Before you begin writing your personal injury demand letter, there are a few things you need to gather to make your auto insurance claims stronger.
A convincing personal injury demand letter will have lots of evidence that shows:
- You weren’t responsible for the auto crash.
- Your injuries were serious.
- Your medical treatment and expenses were necessary.
- Your car repair costs were properly estimated.
- The total amount of any income you may have lost.
Let’s see which information you should collect to address these issues and get a higher personal injury settlement.
Showing Fault in an Auto Crash
To show who was at fault for your collision you need to gather the following pieces of information:
Car Accident Report
The car accident report is a good source to get details about your auto crash. The police report can contain several important things you can show the accident wasn’t your fault. This information includes names of witnesses, description of hazardous road conditions, statement from the police about the negligence of the other driver etc.
Read Using Car Accident Reports to Increase Your Settlements to see how traffic reports can help your personal injury settlements.
Finding Witnesses
Having a witness, that supports your version of how the accident happened, will always make a difference in your
personal injury settlements . Especially if the witness is not related to you.
If your auto crash had any witnesses, you should include a statement from each witness to give your personal injury demand letter more credibility.
Read How to Use Witnesses to Increase Your Car Accident Compensation
Photographs
Having the right accident picture can help you increase the amount of your personal injury settlements.
You should gather as many pictures of the auto crash that you can find. If you did not take any pictures at your car accident scene, then you should return back to the scene and take some pictures of the road and traffic signs.
Having a seemingly useless picture of which direction traffic was going, can be combined with a picture of your vehicle damage to show the point and speed of impact. This information can then be used to more vividly describe how the accident happened in your personal injury demand letter.
Read 3 Simple Ways to Make your Car Accident Claims Higher
Documenting Your Injuries
Medical Reports
The medical report is the most credible source for your personal injuries. If your medical report does not contain any information about all your injuries, they might as well not exist for the insurance companies. It is therefore critical that you request a copy of your medical report and see if all of your injuries are listed.
When you request a medical report, you will have to sign a Medical Release Form. Make sure this is not a General Release form that gives everyone, including the insurance company, access to your medical reports.
Understand Your Injuries
You can always increase your personal injury settlements, if you mention any long term and serious consequences of your injuries.
To understand the severity of your injuries you should educate yourself by reading on medical websites (such www.webmd.com). Finding a good lawyers medical cyclopedia can be useful because it has specific information on the type of injuries and their claim values.
You should also talk to your doctor about how your injuries can impact your lifestyle or any recurring complications. This will give you professional insight that you can then use in your personal injury demand letter.
Any time a doctor hints that your injuries might cause permanent or long term damage, your settlement will increase. So you should watch out for these and make a note of them to mention in your claims letter.
Documenting Your Property Damages
In addition to your personal injuries, you should collect all the information for any damages to your car and personal items like jewelry, cell phones, watches etc.
You can include your property damages in your personal injury demand letter, or you can file a separate property damage claim with the insurance company.
To understand everything you need to do for your property damages, read Car Accident Claims: How to Get Mone For Car Repairs
Documenting Lost Income
You are also entitled to be compensated for any income you lost from work because of you accident. You should get a letter from your manager or supervisor stating the amount of time, hourly rate or salary you lost because of your accident. You can alsoo get a copy of your last years tax return that shows your annual income.
Read Increasing Personal Injury Settlement Averages
Bottom Line
Before you write a personal injury demand letter, you should collect and review all the information related to your auto crash. This will help you focus on which things you should highlight to get a higher claims settlement.
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