Personal Injury Insurance Claims – What You Should Know

September 17, 2022

AccidentCar InsurancePersonal Injury

What is a personal injury insurance claim?

If you’ve recently been a victim of personal injury, you might already know how stressful the following events can be. Aside from making sure your health and safety are looked after and prioritized, and some legal aspects, there’s the insurance claim you need to tackle.

To make sure that your personal injury accident insurance claim flows smoothly, you need to have an idea of how it works. A successful claim is one where you get a fair settlement amount.

How a personal injury insurance claim is handled depends on how the nature of the injury and the parties involved. For instance, if you were injured on the job, you will be doing with a workers’ compensation insurance claim. Car accidents, on the other hand, are usually a simple process involving you and the person involved’s insurance companies.

For you to know what settlement amount you must expect from your insurance provider, you first need to understand how an insurance company decides on the amount. In this article, we’ll explain how a typical insurance company decides on the settlement amount after an insured person suffers a personal injury.

The role of an insurance adjuster in a personal injury case

When an accident occurs, and the victim notifies the insurance company about it, the company will send an insurance adjuster to verify the claims for personal injury. The insurance adjuster will check whether the claim is valid by conducting some form of investigation. The claim must be according to the insurance’s coverage and clauses.

The insurance adjuster will verify whether the injury was indeed caused by accident, self-inflicted, or intentionally performed.

They will look at the documentation from the police, hospital, and other parties. They will also interview those who were involved in the accident. All of these are done to verify the validity of the claim.

The insurance adjuster considers the following factors when computing a settlement amount:

• Documented expenses (medical bills and property damage fees, etc.) that have resulted from the accident
• Loss of wages and income because of inability to work due to the accident
• Pain and suffering damages
• Permanent physical disfigurement or disability
• Emotional damages

Indeed, insurance adjusters work for the insurance company.

Their job is to determine the value of the claims made to the insurance provider. Since they’re working for the insurance company, their primary motivation is to settle the case with as little amount as possible.

This is why some people complain that they received so much less than they expected.

However, the insurance adjuster also wants to keep things out of court. What does this mean? If you claim for personal injury settlement and you think you were ripped off by the insurance company, you have the right to take the claim to court.

Because the insurance adjuster and the provider do not want that to happen, they will be open to negotiations.

The problem is that not many people are aware that they can negotiate for a favorable settlement amount. Meanwhile, those who know that they can rarely do because they don’t know how to negotiate.

The best way to receive fair personal injury compensation

If you have been in a tight situation where you become a victim of a personal injury accident, do not let yourself become victimized further by your insurance company. By working with a personal injury attorney, you can protect your legal rights and get the right settlement amount that you deserve.

A personal injury attorney can help you by gathering all of the evidence that will help to determine a fair settlement value.

The attorney will negotiate with the insurance adjuster should it prove that the latter’s assessed value is much lower than what you should rightfully get.

When your insurance adjuster and insurance provider know that you are working with a personal injury attorney, they will see that you are taking this matter seriously, so they won’t take your case lightly.

Do you need compensation or legal advice for your accident? Get in touch with us today! We’re specialists in personal injury law and are always more than happy to help!