Car Accidents and Settlements
You have been involved in a car accident and sustained injuries thereafter. You are thinking of the next steps to take now that you are trying to collect payment for damages from the accident. It would be to your advantage if you have a grasp of how different factors affect your insurance claim and how insurance adjusters might handle it.
Sustaining injuries from a car accident would surely require you to have those injuries treated. This means you will have to face a wave of medical bills. As you spend more money on your medical expenses, your insurance claim grows larger in value. Make sure that you have all the bills for medical services rendered and final reports about your physical condition. The reports should take account of the length of time of your partial or total disability. This piece of information helps a lot in substantiating your pain, suffering, and lost wages. Keep originals of these reports in your possession and be sure that you are the first one to read them, not your insurance company. Send copies to the adjuster.
Car accidents do not only lead to physical injury, they also involve damage to property. In cases where there is damage to property, your damage repair person and the insurance adjuster often arrive at an agreed cost to repair. Property damage does not only apply to your car, it also applies to other kinds of property: clothing, watches, jewelry, and others. These are covered as long as you have written proof of the cost of each item and date it was purchased.
Insurance adjusters may or may not pay immediate attention to your claim. A threat of getting a lawyer to help you in the settlement can come as a wake up call to the adjuster. This is possible as the cost to the company of the insurance adjuster can immediately skyrocket the minute lawyers are brought into the picture. Adjusters also believe it is a black mark on their record when car accident settlement case is taken from them and placed into litigation.
When negotiating a car accident settlement, always show the insurance adjuster that you are doing so in good faith. Negotiating a car accident settlement for personal injury and property damage is very much like any other negotiation. In this case, you are the seller and the insurance adjuster is the buyer. Demands are never lowered until the adjuster gives a counter-offer.
Remember, insurance adjusters only do what they are told. By nature, insurance companies are organized to pay the least amount of money on any claim they can get away with.