5 Keys to Negotiating Your Car Accident Claims

A lot of people find that it’s extremely hard to negotiate their car accident injury claims. The main reason is that you are dealing with a tough and properly trained negotiator; the auto claims adjuster. However, you can still increase your personal injury settlements through using 5 key negotiation tactics.

The first thing you should do is…

1. Choose Your Minimum Car Accident Injury Settlement

Before you begin negotiating with the auto insurance adjuster, choose what’s the the bare minimum settlement offer you’re willing to approve. This is something you should keep to yourself and not reveal with the car insurance adjuster.

Anytime you negotiate with someone, you should know what is your bottom line figure. By already having a minimum amount, the adjuster won’t be able to bully or pressure you into a “take it or leave it” decision. Having a minimum figure will prevent you from making a rash decision that you may feel sorry about later.

Keep in mind that, this doesn’t mean you should just settle for your smallest settlement amount. To avoid getting a low car accident injury settlement you should…

2. Never Accept the First Auto Accident Settlement Offer

Auto insurance adjusters are well known to give their lowest car accident settlement offer first.

The adjusters blatantly give you a low settlement offer to see how you react. They want to see

a) Do you fully realize how much your car accident claim may be worth? b) How desperate and unsure are you to settle your claim as soon as possible?

The first offer is never the last offer. It is simply just an attempt by the insurance companies to pay you as little as possible. And since the majority of people are not aware of these negotiation tactics, many people unfortunately accept the low first offer. Not understanding that there was more money still left to work with .

When you are given an offer by the insurance company, consider the following question:

Is this car accident settlement offer unreasonably low?

If you believe that the car accident settlement offer is unreasonably low, you should .

3. Demand an Explanation for the Low Settlement

When you are given a really low auto accident claims settlement, the auto insurance adjuster is examining how persistent you are to negotiate a higher settlement.

When this happens, you should ask the claims adjuster to explain their reasons for such a low settlement.

Make sure you take notes of these explanations. You will use these notes to evaluate each point and afterwards write up a response letter.

However , if the adjuster made some good points that you over looked, then you should slightly lower your claim. For example, perhaps the adjuster pointed a traffic violation that made your more liable for the car accident. This would make you more responsible for the accident and justifiably lower your final settlement amount.

However, if the adjuster’s explanation offers nothing that makes you more liable for the car accident, then this is just a bluff. You should write a response letter where you address each point that the adjuster specifically made as being valid or invalid. Towards the end of the letter, ask for a new settlement or restate your original demand. Once you have sent the response letter, wait for the adjuster to give their counter points before adjusting your final demand.

When you are adjusting your final demand, it is important that you…

4. Gradually Decrease Your Injury Settlement

At several points during the negotiations you’ll need to lower your initial settlement demand in order to move forward. A good range to lower you settlement is between 10%-20%. This is a nice range because a) It isn’t really significantly lower than your original demand b) It’s significant enough to show you are prepared to negotiate

Since the adjuster will continue to lower you settlement, its best to decrease your demand in small increments. This protects you and also helps move the negotiations forward.

The final thing you should know is that you shouldn’t…

5. Do Not Keep Reducing Your Settlement Demand

As you try to negotiate your car accident claims, the adjuster will try to lessen your initial demand. Negotiations only work if both parties are willing to budge from their initial demands. However, when you finally slightly lower claim, you should wait for the claims adjuster to offer you a slightly better offer as well. You shouldn’t lower your car accident claim again before the adjuster increases their original offer.

If you keep reducing your car accident claim without receiving a better offer, your claim look weak. This makes it look like your just guessing and unsure of how much your claim is worth. The insurance adjuster will keep pushing your claim further down until you give up and accept a low settlement.

Find out more tips to increase your car accident claims and personal injury settlements