Determining the amount of settlement you should get after an accident
Being involved in a car accident or collision can be a very devastating experience. Your life gets changed within few seconds. The next thing that you will have to come into terms with is your injured limbs, a damaged car, filling police reports as well as chasing after insurance companies for a settlement. If one of you is injured and your vehicle is totaled in the process, you can rest assured that the coming days will not be business as usual and you will get into financial strains. You have a legal that the insurance company compensates you full for an accident or collision that you were not at fault. The next thing you will find yourself doing is calculating or determining how much the insurer owes and you should you should base your calculations on a few factors as explained here below.
Instructions
First of all, you will need to arm yourself with potential future and present medical bills, prove that you will need continued health care and a proof of your lost wages. Gather all the real expenses that you have incurred that were caused directly by the accident. The major items that feature in your insurance settlement claim are medical bills. The doctor should give you a well written copy of your injuries and provide you with an original bill. He should also include whether you need continued medication of not so that you can receive sufficient medication. The accident might have probably made you to loose your wages and you should calculate them accordingly and provide a proof of the same. Your doctor should write a note indicating that you are not fit for work for a given period of time until you have recovered fully.
Chances are that your future earnings will be affected as well and you need to calculate this if it applies. This might happen at times when you have been injured seriously. The car obviously needs to be repaired and you need to take it to a reputable repair shop to have the cost of repair determined. In case your car was totaled, then you should include the value of your car worth. You need to check with different causes including your insurer to ensure that you get a quote at par with the market standards. The last thing to do is to combine all these amounts, add them up and get the worth of your settlement. For general damages like suffering, pain and anguish, the adjusters will apply a given formula to come up with a realistic figure that you should include in other estimates as well.
Tips
For all the expenses you incur for medical treatment and checkup, maintain tidy records as reference. While dealing with the insurance company, chances are that they might get stubborn at times and you need to professional, thorough and persistent. In case the insurer fights more than you can fight back, hiring a lawyer is recommended.