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Accident victims that agree to the terms of a fair settlement manage to save themselves both time and money. Still, someone that does not know how to negotiate could miss out on a fair settlement.
Step 1: Obtain medical bills from various providers.
Step 2: Calculate the economic losses. That involves adding up the costs associated with the medical bills, the loss of a wage, while recovering, any lost earning capacity, any property damage, and if a loved one died in an accident, the cost of a funeral and burial.
Step 3: Calculate the non-economic losses. That involves adding up the costs associated with the pain and suffering, with any humiliation or embarrassment, with any shock or mental anguish, with any loss of reputation, consortium, or companionship, and with any emotional distress.
Next step: Take certain factors into consideration. Those are things like the degree to which liability issues are clear, the possible existence of more than one defendant, the plaintiff’s occupation, age and prior medical history. Also give thought to where the case will be tried. Check to see if the plaintiff acted in a way that could work to mitigate the damage.
Decide what amount of money you would like to quote in a demand letter. Personal Injury Lawyer in Barrie recommends that you do not quote the lowest figure that you would be willing to accept. That figure should stay in your head.
Final steps
Decide on your initial request, in terms of compensation, and state that in your demand letter. Send that letter to the adjuster. Be ready to hear the adjuster’s opinion of your argument. If necessary, re-craft the demand letter. Send it again to the adjuster. That second letter should trigger the issuance of a bid by the adjuster. That bid represents the start of negotiations.
Study the adjuster’s bid, if it is not a low-ball figure, lower your demand slightly, and send that new demand to the adjuster’s office. Repeat that process until you and the adjuster have agreed on a specific settlement figure. Send a letter to seek confirmation of that adjuster’s readiness to stick with the last quoted figure. Ask for a date, when the promised settlement money should be delivered to your lawyer. Make sure to tell your lawyer that the settlement check is on its way.
If you are expecting a large amount of money, give some thought to how you plan to make use of those anticipated funds. Do you need to pay off a debtor, or should you prepare to obtain a new savings account? Try to arrive at answers to those questions, so that you will be ready to deal with the funds that the insurance company has promised to send.