Tips for Negotiating Your Car Insurance Claim

After you've been in a car crash in Colorado, the best way to ensure that your medical bills and property damages expenses are paid for is to file a claim with your car insurance company or the insurance provider of the at-fault driver. From there, the insurance adjuster assigned to your case will open an investigation, assess damages, and, hopefully, offer you a settlement amount. While this process may seem pretty straightforward, and you may assume that you'll be offered a settlement that is reflective of your losses, it doesn't always work out this way. In fact, insurance adjusters are often quick to offer claimants less than they deserve, hoping that a claimant will accept the offer in an attempt to put the process behind them and move on. While this may be tempting, you deserve to be fully compensated for your losses, and you maintain the right to negotiate your car insurance claim. Here are some tips for doing exactly that.

1. Know What Your Claim Is Worth
When filing a car insurance claim and negotiating a settlement, you need to start with knowing what your claim is worth. If you don't know how much you've actually lost, it will be impossible to know how much you should be asking for. Make sure you consider all of your economic and noneconomic losses, including medical expenses, property damage costs, lost wages, future economic losses, and pain and suffering. If you're unsure of how to value your claim, don't hesitate to work with experts or a legal professional.

2. Be Reasonable, but Firm
It can be tough to strike a balance between reasonable and flexible and firm and steadfast but doing so is important. You should be willing to compromise on the settlement—perhaps even accepting less than your original demand but you should not be willing to bend over backward for an insurance adjuster to the point that you end up walking away with much less than you deserve.

3. Don't Be Afraid to Reject a Settlement Offer
Sometimes, claimants are unsure of their rights regarding accepting or rejecting a settlement offer or may even believe that they have to accept a settlement. In other cases, a claimant may know that they maintain the right to reject a settlement but may be guilted into accepting one. It's important that you exercise your right to reject a settlement if the settlement is unreasonable and does not compensate you for your losses. This is standard and doing so can help to improve your chances of getting a larger settlement amount.

4. Hire a Skilled Attorney to Represent You During Negotiations
Negotiating your car accident claim can be difficult to do for a number of different reasons. Again, you may not be sure of exactly how much you're owed or may lack confidence in rejecting a settlement and demanding a larger one. Whatever the case may be, working with an experienced attorney who is a talented negotiator can be very helpful and alleviate stress. It can also improve the outcome of your case.

Our Law Firm Is Here for You
At the office of Anderson Hemmat our car accident attorneys are aggressive negotiators who know how to advocate for our clients. For a free consultation with our legal team, please call us today or send us a message directly at your convenience.

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