Tips for Negotiating an Injury Settlement
Insurance adjusters often know more about personal injury settlements and the negotiation process than anyone else. Don’t discount what the insurance adjuster assigned to you is saying just because they are an adjuster. They are going to have a lot of influence regarding how much money you’re going to collect in your claim. So, you should be over prepared rather than be under prepared. Some of the most important tips I can give to someone who is getting ready to negotiate a settlement with an insurance adjuster is to be prepared, be patient, and be persistent. In this blog post, we will discuss these three tips further as they can be very useful when negotiating a settlement deal with an insurance adjuster.
Be Prepared: In order to negotiate a personal injury settlement, you should be prepared to talk about your personal injury case. If the insurance adjuster is speaking with you about the details of your case that you are unaware of, the insurance adjuster may realize that they are speaking to someone who is unprepared, and they can judge how they are going to offer to settle accordingly. So, you should be prepared in all the aspects of your case, the good facts and the bad ones too. There may be a witness whose statement is against your interests. For example, if this witness said that you’re the one who’s at fault, be prepared to address that topic with the insurance adjuster. If there’s little property damage, but you still got injured and needed medical treatment, be prepared to speak about that as well and give reasons as to why you are injured even though there is little property damage. In the preparation process, go through your medical bills and records, photos of property damage to your vehicle, and any pictures of the injuries sustained. That way, you can easily recall this information during the negotiations process.
Be Patient: Being patient during the settlement negotiation process is crucial. It’s important to remember not to lose your patience. Delaying is an extremely common tactic that insurance adjusters use to try and frustrate you, while saving themselves money. Their goal is to frustrate you so that you will agree to a low settlement offer. Irritability and anger are not going to get an insurance adjuster to write more zeros on your settlement check. When a person loses their patience, their ability to think clearly goes away, which in turn hurts the settlement process. If the insurance adjuster brings up something that you don’t know much about, don’t be alarmed. You can simply table that discussion and come back to it later once you have time to investigate the question further. Overall, the main thing to take away from this tip is to not become impatient. Something that really harms a negotiation is when an injury victim becomes impatient and they don’t give the insurance company an opportunity to come back with a counteroffer. I’ve seen people reduce their own offer just to get a quick resolution of their claim. This is not a good tactic because a person should never bargain against themselves before getting a counteroffer from the opposing side in a negotiation. This only allows the opposing side to see how eager the person may be to resolve the case at any cost.
Be Persistent: In addition to being prepared and patient, it is important to be persistent during negotiations. As eager as you may be to get to your settlement value, it is necessary to go through the process of making the adjuster give you the number that you want. The settlement process can be a long process. To arrive at the desired settlement amount, it will sometimes require a substantial amount of back and forth between opposing sides. When responding to their offer, you should look at their number and lower yours very slowly. If an insurance adjuster sends over an offer that is simply way too low, don’t let it get to you. If an adjuster tells you that your claim is not worth much, don’t buy in. These are all negotiation tactics and it’s important to not succumb to them.
Speak with a Personal Injury Attorney Today!
We encourage you to get in touch with Suarez & Montero today and schedule a consultation with one of our experienced motorcycle accident lawyers. Our Law Firm’s history of extraordinary representation and success in motorcycle accident cases and many other types of personal injury claims has earned us great praise from former injury clients, as well as high reviews on Google! For over 19 years, we have delivered quality legal representation for people who have been injured in all types of motorcycle accidents across South Florida. We are available 24/7 to give you a free, no risk case consultation. Gathering evidence in a motorcycle accident case can take time, and there are time limits for filing, so getting started right away is critical. Contact one of our car accidents lawyers today for a free no risk consultation!
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