Negotiating a high settlement personal injury claim is tough. Most people are intimidated by an auto insurance adjuster, whose main job is to give you a low auto accident cash settlement. However, you do have some advantages that can help you during the settlement negotiating process.
Auto Insurance Adjusters Don’t Have That Much Time
An auto insurance adjuster gets hundreds of auto accident claims a month. In order to get a high performance rating from their supervisors, the auto claims adjuster has to finish a personal injury claim quickly and without costing their company a lot of money. This is called “clearing” the claims file.
Auto insurance adjusters are also judged on how many personal injury claims they can handle by themselves, without involving supervising managers or insurance lawyers.
So how does this help you get a higher settlement personal injury claim?
The advantage you have is the luxury of time. Unless you have an immediate financial emergency, you can afford to take your time researching your auto accident claim and waiting for a higher cash settlement.
The insurance adjuster does not have this luxury. Their job is to get you to settle quickly and cheaply.
To get a better idea of why the claims adjuster needs to finish quickly, take a look at the tasks they need to do for each personal injury claim:
- Interview the claimants and witnesses.
- Review auto insurance policies.
- Examine medical records.
- Assess property damages.
- Inspect accident and injury photographs.
- Evaluate police reports.
- File the necessary insurance claims paperwork.
Now imagine doing that for hundreds of other car accident claims.
Most people agree to a quick and low settlement personal injury claim because:
a) They do not know how much their claim is worth.
b) They do not know how to deal with an insurance adjuster.
If you know how much your claim is worth and all the adjuster’s negotiating tactics, you are not going to settle your claims quickly and cheaply. This is good for you and bad for the insurance adjuster.
To help you better understand these two points:
Use the personal injury settlements calculator to determine how much your auto accident claim is worth.
Read which improper personal injury claim settlement negotiating tactics
are used by the auto insurance adjuster.
The second advantage that you have over the auto insurance adjuster is that…
You Know Your Personal Injury Claim Better
During your personal injury settlement negotiations, you will often find that you know a lot more about your car accident claim than the auto insurance adjuster. This is because the insurance adjuster can only dedicate a small portion of his or her time to each personal injury settlement assigned to them.
Remember, your claim is one of hundreds they have to complete.
Adjusters don’t have the time or resources to thoroughly research and investigate each individual settlement personal injury claim. It is simply unrealistic, given the number of auto accident claims they have to look at every month.
This gives you the advantage because the adjuster does not know your particular personal injury claim as well as you.
You know your claims better because you:
- Have taken pictures and notes for your car accident claim from the car accident scene,
- Have gathered statements from witnesses.
- Understand how your injuries determine your personal injury settlement amounts.
- Calculated a settlement range using the personal injury settlements calculator.
- Estimated your property damage from your car accident claims
- Written a strong demand letter.
Having all the above information gives you all the facts you need to secure a high settlement personal injury claim. This gives you a strong negotiating advantage over the insurance adjuster.
Do Not Be Intimidated
A key point, in negotiating a high settlement personal injury claim, is to not be intimidated by the auto insurance adjuster.
Most people are intimidated because they think the claims adjuster is an expert in medical injuries or is a highly skilled legal analyst. Therefore they believe whatever the adjuster says.
However, this is simply not true. Most adjusters have no legal or medical training. Many insurance adjusters aren’t even required to have a college degree. So don’t assume the adjuster can analyze your claim better than you.
Naturally, the auto insurance adjuster will try to downplay your injuries and your property damages. That’s their strategy.
The important thing you should understand is that, as long as you stay organized, persistent, and understand your particular claim, you are very likely to negotiate a higher settlement personal injury claim.
Want to know How Much Your Injury Claim is Worth? Get a free settlement estimate right now.
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