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Liability claims are not more than a negotiation between two parties, you need to be able expose your strong points and the other party will bring up your weak ones and vice versa. So first step in how to settle auto liability claim and demands is to understand your strong points and anticipate those that make your case weak and try to defeat them.
What is a strong point or a weak point when learning how to settle auto liability claim and demands?
First keep it in perspective. What are you really settling? You are agreeing to take money in exchange of a release of any and all claims against the party that caused you damages. What is that mean? It means that the insurance company is buying a lawsuit off your hands.
This is critical because anything that would make your claim a strong “case” is a “strong point”. Consequently, anything that would make your claim a weak “case” is a “weak point”.
When dealing with insurance adjusters, they will dismiss many good arguments telling you that they are not considered when evaluating our settling a claim. One great example is accidents where there is alcohol or drugs involved. Adjusters tend to say “the fact that my client was under the influence of alcohol has nothing to do with the value of the pain caused, if you had been hit at the same speed but with a sober driver, then the pain would have been the same”. Although the adjuster would have a good point regarding “causation”, however do you think a jury would add more value to a claim where a drunk driver caused the accident? The answer is yes!
Another example is the amount of damages to the cars. If your car was a total loss and it had $10,000 worth of damages, the adjuster will dismiss the argument as “we are settling the injury not the property damage, you can have a lot of damages but no injury, or a big injury and no damage, and therefore it is irrelevant to bring the property damage to the table”. Again not true! A good attorney would blow the pictures of the car real big for the jury to see (if they support his/her theory). A blood car accident scene can add a lot of value to pain and suffering and other damages.
So look at your claim as if you were looking at a court case. Ask an attorney or paralegals, or people that work at the local court house for the average bodily injury settlement.
The next step in the how to settle auto liability claim and demands is the review of the medical records. You have to do this. Adjusters go through your history line by line, and they will pick anything and everything that would show that you recovered way before than you did. When I was a claim adjuster I was amazed how many people would not read their on records. Many adjusters will tell you that your medical records support that you are doing better every day and that you pain was not significant by a certain date. The only way to be able to tell if what they are telling you is true or no is by requesting a copy of your medical records and reading them.
The last step in learning how to settle auto liability claim and demands is by setting a negotiation strategy.
What is the lowest value you would settle for? Then create a range where that value is to your very bottom. For example, if the lowest value you would be willing to settle is $10,000, then your range should be $10,000 to $18,000 or something like that.
Next, you must wait for the first offer. Insurance always, always kick off by making the first offer. Take a look at the offer. If the offer is completely unreasonable, say $100. Then decline but counter offer at an unreasonable amount, say $100,000. I am not kidding this happens often between attorneys and claim adjusters. Close you offer by telling the adjuster that if they think you offer is high, then can always give you another number. If they come back at $200, then lower yours to $98,000. They will get the point. Learning how to settle auto liability claim and demands is really a numbers game.
If the offer is reasonable, then start at your high end $18,000 per the example above, and work gradually down. But never make two offers in the same conversation and/or letter. Let the insurance company respond to you. Bidding against yourself will kill your claim.
Go to top of how to settle auto liability claim and demands.
Learn more about Bodily Injury Money Reserves
When to write an Injury Settlement Demand Letter
The Actual Injury Demand Letter – the Format
The Content of the Demand Letter - What should it say?
Examples of the injury demand letter
Subsequent Demand letters - After your demand letter, then what?
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