Determining Car Accident Compensation in Simple Cases

If you are involved in a minor car crash, determining the compensation that you are entitled to is fairly straightforward.  Your biggest worry is to make sure that you keep all your receipts and proof of damages.  Since these cases are simpler, there will also be very little, if any, negotiations with the Auto Insurance Agency during a settlement.

If you have sustained an injury, such as whiplash, make sure that you seek medical care right away and complete all treatments that are prescribed for you.  Keep track of all of your medical bills during this time, including visits to chiropractors, doctors, and the emergency room.  The damage sustained to your car can be fixed at a repair shop of your choice.  This seems like it’s the insurance companies being generous, but it is more because if the repairs are subpar and you end up having to repair your car again later, the insurance company can say you chose the mechanic so they are not liable for any further damages.  For this reason, if the insurance company that you are dealing with has certified dealers that guarantee their repairs you should take your car there to make sure it gets repaired right.  Also keep track of any transportation costs you incurred as a direct result of the crash, including rental cars or having to use a car finder service to get a new car.

Determining Compensation in Serious Accidents

If you’ve had a serious car accident that involves either complex property damage or significant bodily injury, it would be advisable to hire an attorney.  In these auto accident claims, there is also significant pain and suffering damages involved.  Pain and suffering can be a hard number to arrive at because it depends on a variety of factors such as age, severity of injuries, and your future prognosis.  It can be hard to get the full amount that you deserve in cases like this without the use of a lawyer.

In addition to being able to more accurately gauge the amount that you are owed, lawyers also have more experience in negotiating auto accident settlements.  This experience is much needed in complex cases where pain and suffering damages can be very flexible and it takes a lawyer who knows how different factors will affect what a jury, and thus the insurance company is likely to award you.

How difficult it is to find the right car accident compensation for you is determined by how complex and severe your case is.  If you have a simple case just involving property damage, you should be able to talk to insurance companies on your own.  But if you case involves significant bodily injury or pain and suffering damage, you should consider hiring a lawyer to protect your rights.

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.

What To Do After the Accident

If you’ve been injured in an auto accident there are several things that you can do from the time of the accident onward that will insure you get the proper settlement amount.  First, get a ticket from the police officer showing who was at fault for the accident.  Immediately after this, seek medical attention if you feel like you’ve been injured. Insurance companies consider you injured if you seek treatment.   So make sure to do this immediately to remove any doubt that the injury actually happened after the accident.  Keep a copy of every visit to make to the doctor’s office for your records.  In addition to medical bills, also keep track of lost wages, check stubs, and any property damage that was incurred.  Finally, make sure to immediately write down the details of the accident so you can keep your story straight later.

When the Car insurance company of the driver that hit you contacts you, make sure to tell them that you are getting treatment. Don’t give them a recorded statement at this time either, it is not mandatory.  Make sure that as you are receiving treatment, you continue to keep track of all your medical records and amounts of lost pay.

Bargaining Your Auto Accident Injury Settlement

When you finally go to settle with the insurance company, you are able to collect damages for the percentage of the accident that was not your fault. So if the accident was one hundred percent the other drivers fault, you can collect damages for all your medical bills. There are no maximum or minimum car crash settlement amounts.

Determining the value of your medical records in a settlement may be very straightforward, but if you are entitled to pain and suffering compensation it can be harder to come up with dollar amount that accurate reflects what the accident cost you.  Pain and suffering losses are determined by both financial loss and mental anguish caused by the accident. Age, extent of liability, your medical prognosis, and how bad your injuries are all play into what your pain and suffering damages will be.  In smaller cases, you may be able to come up with this dollar amount on your own.  However, with larger cases you should invest the help of a lawyer who has experience determining what kind of damages you are able to collect.

Getting the right amount of money for your automobile accident injury settlement can be very tricky. If you have a large case involving severe injuries, it is highly advisable to enlist the help of a lawyer to help with your accident claim. If the case is smaller, or you share some of the blame, make sure you think twice about actually submitting the case. You could be opening yourself up to future lawsuits for your percentage of the damages and the damages you do receive may not be worth the court costs.

Attorney or No Attorney?

The first major decision that you will have to make when dealing with car accident claims is whether or not to hire an attorney to work on your behalf.  This will many times depend on the size of your case and the cost of the lawyer.  If your case is complicated or involves a large settlement amount, it will most likely be worth your money to hire an attorney to litigate the case and negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf.  However, if your case is fairly straightforward and easy to understand or involves a fairly small settlement amount, it may not be worth the money to hire an attorney.  Whatever you can in the settlement from having the attorney negotiate for you will most likely be offset by the attorney’s fees.

There are several things that an attorney will do for you during an auto accident injury settlement.  They will take care of gathering all the necessary information and submitting it to the insurance company.  They can also more accurately determine the amount of pain and suffering damages you can ask for and also are aware of all the rules that are designed to protect your rights in the case.  Attorneys may also know several people in the insurance company you’re dealing with, increasing the odds of a settlement in your favor.  Finally, and most importantly, attorneys have lots of experience with insurance negotiations.  This experience will let them negotiate harder and will ensure that you will mostly likely get more money in any settlement than you would if you negotiated for yourself.

You will have to weigh the pros and cons of hiring a lawyer on a case by case basis.

Filing an Auto Accident Insurance Claim

Before you get to the settlement phase of any negotiation, you must first file an insurance claim after the auto accident.  What you do in this step and how thorough you are with the information you collect will directly affect how much money you will be able to receive in any settlement.

First, immediately after a crash make sure you take pictures of the accident and the surrounding area.  Make sure you keep these backed up and private as an ace up your sleeve to use in any negotiations with the insurance company.  Also get a copy of the police report and any tickets that assign blame for the crash.  Finally, think you may be injured in any way make sure you visit the emergency room.  Whether or not you seek care from a professional is how insurance companies determine if you were injured or not.  If you do not seek care immediately they can make a case that the injury was caused by something other than the car crash.

If you need continuing treatment for any injuries sustained in the crash make sure that you keep copies of all of your medical records.  Also keep records of any lost wages from work and time and money spent traveling to and from the treatment facility.  All of this documentation will come in handy during negotiations.

If your car was damaged in the crash, make sure you take it to a body shop that you trust and that you keep all records of what was repaired.  Some insurance companies have certified body shops that you can take your car to so that in the event the repaired part fails you are covered.  If you decide to go to a different body shop, it would be wise to have a second shop double check your car to make sure it is repaired correctly.

Negotiating Auto Accident Settlements

If you have done the steps above and kept thorough records of everything dealing with your crash, you will be in a much better position to negotiate your settlement with the insurance company.  Remember that an insurance settlement is really a negotiation between you and the insurance company.  You and the insurance company are essentially deciding on the price that it will take to keep you from taking your case to court.  The negotiation strategies that are used in business, politics, and other arenas will work here, so if you are an experienced negotiator, you will have an advantages over other when it comes to this stage.

The first thing you should do before heading over to meet with the insurance company is to determine a range that you think is acceptable to you to settle the claim.  This is your “win set”.  The insurance company will have made one of these up as well, and it will undoubtedly be lower than yours.  In general, your goal should be to move the insurance adjuster’s win set so that it is inside yours and you get the greatest possible settlement.  The insurance adjuster will be trying to do this as well, but to get your to agree to the least possible settlement.  There are various tactics you can both use.

Remember in automobile accident settlements you are selling to the insurance company your rights to take them to court over the auto accident you suffered.  Any information that you can present that would strengthen your case in the eyes of a jury and cause them to reward you more money will strengthen your bargaining position and usually cause the adjuster to bump up his price.  This can include photos of your crushed car, evidence that the other party was under the influence, and other factors.  Having all your paperwork in order also strengthens you position because there are less holes that the insurance company can poke into your argument over technicalities.  When negotiating, always have the insurance company make the first Finally, hiring a lawyer also strengthens your position.  Not only is the lawyer more experience at negotiations, hiring a lawyer also sends a message that you are not afraid of taking the case to trial if the settlement offered by the insurance company is not adequate.

The insurance company will also have several tricks that they will use to make your car accident compensation lower.  The first is the long amount of time you must usually wait to receive any money.  This is not always the case, but companies are aware that most people will need the money from their settlement to pay off medical bills and make up for lost wages.  By making you jump through more hoops during the settlement process and delaying their actions, they make you more and more desperate for money and more likely to accept any settlement they offer.  They will also attempt to cast any doubt they can on your claims if you do not have the adequate paperwork.  This is why it is very important to collect the right paperwork during all the different phases of your accident and settlement.

Auto Accident Settlement cases can be very difficult for the average person to deal with, and the inexpensive car insurance companies most people have can be the most difficult because they need to keep premiums down.  If you are having trouble dealing with the insurance company and aren’t sure if you’re getting the right amount for your claim, make sure to contact a lawyer and seek professional legal advice.