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.