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The first thing that you need to take into account is that your case is going to be handled by an insurance adjuster as soon as you file your claim with the company. This is an agent of the insurance company who has the authority of settling your claim. However, as they work for the insurance company, they will have its interests in mind more than yours. If you think, however, that he is taking your individual claim personally, you are far from the truth. Adjusters have special formulas which allow them to handle cases a lot quicker and with higher efficiency for them. So, the question is:
Will the insurance adjuster use this formula to value your claim?
The answer, however, is a bit more complicated. Once you’ve provided the adjuster with all the necessary information that he or she might need to value your claim, including medical bills, repair statements and estimates and all the proof for loss of income or others of the kind, the next step for the agent is to come up with some sort of a dollar figure for your injuries. The insurance adjuster is most usually going to use a certain formula to come to an acceptable (for him) number.
Right off the bat, he is going to add up all the medical bills which are accepted and multiply this by a number between 1.5 and 5 depending on the overall seriousness of your injuries. So, basically, injuries which are considered minor are likely to get a number between 1.5 and 2. However, if you have suffered from an injury which caused you serious issues and long-term disability, for example, you would get a higher multiplier which could reach up to 5. This is something that you should account for when it comes to it.
In any case, let’s do the math to make it fairly simple. If your medical bills amount to $1,000 and the injury is assessed as a serious one, you might get a multiplier of 5. This means that the adjuster is likely to offer you $5,000 for your non-economic damages apart from the $1,000 for the economical ones. It’s that simple. However, you may double check it with your own lawyer as they are experts in accurately calculating it. It is important to let your lawyer deal with the insurance adjuster instead of doing it on your own.
With this in mind, it is incredibly important to ensure that you are working with an experienced personal injury lawyer who is capable of handling the case properly. This is going to ensure that you are not bullied around and that you receive the value that your claim is truly worth. This is something very important. Dealing with the insurance adjuster is challenging as his aim is to make sure that you receive as little as it’s possible – this is how they report profit to their company. In any case, working with a personal injury lawyer is always beneficial.