The first step in dealing with car accident settlements is to make sure you collect all the information that you will need to support your claim.  This begins immediately after the traffic accident.  The pieces of evidence that you will need include, but may not be limited do:

• Accident Facts
• Medical Records
• Wage slips and other proof of financial losses related to the accident
• Any evidence you can offer of pain and suffering that was a direct result of the accident

Collecting this information will make the rest of the auto accident settlement process much easier and less time consuming.  If you save everything and do this right, you should be able to settle for more and quicker than you otherwise would have been able to.

The next step in the car lawsuit settlement process is to submit all the materials and evidence that the insurance adjuster requires.  Usually this will be shortly followed by a settlement offer from the adjuster.  If it takes too long for him to submit an offer, you can mail a demand letter of your own, but beware because this gives away a log of your bargaining power.  Only do this if you know for sure what you are doing.

The number that the adjuster gives you is probably at the low end of a settlement range that he would be willing to agree to.  Many insurance companies base this range off of the personal injury settlement software Colossus, but the degree to which they rely on the program varies.  The program itself is shrouded in secrecy, and the only details that seem to get out are that the figures are highly correlated to your medical records.

So how can you use all this to help in negotiations?  Well, you know that more often than not, the insurance adjuster has a range and he will be giving you the low end of that range.  So, never agree to the first offer.  Instead try to bargain for a higher one and find the top end of his range.

This, however, doesn’t mean you should make ridiculous offers.  The lower the number, the tighter the range an adjuster will likely agree to, so an offer for a $1,000 settlement won’t likely turn into $10,000.  More likely, you will be able to negotiate it up to $2,500 or $3,000.

That’s all that’s involved in dealing with automobile accident settlements.  If you hit an impasse or feel like you’re in over your head, there are several options available to you, but the best option is to hire a lawyer.  While it’s also the most expensive option, it will make sure you don’t get taken advantage of.  You can find many different good lawyers online.

In auto accident settlements, there are two types of damages awarded, special damages and general damages. Special damages are the types of damages that can be easily quantified, like hospital bills and damages to your car. General damages other damages such as pain and suffering. In many cases the special damages are used to calculate the general damages. Usually this is done by multiplying the medical bills by two, three, or four times depending on the location of the lawsuit. However, there are no laws on the books that govern this. More than anything else, the type of jury that you can expect to get will govern the pain and suffering settlement that you can expect to get.

While multiplying your medical bills by a certain number gives you a good starting point for calculating pain and suffering, it doesn’t hold in all cases. There can be many cases where the medical costs of fixing an injury are not very big, but the pain and suffering involved may be significant. One example of this is visible scarring on young children – especially young girls. There are also other cases where there may be large hospital bills, like if someone has a battery of tests done after a car accident, but significant injuries haven’t been sustained that impact their work or life. The inability to tell if someone is actually suffering is why most settlements that are going to break down over pain and suffering do so.

Pain and suffering also doesn’t just depend on what injuries were sustained, there are other factors surrounding the accident that usually can come into play as well. If an accident looked particularly bad you can expect higher damages. You can also expect to collect more damages if the other driver was drinking or otherwise grossly incompetent.

However, the biggest determinant of what size of award you can expect to get for pain and suffering is the type of jury that you can expect to have in your area. Some areas have juries that will award large sums of money some areas are less forgiving to accident victims. A great source of information on this is finding what amount has been awarded to cases similar to yours in the past in your area. It also provides a great starting point for settlement negotiations.

To get the most out of your car accident pain and suffering settlement you need to establish that the injuries you sustained from the car accident, not the car accident itself, severely affected your life in some way. Don’t forget that there’s also other general damages that you can apply for other than pain and suffering. You can claim loss of earning capacity, loss of quality of life, and even loss of consortium and collect damages in court or through the settlement process.

Pain and suffering damages in a car accident are some of the most complex and difficult legal matters that surround auto accidents. If you only have a small amount of damages that you can collect on, you might be better negotiating with the insurance company yourself. However, if you have a substantial amount of pain and suffering money at stake, hiring a negligence attorney would probably pay for itself because there are no hard and fast rules and the issue deals with so many different factors that someone not experienced in law may not be able to accurately assess the total damages.

Contact Your Insurance Company Immediately

Immediately after your accident, make sure that you contact your insurance company.  Most insurance companies have a toll-free 1-800 number that can be called at any time of the day or night.  These companies also sometime dispatch vehicles to your crash scene to make sure that you get all the information taken down and have the help that you need after the crash.

If your insurance company doesn’t have a number to call, at least make sure to call your insurance agent as soon as possible.  Inform them that you have been in a wreck and tell them your side of the story honestly and frankly.

Take Pictures and Keep Records

Either soon after or just before you call the insurance company, if it’s possible take pictures of the accident scene.  After the accident, make sure that you keep all the paperwork that pertains to the accident.  This includes any police reports, hospital records, rental car receipts, or anything else that might be compensated by your insurance company.  Too much information is always better than not having the one right piece that you need and facing a reduced settlement because of it.

Visit the Hospital if You Are Injured

If you think that you might be injured in the accident, make sure that you visit the hospital as soon after the accident as possible.  As with all the other paperwork you receive that relates to the crash, make sure that you keep a copy of it for your records as well as what doctors you saw.  Always follow all of your doctor’s advice and make sure that you aren’t violating any of your doctor’s orders.  If you’re healthy enough to stop your treatment or to play in the company softball game, it casts doubt on whether you were really injured in the first place.

Know the Ins and Outs of Your Insurance Policy

Make sure that you make yourself intimately familiar with your insurance policy soon after the wreck.  Know what’s included in your coverage and what’s not and what you are legally entitled to.  Remember , you’re paying the insurance company for this coverage, so they’re legally required to compensate you for everything that’s listed in your policy when you file your auto accident insurance claim.

Tell the Truth and Be Honest

Finally, when you’re filing your claim, make sure that you tell the truth and are honest.  Resist the urge to play up your injuries or make things appear worse than they already are.  If you treat insurance adjusters with a level of respect, odds are they will treat you with respect as well and if they don’t suspect you to be lying they most likely won’t go over every detail of your case with a fine toothed comb.  It will ensure that all your auto accident settlement negotiations go more smoothly.

However, you can always hire a lawyer as a recourse to make sure that your rights are protected if you do end up getting an insurance agent that is difficult to deal with or won’t compensate you for the injuries and property damage you sustained.

Before you even begin to think about writing the settlement letter, make sure that you follow the advice that we have elsewhere on the site and keep all of the receipts and records of the accident that you have.  This includes any hospital bills that you have from injuries related to the accident, police reports, rental car receipts, body shop receipts, records showing missing time at work, and anything else that proves you had to spend money as a result of the crash.  These will be incredibly useful in building the case in your letter.

Next, make sure that you know the statute of limitations in your state to bring charges.  This varies from state to state, so look at your local laws for help.  You may have anywhere from one to three years or longer to file a lawsuit against the insurance company to recover the damages that you suffered.  If you don’t file a suit within this time, even if you are in settlement talks, you lose all your rights to collect any money from the case.

Finally, once you have all your information gathered and know that you have enough time to negotiate the case, you can sit down and write the actual insurance settlement letter.  The structure of the letter should be as follows.

First, start any letter to an insurance adjuster out with the facts surrounding your case.  State that you were hit by a negligent driver under their policy and give the date, time, and any other relevant details to the crash.  State if you went to seek medical attention right away, if police were on the scene, and any other factors leading up to the accident.  Attach a copy of the police report if possible.

Next, provide an account of the injuries and damages that you sustained as a result of the accident.  Provide details of the damages to your car and what was required to fix it.  Also include any personal injuries that you sustained and the extent of treatment that you had to undergo to fix them.  Attach hospital records and receipts from the mechanic or body shop to the letter.

Now that you have built up your case, you’re ready to present your settlement proposal.   In this section you want to assign a specific dollar amount to all the damages that you’ve sustained as a result of the crash.    Itemize the damages as best as possible and support them with receipts.  So if you had to spend $100 on a rental car for a few days while your car was in the shop, include the receipt.  This will make your case stronger and it won’t seem like you’re just pulling numbers out of thin air.

Finally, close out your auto accident settlement letter with a demand for compensation for your injuries.  Add up all the expenses that you proved with receipts and add another amount on top of that for pain and suffering and lost time and quality of life.  This amount can be tricky to come up with, so if you aren’t sure what you want to ask for or how to go about calculating it, see a lawyer.

Writing a letter to an insurance company can sound like a daunting affair, but in all reality it isn’t.  Most of the work that goes into writing the letter isn’t the writing itself.  It is collecting and itemizing all of the damages that you sustained in the accident.  Once this is done, writing the letter is a snap.

If you’re trying to recover money in an auto accident settlement and you’ve decided to enlist the help of an attorney, the first thing you should do is set up a free consultations with numerous car accident settlement lawyers. During this, the lawyer will go over your case with you and any fees that he will charge. In most cases he will work on a contingency basis. If the case is handled out of court, the lawyer usually takes somewhere in the vicinity of twenty-five percent of your total settlement. If the case ends up going to trial, these fees can jump to anywhere from thirty-three to forty percent of your overall reward. Thirty-five percent is one of the most common amounts taken.

This is a large chunk of your settlement, so make sure that you think hiring a lawyer will be worth the money he will ultimately take out of your settlement. The good news is that since the lawyer is going to be paid on a contingency basis, he has a big incentive to fight for your case and get every extra penny out of it that he can. The fees is also negotiable in many circumstances and if your case promises to have a big settlement, a lawyer may take it for a lower cut because the potential reward is much higher. Several states also have laws that dictate the fees that many lawyers can charge, some don’t allow attorneys to charge over 40% contingency fees.

Be careful and pay attention during your free consultation though. Sometime even though you’re paying a contingency fees there are other fees that you are required to pay regardless of win or loss. Certain motions, like filing the court case, take some money and the lawyer may require you foot the bill for these up front.

If you’re unlucky enough to be a defendant in an auto accident case, chances are you will have an attorney that is going to charge you per hour. This rate varies from lawyer to lawyer as will the amount of hours that are spent on your case, making coming up with an overall number difficult.

Ultimately, in auto accident settlements lawyers usually get about twenty-five percent of your total claim if you settle out of court and thirty-five percent of it if your case goes to trial. Always keep this in mind before you decide to take the leap and hire a lawyer for your auto accident injury settlement.

First, when you meet with the adjuster for the first time, whether over the phone or in person, don’t accept his first offer because this will more than likely be a low ball offer to start the negotiations. To compensate for this, you must make a high ball offer of your own. Your counteroffer should be more than you really are looking to receive by as much as twenty-five to one hundred percent. After the initial attempt to go for a scholar’s mate is out of the way, real negotiations can start taking place to find a honest middle ground.

If your insurance adjuster has made what you feel is a very low offer, make sure that you make him justify it, whether in person or in writing. Try to anticipate this and be able to offer at least a rudimentary rebuttal. If you need to strengthen your case even more, don’t be afraid to bring in some emotional arguments if you need to. Pictures of crashes are admissible in court, so if you have one that makes your accident look fairly bad, it could be used to help you get a bigger settlement because it will most likely mean a bigger award in court.  Truck accidents also tend to offer larger settlements because the driver involved should be a professional and exercise more caution. You can also try to talk about how the accident has affected your livelihood and family to try to find a sympathetic ear with the insurance adjuster.

In the end, auto accident settlements last as long as they need to in order to make an agreement. Your settlement could end in one discussion, or it could take place over several weeks. In fact, many lawyers won’t reach an agreement with a company until they’ve discussed the case with them at least three or four times. Don’t be afraid to drag out your claim for a little bit if it means getting the fair settlement that you feel like you deserve from your accident.

Generally, you would like to settle with the insurance company later rather than sooner if you can afford it.  Settling later, when your physical therapy is complete from the accident and all the repairs are done to your car with give you an accurate amount of how much the auto accident actually cost you.  Settling before this time could leave you high and dry if your therapy runs into complications that weren’t foreseen when you tried to guess how much your therapy would actually cost before you were completely healed.  Don’t forget that by settling you are forfeiting all of your future possible legal actions against the insurance company, so you will have no legal way to collect more damages after the settlement.

Definitely never attempt to settle an auto accident when you are not ready.  Even if insurance adjusters are sending you letters and calling you at home, make sure that you have all your paperwork in order and have an accurate idea of how much you would ultimately like to get in an auto accident settlement before you meet face to face with the adjuster.  This will allow you to bargain better and strike a  better deal with the insurance company.  Generally, you will also never want to jump at the first offer an insurance adjuster offers you because this will more often than not be a low ball offer for negotiation purposes.

Once you’ve got all your paperwork in order and have the most accurate idea that you can get of the total damage that the car accident inflicted on you, you be in, sometimes heated, negotiations with the insurance company.  Most of these negotiations are tied up relatively smoothly, but some may hit a brick wall with both sides being unable to come to an agreement.  This may make the insurance adjuster make a “final offer” to you that you must decide to accept or take the case to court.  If the offer is within the range that you originally thought was fair, by all means accept it.

However, if the offer isn’t in the range that you thought was acceptable, there’s are many things that you can still do.  First, ask the adjuster point blank if this is the best offer and if it is really take it or leave it.  Pay very close attention to his answer.  Most adjusters won’t lie, but they can talk around the truth by saying something such as “this is the final offer I am authorized to give.”  This opens up the potential that the insurance company may be still willing to negotiate if you go over the adjuster’s head to his supervisor.

Figuring out when the best time to settle a auto accident injury claim is can be tricky.  Try to make yourself as well informed as you possibly can, have a good idea of the range of offers you think are fair and make sure that you stick to them.  If you hit a roadblock and are considering going to court, be completely honest with yourself about what your chances are.  Will a court award enough money to cover the costs of hiring a lawyer and paying the applicable court fees?  If not, you may instead want to take the insurance adjuster’s final offer.

Myth 1 – Any Attorney Can Handle Auto Crash Settlements

This first myth can actually cost you quite a bit of money. Just as you wouldn’t go to a heart surgeon for laser eye surgery, you don’t want to go to divorce lawyer to get an auto accident injury settlement done. A lawyer with years of experience in auto crashes will know the specific laws on the issue much better as well as any pertinent cases and precedents. They will be better able to tell you the amount of money that you’re owed and have much more experience in negotiating with insurance companies.

If you have a large settlement pending, make sure that you hire a good lawyer that specializes in auto settlements.

Myth 2 – Serious Injuries Automatically Result on Large Settlements

Most people believe that because whenever you suffer serious injuries in an auto accident you will almost automatically be given huge settlements by justices and jurors. While there’s always cases of people getting obscene amount of money for what seems to be frivolous injuries, victims do not always have the upper hand. The amount you are given for a settlement many times depends on a lot of factors that don’t include the severity of your injuries. Specifically, the judge that will be trying your case, the jurors that are chosen, and the insurance adjuster you’re up against will have a huge bearing on the amount you can get an any settlement or lawsuit.

Myth 3 – Pain and Suffering is Easy to Collect

Going along the same lines as the previous point, many people think amount for pain and suffering are relatively easy to collect. In reality, these amount vary greatly and depend on some of the same variables as above, including the judge and jury you have in your case. Rule and caps on collecting pain and suffering also vary from state to state. There are only three cases where pain and suffering is virtually assured everywhere you go. These cases are when a victim dies, is permanently disfigured, or loses some of their body function. In these cases you can look forward to some pain and suffering damages, but not necessarily a huge amount depending on the severity of your injuries.

Myth 4 – There’s One Average Price for a Settlement

The fact is each auto accident is different so each settlement amount is going to be different. In certain types of cases, a person stands to get a lot more just because of the nature of the crash.  Crashes involving drunk drivers generally receiver more money, which is why DWI car insurance is so expensive.  On top of this, the laws in each state are different, resulting in different allowable settlement amounts. Some states may allow you to get large pain and suffering settlements, others might not. Some states might have no fault accident laws where all the people involved are guaranteed certain rights regardless of who is at fault, but others have at fault laws. Make sure you know all the laws and regulations that apply to you before you sign off on a settlement.

Collecting auto crash settlements can be a very trying affair. Make sure that you know what you are doing and aren’t relying on hearsay evidence from others. If you are ever unsure about something and there’s a lot of money on the line, always make sure that you consult an attorney.

If you’re thinking about accepting the insurance company settlement offer, be a layout that you are under no obligation to accept the offer.  If you want to, you can get your own valuations from different sources and try to negotiate a higher price.  This can be useful in cases such as if your car’s been totaled at the insurance company wants to pay out less than what’s owed on the car or they won’t cover the entire cost of your medical bills.  Any settlement that you agree to its final so you shouldn’t automatically agree to a settlement, no matter what the price.

If you don’t agree with the settlement of the insurance company has offered you speak to your attorney or tell the insurance company that you will not settle for less than a certain amount.  When you state this number, make sure that’s higher than your actual bottom-line.  This will give you some breathing room in any negotiations that you have to do later.  If you plan on playing hardball with the insurance companies, make sure that you have a strong case that you can bring to court.  This will make them more likely to agree to an amount closer to your ideal settlement.

Once you have decided to choose the accepting the insurance settlement, you should write a short letter to the adjuster or whoever is handling your case.  This letter should include the amount that should agree upon.  How long it will take for you to receive and sign any pertaining documents, and the damages that covers.  Having a record of this post in your house and at the insurance company will make sure that the adjuster doesn’t go back on his word.  After this, the insurance company will mail you papers, which you sign setback and you’ll receive your check the check we usually clear within five days and you’ll have your money.

Before you accept the insurance company’s final offer, make sure that you read through the papers that they sent you and you know everything that is contained in the document.  Never feel under any pressure to accept a settlement that you feel is less than the amount that you are owed.  If you need your money now, make sure you negotiate to get your money immediately rather than in a structured annuity as well. However, if you do get in an bind and need to accept an annuity, there are many companies that will purchase structured settlements. If settlements aren’t successful, you still have the option to enter into arbitration or mediation before you are forced to hire an attorney and go to trial.  Just as you need to be careful about the insurance settlement, you also need to be careful before you bring a case to trial because any attorney will take as much as one-third of the settlement amount, leaving with sometimes with a bigger total reward, but less money than it you would have settled out of court.

When you are preparing for insurance settlement negotiations, the first thing you have to do is be prepared for your case.  Keep in mind that insurance adjusters are paid by their employers to try to get you to release your claims against them for as little amount of money as they can.  The easiest and quickest way for them to do this is to poke as many holes in your case as they can.  By casting doubt on your case, they reduce the chances you’ll go to trial, letting them further negotiate down the settlement amount.  So make sure that before you meet with the insurance adjuster that you know the ins and outs of your case.  Try to think about any weaknesses that they might try to exploit in your case.  Make yourself familiar with other cases and find out what your case should be worth.

During the insurance settlement negotiations themselves make sure that you make the adjuster make the first offer, but don’t jump at it.  Ask the adjuster to justify any offer that they make and be prepared to justify any settlement amount that you make as well.  Your justification should bring the adjuster closer to your amount by making him think it’s in his company’s best interests to accept a bigger deal with you.

If the negotiations are failing, you can still use them to prepare for an eventual trial.  Listen to all of the arguments that the adjuster makes for trying to offer you a lower settlement amount.  These are going to be close to the arguments that they make during the trial.  By making note of them and finding a way to refute them with your lawyer you can dramatically strengthen your case in the courtroom.  The settlements amounts that you discussed during the negotiations also cannot be mentioned in the trial, so you are free to request more depending on your case.