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.

What You Should Do as Soon As Possible

As soon as possible, make sure that you contact your insurance company and inform them of the crash.  Also make sure to record any details of the crash that you can.  This includes both writing down details and taking pictures as the scene of the accident if you are able to.  If you feel injured, make sure that you head to a hospital or doctors office right away to get checked out and keep the receipt.  Also make sure to keep a copy of the police report from the accident.  Also make sure you write down the the contact information of any witnesses to the accident, especially if they can prove there was no driver alert at the wheel of the other car.  Finally, whatever you do, never ever admit any liability in the accident whatever you do.  If you admit guilt, you’ll more than likely be given fault for the accident. Not only will this preclude any settlements that you can claim, it will also prevent you from being able to save money on car insurance in the future. The more you do at the scene of the accident, the easier it will be to get the compensation from the car accident you deserve.

Property Damage in a Car Accident Claim

If you were driving, its most likely that you have sustained at least some degree of property damage to your car.  To ensure that all the damages to your car are properly paid for and repaired, you need to take the following steps:

1. Keep all receipts related to towing and storage
2. Get two estimates of the cost of the damages to your car
3. If it’s possible, take your car to a certified dealer from the insurance company you are dealing with
4. Talk to the insurance company about obtaining a rental car
5. When the damages are repaired, keep the receipt and send it to your insurance company.

Dealing with Cases of Bodily Injury

For cases dealing with bodily injury claims, make sure you keep all your records relating to any hospital or doctor’s visits related to the accident.  Also make sure that you sign a medical release to the insurance company can view your medical records to review them for their purposes.  If you’ve sustained any kind of serious injury, you should strongly consider hiring a lawyer.  The lawyer will better be able to represent your case, make sure you submit paperwork correctly, and make sure that you are properly rewarded for the time that you spent injured.

Filing a car accident claim is not incredibly difficult on the surface, but you must be sure to get it right.  Any oversights or mistakes that you make, especially in larger cases, can be pounced on by the insurance company to undermine your case.  Make sure that you get your claim right!

At The Scene of the Accident

When you are at the scene of the accident and after you have made sure that everyone involved is safe and not seriously injured, make sure to take a few pictures of the accident. They don’t have to be perfect and the camera on your phone will most likely to more than enough. This will help document the damages to your property and also if your car is in particularly bad shape, can be used at a trial as evidence if the need should arise.  Every piece of evidence you collect will many any insurance settlement you try to reach later much easier.   Call both the police and the insurance company.

When the police arrive make sure to get a copy of the accident report and keep it in a safe place. It should show who is at fault for the accident. If you feel that you may be injured in any way, shape, or form, make sure that you inform the officers and immediately get treatment for it. You may be able to ride in an ambulance or you may need to drive yourself to a doctor’s office or emergency room.

After the Accident

If you did sustain bodily injuries, it is just as important to keep records of all the medical treatments that you receive afterward as it was at the scene of the accident. Keep track of both the time you spent in the doctor’s office and the time you spent traveling to and from the office. If you missed work as a result of your injury, also make sure to keep track of your lost pay stubs as well.

If your car needs repaired, the easiest option is to take it to a dealer certified by the insurance company, if they have them. The parts that they repair will be certified. If this isn’t an option, take the car to your mechanic, you should be able to choose, and then have the car inspected again by a different mechanic after the repairs are made. This will ensure that none of the parts are repaired improperly and if they fall apart a few days after the accident, you won’t be liable for the repair costs.

Recap: The Six Tips to Filing a Car Accident Injury Claim

1. Take pictures of the scene of the accident
2. Make sure the police and your insurance company are informed
3. Immediately seek treatment
4. Keep records of all documentation dealing with the crash
5. Take your car to a certified repair shop
6. Have your car double checked at another shop once it is repaired

Be Prepared

First, make sure that you are prepared before you ever meet with the insurance adjuster. Have pictures of the accident, copies of your medical bills, pay stubs proving lost pay, the names and numbers of doctors and witnesses and anything else you think might be relevant. If you are in doubt, bring it. The more thorough you are with your documentation, the better.   This will make filing your car accident claim much easier.  Next, total the amount of your medical bills, property damage, and the pain and suffering from any injury claims resulting from the accident you would like to collect (if any) and come up with a range of numbers that you will be willing to accept from the insurance company for your accident.

Negotiating Your Auto Accident Insurance Settlement

When you are actually in the room with the insurance adjuster for accident insurance negotiations, your goal is to get the adjuster to offer you more money to than he wants to. You do this in theory by making the adjuster think he’s still winning when he offers you the amount of money that you want. There are many different methods that you can use to achieve this that are used in all kinds of negotiations, from those between management and labor in companies to those used between countries. If you have experience in these kinds of deals, you will have a leg up in negotiations. If not, here are a few tactics that you can use.

The first method that you can use to aid you in bargaining is using the time tested diplomatic tool of brinksmanship. In this, you threaten to go to trial and clean out the insurance company. If the adjuster believes that this is an option, then he may be prepared to offer you more in a settlement. But, for this to work you must convince the adjuster that the threat of a lawsuit is real. Be creative and think of ways you can do this – perhaps by putting a lawyer on retainer or by acting a little bit crazy and not listening to reason about the case possibly costing more money than you would make – think Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the United Nations.

Another negotiation tactic that you can use is tying your hands so that it is impossible for you to accept any deal below a certain dollar amount. This can be done with the use of a lawyer, who you send to the negotiation with strict instructions not to accept any dollar amount below your minimum. A lawyer is not necessary however, you can financially tie your hands, saying that any amount of money below a certain level will drive you broke so you will not accept it as a settlement. Be careful when using this method though, if the insurance adjuster tries to tie his hands as well, you may very well end up at an impasse you will be unable to break.

These are just a few of the tactics that you can use to help you out to get the auto accident insurance settlement you deserve. While these will help, nothing will make up for proper preparation. With proper preparation you will have everything documented, insuring an airtight case that the insurance adjuster won’t be able to poke holes into. This will make sure that you get the most amount of money in a settlement more than anything else.

#1 – Don’t Immediately Get Medical Attention

In the insurance industry, it is considered that an auto accident injury is sustained when you go to seek treatment at a professional medical facility.  This is usually the emergency room, but can also be a chiropractor or massage therapist.  Many people seek attention directly after the accident, but you shouldn’t.  By waiting a few days you give the insurance company a loophole where they can say the injury was suffered in the days following the accident.  This will put the burden of proof on you to prove that the injury was sustained at the crash and not later.

#2 – Don’t Take Pictures of the Crash

If you don’t take pictures of the crash, you can’t threaten to use them in court if an insurance settlement falls through.  You also don’t have a record of the property damage to your car.  This puts you in a much weaker bargaining position where you can truly test how tough you are against those big, bad boys over at the insurance company.

#3 – Neglect to Write Down the Details of Accident and Persons Involved

This tip will really test what kind of a person you are.  Make sure that you don’t write down any of the details associated with the crash.  This ensures that every time you are questioned by the insurance company during their investigation into your injury claim you have to remember every detail of the crash, no matter how long its been since the accident.  The real test is making sure that all your details remain exactly the same sot that the company can’t cast any reasonable doubt on your story.  Not for the faint of heart to be sure.

#4 – Admit Guilt

What better way to put yourself at a disadvantage at the bargaining table than by admitting guilt?  Make sure you are adamant about it and admit that it was your fault to the police officer, bystanders, and other passengers and drivers involved in the crash.  It will definitely give you several interesting conversations with the insurance company when you try to recover some damages.  Not only that, once the police report the accident as your fault, your insurance premiums will skyrocket.  For womens car insurance this is a great way to close the gap with men, who regularly pay a much steeper price in insurance.

#5 – Throw Away the Police Report and Other Papers Related to the Auto Accident Claim

Paper documentation is for the weak of heart.  Throwing away the papers that are relevant to your accident may allow the insurance company to say there’s no way that you can prove that you are owed the amount of money you say you are.  But this just gives you a chance to play the ace that you’ve literally been keeping up your sleeve and say “I got your proof right here” and flash the guns.

#6 – Stay Silent to Your Insurance Company

Sure, you could tell your insurance company that you’ve been in a crash so that they assign someone to investigate it, but that would just defeat the purpose of taking on the insurance company yourself.  Besides, they’ll be happy to hear about it from the other driver’s insurance.

#7 – Don’t Hire a Lawyer for Big Cases

This seems almost like its implied if you’ve followed our advice so far, but this is where many people falter.  If you’ve been actively trying to screw up your auto accident claims, don’t let some fancy, smooth-talking lawyer convince you that you need his help to get a fair settlement to your claim because he has experience in negotiating with them.  You’re doing just fine on your own, thank you.

If you followed our advice, you no doubt are about to have many sleepless nights wondering how you are going to pay for the medical or property damages related to your auto accident.  It may seem like you will never get the auto accident settlement you want.  But what you’re losing in sleep you’re gaining many times over in excitement!