When you’re the victim of an incident, and you’ve received personal injuries, you’ll likely have to deal with an insurance company during the aftermath. Although your accident might have been tough to deal with, most will argue that insurance companies can be just as difficult. The insurance company who’s responsible for the negligent party will have to provide compensation for the damages you’ve sustained. If you’re lucky, somewhere along the line you’ll have a chance to talk about your settlement with an insurance adjuster. The following will hopefully give you helpful tips to handle these negotiations.
Negotiating your settlement figure can be one of the trickiest parts of dealing with an insurance company. First of all, you should keep in mind that the overall goal of the adjuster is to award you the lowest settlement amount acceptable. Even though you were in a personal injury accident, it doesn’t mean the insurance company is going to treat you any nicer. You need to enter these negotiations with a solid figure in mind.
When you and your Personal injury attorney in PA filed your demand letter, you both provided a settlement amount you felt was suitable for the damages you’ve sustained. Unless this amount is extremely low, your insurance adjuster will likely counter this offer with a lower figure. The adjuster will back up this counter offer with reasons they feel will justify the number. Don’t be discouraged if the counter offer is much lower than your initial figure. Since the two of you are negotiating, you still have a right to make a second counter offer. Your counter offer should be slightly lower than your original offer, but higher than the adjuster’s figure.
It’s important to be patient during these negotiations. Determining your settlement amount won’t happen in one setting. These offers can go back and forth several times. Remember the figure you had in mind initially. If you feel this is an appropriate figure, don’t accept anything too far from it. You or your lawyer need to be adamant about this figure, and carefully explain why it’s deserved. With enough negotiating the two of you should be able to arrive at a figure you find acceptable.
