How to Get a Good Settlement Offer in a Personal Injury Case
When you get into an accident, the law requires you to get compensated by the person's at-fault insurance company. Regardless of the accident type, you have to get compensated for the injuries sustained, loss of income, physical and mental pain, and other damages. However, in most cases, the compensation amount differs on how you represent your case. The better you do it, the higher the compensation amount. When you don't present your injury case competently, you end up losing the whole amount. It is essential to have an effective strategy to get a reasonable settlement for your case. This article will discuss six settlement tips that will help you get compensated handsomely. Read on for the tips.
1. Use an attorney to come up with a specific settlement amount
Before facing the insurance company to claim your compensation, you need to sit down and draft what you want for compensation. This requires putting everything in place that will help you know the worth of your claim. Besides coming up with a good claim, you will want to know the least amount you can accept as compensation. The best way to create an appropriate estimate is to talk with your lawyer. Jeb from https://butlerfirm.com/ says that lawyers have the skills and experiences that will enable you to come up with the right amount for your compensation. The lawyer will ensure that you don't undercharge or overcharge your compensation amount. They have the tools and tricks to make your case stronger, such as they use trial animation services to recreate the accident scene. When you don't use a lawyer, you might undercharge a claim that will see you losing so much or overcharge a claim which will make the insurance company or the courts reject your plea.
2. Never Jump on the first offer
It might be true that the accident left you broke and hopeless. When in this broken situation, some people will jump on any compensation offered to pay their bills. While you might be suffering, you don't have to jump on the first offer since it's always the lowest you can get on your compensation. This area is where you need your attorney the most. They will help you negotiate for the best offer for your compensation. If given an offer and it seems reasonable, give a counterattack offer that's slightly lower than your actual estimate. If the offer seems too low, you can call the parties involved and make them go back to the board to come up with a better offer. Your lawyer will enable you to negotiate on the same and ensure the case goes on until you reach an agreeable amount. It would be best to emphasize your points to see the insurance company at fault raise their offer.
3. Let the adjuster justify the lower offer
Sometimes, the insurance company might stick with the lowest offer. In such a case, you should let the adjuster give reasons why the offer is low. They might be doing this deliberately so as you accept the low offer. Ensure you make notes of the conversation and come up with a reply that will make their points unworthy. Ensure you give reasons why you came up with the claim, and at the end of the reply, give a slightly lower amount than what you quoted previously to prove you understood their points. Let the engagement go on until you come up with an agreeable offer. Ensure the reasons you both give at the final offer justify the claim you have settled on. In case there is no agreed amount, your attorney can forward the case to a court of law to ensure you get a fair share.
4. Emphasize emotional points to your favor
It reaches a point where you need to become emotional to ensure you get compensated as per your demands. You need to have emotional points that will make the insurance company compensate you entirely, as per your requirements. What are emotional points? Instead of arguing with written facts, you can have photos of severe injuries or a badly damaged car when the accident occurred to prove your point. You can also use photos and videos to prove how faulty the defendant was during the accident. You can have photos of their vehicles and other evidence proving how they caused the accident. You can also show the courts how your dependents suffered after the accident due to loss of income and other negativities. Even though such might not add anything to your claim, they will make the insurance company at fault pay you without reducing the claim.
5. Always wait for a response
Do not prove how desperate you are for the compensation. The insurance company might take this as an advantage to lure you into taking a smaller amount to cater to your needs. After sending a demand letter, ensure you get a reply before making another one or reducing your claim. Even when reducing your claim, you shouldn't do it twice without the company increasing their offer. An increase on their part should follow after a reduction on your part until you come up with an agreeable amount. If the adjuster gives more reasons for the lower offer, provide more reasons for your offer until you agree on the amount. The more reasons the insurance company will give for the lower offer, counterattack them with why you need a higher offer.
6. Know the right time to engage your attorney
There are rare cases of people succeeding with their claims without the help of an attorney. Chances of losing your compensation case are high if you don't engage the right attorney. When should you engage your attorney? You should fully engage your attorney to represent you in your compensation case when the claim is over a thousand dollars and if seeking future damages. These include future medical procedures and other unforeseen settlements caused by the accident. You should also engage your attorney when it's not clear who caused the accident. Their experience and skills can help you prove to the courts that it was the other party that caused the accident.
After you have an agreed compensation amount, you will need to put everything in writing. You should have a signed document with the insurance company on the agreed amount and when they should settle it. This letter confirms your pay and ensures no party will come with evil means not to pay the agreed amount.
