Track these numbers by source and by state: contact rate, qualification rate, transfer rate, transfer acceptance rate and, if the firm shares it, sign rate. Ask the firm for the rejection reason on every rejected transfer. A pattern of "already represented" points at your data source. A pattern of "no treatment" points at your script or a fronter who is not asking properly.
Finally, keep the volume honest. A firm can only handle so many intake calls at once. Sending more transfers than their team can answer wastes your leads and annoys callers. Agree hourly caps and match your dialer pace to them.
It also pays to know the firm's intake hours. Many firms staff intake late into the evening because accident victims often call after work, but some do not. Transfers sent outside those hours go to voicemail and are lost, so align your shift with theirs.
