To settle your personal injury claim, one requisite is to negotiate with the at-fault driver and the latter's insurance company. This presupposes that there is no issue on the insurance coverage or policy or the offender is insured; otherwise, the process you'll go through might get complicated. But in ordinary cases, all you need to do after the accident is inform the company about the accident and the damages or loses you've sustained in which. What would just likely become an issue is when your request or demand letter ends up being denied by the insurer. It's the worst of the possibilities that you can anticipate. Anyway, it would never lead to that if you know how to go through proper negotiation process; these are the basics to guide you in this concern:
Who will initiate the talk on your injury claim? Of course, it's your concern, thus, you cannot expect the insurance company to commence the negotiation. The latter would, as much as possible, avoid this situation as this denotes liability on their part. That's why you have to do this right after the accident; you can simply do that in at least two phone calls. Here's how it would probably go: (1) you might ask for high figure in the written demand letter, (2) the insurance adjuster would tell you what's wrong with your claim, (3) you'll respond to their arguments, (4) the adjuster will lower the amount of compensation, (5) you might concede to the offer and make another demand, and (6) the adjuster would likely increase the offer and you'll either accept it or have another demand. This is what you can expect throughout the negotiation process, but such still depends on the circumstances or certain aspects of the case.
Your discussion with the insurance adjuster will focus on the important things concerning your damages and the probable amount that you'll get as compensation. The latter would ask you certain questions and uncover or verify the facts of the case. Particularly, you and the kentucky personal injury attorney can expect to tackle the following matters: (1) coverage of the insurance policy, (2) liability of who was at fault for the accident and also the comparative negligence, (3) extent of injuries or whether it has long-term permanent effect, and (4) nature and extent of medical treatment. Nonetheless, you should be careful not to answer the illegitimate questions as those may only be intended to influence your decision on the amount of your injury compensation.
How to Ensure Successful Negotiation?
It's how you go through the negotiation process or deal with the insurance adjuster that determines the outcome of your claim negotiation. Being attentive and clever here is quite critical given that the adjusters are really trained to get you agree on a lower offer. So, you have to observe these basic guides to ensure a successful injury claim settlement: (1) be organized – prepare yourself and the needed documents prior to meeting, (2) be patient – don't rush the process if it requires some time to settle it without any hassle, (3) be persistent – pursue your claim no matter how challenging, tricky, or unfair the negotiation is, and (4) stay calm and be straightforward – don't let your emotion affect how you deal with the adjuster and don't say anything irrelevant.
Going through the negotiation process is a critical matter that you really have to be prepared for; what's at stake here is “how much” you'll recover for the loses in accident. But if it seems unjust on your side, the best recourse is consulting a kentucky injury lawyer.