Auto Accident Settlement - Getting the Settlement You Deserve

An auto accident settlement means we are now talking about figuring out the money side of your car accident. If you were injured in a car accident, by another driver, you can ask the other drivers insurance to pay you a cash settlement, OR, if that driver was not insured, you may request this settlement against your own underinsured motorist coverage on your OWN insurance, if you have this coverage.

I am going to say this a few times because it is so important to your future, do not sign any documentation with the insurance companies in exchange for cash, until you have finished your medical treatment.

How Much Is My Claim Worth

There is nothing more difficult to write about than auto accident settlement. More than anything I want to be able to help you by giving you a formula for what you should expect in fair compensation, but if you keep reading you will see why this would be foolish of me and unfair to you.

However, if you need answers from an attorney - right now, you can download this book, How To Settle Your Own Claim, and it will help you decide what your claim might be worth, and whether you want to hire an attorney. For a little more on this book, see the paragraph at the bottom of this page, Negotiating Without An Attorney

First Things First - Negligence

Before the insurance company even begins to consider your auto accident settlement, what they are going to pay you, they will consider if you were at fault, and if yes, at what percentage. Make no mistake, the insurance company is highly motivated to find you even slightly at fault as this will significantly reduce any financial compensation you are due.

Washington uses a Pure Comparative Fault rule, which means that an injured person can recover damages, and receive an auto accident settlement, even if the injured person was 99% at fault. However, your auto accident settlement will be reduced by amount of fault.

If the insurance company attempts to assign you a percentage of fault and you know you are clearly not at fault, please call an attorney immediately for assistance. How And When To Hire An Attorney

Determining who is at fault after a car accident is complicated and cannot be sorted out online. If your insurance company does not help you with this, you will need to contact an attorney.

Dirty Tricks

• The insurance company is looking to discredit your injury. If they can show you are not as injured as you claim to be, or they can show you should not have been as injured as you claim, they will attempt to use this to reduce what they owe you. How do they do this?
• Well, first they look at your medical records, did you say similar things to each of your providers? (All providers are required to document your visits). Did you have consistent, competent medical care/are your providers believable? Can they document properly your injury?
• Did you return to work or sports or other activities which clearly show you were not as injured as you are claiming? The adjuster is looking for these types of actions to discredit you.
• Did you have a previous injury they can use against you? They will try to find a work or auto accident injury or a weekend warrior injury to attempt to prove you are not injured from this car accident.

Dishonest Insurance Adjusters

• The at-fault insurance company may also use a software program which has a formula with no basis in reality to figure out your car accident compensation. An excellent attorney firm here in Washington, Adler Giersch, PS reports in their new book, From Injury To Action - that when Farmers implemented Colossus - a claim management software program -Rob Dietz, a former Farmers adjuster - testified under oath.
  He stated that Farmers would take the true actual claim payouts, and REDUCE them by 20% before putting these numbers into Colossus, thereby skewing the entire output of this software by a reduction of 20% for all claims! Do NOT go it alone if you have a serious injury.

• Keeping the facts from the patient is often a tactic used by insurance companies to keep patients at a disadvantage and to manipulate them into closing their cases before they have completed their injury treatment. The insurance company may not tell you what actual coverage you are entitled to, or may fail to tell you for instance that you can use underinsured motorist on your own insurance if you are not adequately covered by the at-fault driver.
• Adjusters are notorious for taking advantage of car accident patients. At our injury clinic recently we have had three adjusters who flat out lied to our customers who spoke English as a second language. Our customers thought the insurance adjusters were on their side.
• One adjuster argued with a patient that she could not have possibly had a concussion from her accident as he played rugby and he had never had a concussion! Seriously! He blatantly lied to her, ignoring her medical records and the ER physician who had diagnosed her with a concussion! His goal was to try to convince her she didnt need treatment, which would create a lower car .ccident compensation to her when she finished treating. Her attorney set him straight!

Other Auto Accident Settlement Factors

• Some of the many factors which will affect your auto accident settlement and your claim - wage loss, your previous medical history, whether you have a long term disability, the visibility of your injury (scarring, disfigurement, or no visible injuries). If you have been injured seriously or disabled, please seek out the help of an attorney to make sure you are fairly compensated for your permanent injury. For help before you contact an attorney, we have prepared this page for you, How And When To Hire An Attorney.
• While we are on the topic of your auto accident settlement, you may wonder what will happen if you have pain in the future you feel is related to this accident? If you close and sign off with the insurance company, any future pain, or issues you have, will NOT be paid for by the insurance. Before you settle you can negotiate with the insurance company to include funds in your settlement for future treatment. If you feel you are going to need a lot of future treatment, please find an attorney to help protect you.

Negotiating Without An Attorney

• Also, because I am not an attorney and I want you to end up with the best auto accident settlement you can, I want to recommend this book to you. It's easy to download, a little bit thick, but you will find that the table of contents are really solid and you can easily skip through to the pages that talk about what you need. I have read the book and think it would be very helpful if you are trying to decide whether to proceed on your own or not. How To Settle Your Own Claim

• Obviously not every case will require an attorney. If you want to negotiate with your insurance companies yourself, by all means you should proceed with this. Because personal injury attorneys offer a no charge consultation, you may find this to be a valuable resource to get some feedback and tips before proceeding on your own.

Most importantly, remember you can call the clinic any time you need to and we will do our best to help you find answers, and referrals to the best attorneys out there.