MVA Lead Replacement Policy Guide: How to Protect Your Firm

Why replacement policies matter

Your CPA is only as honest as your replacement policy. Without one, every bad number, duplicate, and out-of-state lead comes out of your pocket — and your reported CPA silently climbs above what you actually budgeted. A vendor with no replacement policy is selling you leads at a price that looks good and a true cost that does not.

A real replacement policy is not a marketing claim. It is written language in your agreement that defines exactly what gets replaced, how fast, and with no loopholes.

What should be replaced

These are the baseline. Any vendor who will not replace them is not a partner.

Bad or disconnected phone numbers

If the number does not work, the lead does not exist. OTP verification catches most of these upfront, but anything that slips through is replaced — no questions.

Duplicates

The same lead already in your system. You should not pay twice for one person.

Out-of-state leads

A lead outside your service area or licensing. If you only practice in Florida, a Georgia lead is useless to you.

At-fault leads

If the lead caused the accident, there is no case. This must be verified at qualification, but if it slips through, it is replaced.

Already represented

A lead who already has an attorney is someone else's client. Replaced.

What should NOT be replaced

This is where vendors and firms disagree. Be clear about what is a legitimate lead that simply did not pan out — those are your cost of doing business, not the vendor's.

• Soft tissue with low treatment. A real injury with a real claim is a qualified lead even if the case value is modest.
• Low property damage. Still a viable case if there is injury.
• Dropped treatment. If the lead stopped going to the doctor, that is an intake or case-management issue, not a lead-quality issue.
• Cases that do not sign because your intake was slow. If your team took 3 hours to call, that is on you, not the vendor.

A fair policy replaces leads that were never viable. It does not replace leads that were viable but your process failed to convert.

How to structure a replacement policy in your contract

Get these four things in writing:

1. The list. Exactly which conditions trigger a replacement, named explicitly.
2. The window. How long you have to report (14 days is standard).
3. The mechanism. Automatic replacement — not credits you have to track and redeem.
4. No loopholes. No "the lead must be called within 60 seconds" clauses designed to make replacement impossible to claim.

The 14-day window: why it matters

14 days is long enough to discover most unmonetizable cases (at-fault, already represented, no insurance) but short enough that the vendor is not on the hook forever. Vendors offering 24-hour windows are setting you up to fail — most problems surface after the first call, not within a day. See how we handle it on our leads, transfers, and signed cases pages.

Book a strategy call

If your current vendor's replacement policy is a paragraph of fine print, book a strategy call. We will show you what a real policy looks like and quote exact pricing for your state.