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.