Auto Insurance Claim News, Articles, and Information

When is the best time to start your bodily injury negotiation? Some people try to negotiate their pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and the like damages the day after the accident (some the same day). The insurance company likes this type of fellows. They know they can get a substantially discounted settlement within the first two days after the impact. The result is clear. Insurance adjusters are very aggressive about getting you to agree to a settlement.

They will call you, they will write to you, and they will be fairly nice. All of these is done to butter you up to settle as soon as you can. You should always wait to start your bodily injury negotiation until you know what your medical condition is. It is critical to evaluate all factors that will come into play. If you are going to need further medical treatment, you need to be able to account for it. The worst thing that can happen is that you settle your claim, and then you learn that you have to have surgery. The insurance company will most likely decline any further payment, even if you settle for $50.

Waiting to start your bodily injury negotiation is not only important to avoid the situation described above. It also allows you time to think and perhaps talk to an attorney. Most attorneys give you free advice the first consult and they can tell you whether your case is worth fighting for or not.

The next benefit is that the insurance adjuster will not suspect that you are out there to get money. You know, the "I was hit person that the next day asks for $10,000 for pain and suffering." This usually raises the eye brow of the insurance company and can leave you with a very aggressive adjuster unwilling to help you resolve the matter outside the court room.

There is something that makes you look "guilty" if you run and get a lawyer. Retaining a lawyer is a good thing, but you also need to be careful when you do it. Unless you have a severe case or injury, you need to give the insurance company a chance to be fair. You simply do not want to appear as if you are money hungry, it will damage your reputation and make the bodily injury negotiation very hard.

Don't take me wrong, you are not money hungry. You simply want to be compensated fairly for your damages. However, most insurance companies and their adjuster operate from the presumption that most people are out there to take advantage of the insurance company. This is not the case. In fact, most consumers just want to settle and move on. This is probably your case, but adjusters will treat you as if you are a person trying to pass a fast one on them. Make sure you do not treat them as if you were looking for a big settlement but as if you were looking for what is owed to you.

Read more about bodily injury negotiation here.

March 17, 2008 08:19 - Totaling a vehicle - How to argue your case

Insurance companies follow a standard process when totaling a vehicle. Usually, once you file a claim, the insurance adjuster looks at your vehicle statistics. They will look at your car's mileage, make, year, and model. From there, they will try to asses the damage from what you tell them. For example, if the vehicle cannot be driven, then the insurance company knows that the possibility that the insurance company will end up totaling a vehicle is high.

Also, if the roof is buckled, the engine has ceased, or the windshield is broken, then the insurance company knows that the possibility that the vehicle is a total loss is very high. At this point, the insurance adjuster has two options. They can either have you take the car to a body shop (if you can actually drive the car) or you can have it tow to the closest repair facility. Remember, your insurance policy most likely has a clause that requires you to tow the vehicle once and only to the closest repair facility.

In most vehicle accidents, your vehicle will already be at some kind of bodyshop or mechanical shop. If that is the case, the adjuster will request that the bodyshop write an estimate and see if they believe the insurance will be looking at totaling a vehicle right there and then. However, insurance companies look at repair estimates very carefully. The bodyshop has a vested interest in NOT totaling a vehicle. They have an interest in actually fixing the vehicle. If they don't fix the car, then they make no money.

Because of this reason, the insurance company almost always sends out an insurance adjuster to personally inspect your car. At this point, the insurance company will no longer be looking for the basic information of your car. They will be looking at more subtle things, like the condition, scratches, and just about anything they can use to document what the vehicle of your car is.

The decision of declaring a total loss is made before the adjuster comes to see the car. By this time, the insurance adjuster has probably already requested a CCC evaluation. A CCC evaluation is a third party assessment of what your vehicle is worth (CCC is the name of the company). This pre evaluation period gives the adjuster an idea of the value of the car. Therefore, when the adjuster is inspecting the car, the decision of totaling your car is already made. The adjuster will not tell you at this point. They will look at the car first. Then, they will send this information again to CCC and have them give them a final assessment of the vehicle of the car.

It is here when the adjuster will tell you that they will be totaling a vehicle and that you will be out of a rental car in three days (some states like Texas, require you to be out of the rental the same day they tell you the car is a total loss!). It is here when the negotiation begins.

Learn more about what insurance companies do when totaling a vehicle.