After a car accident, there are a number of steps you should take to ensuring that you’ll need to face as little legal ramifications as possible in the coming days, as well as to correctly process your insurance claims.
Here’s what you need to know about settlement and compensation following an automobile accident.
One of the most important parts to understand is the timeline of this process. If you were injured in the accident in question, you will not be moving forward with settling your claim until you’ve reached what doctors call ‘maximum medical improvement’, or MMI. This either means that you’ve fully recovered, or that there is nothing further your doctor can do for you.
At this point, you’ll have the full amount of information on your injuries and can adequately file your claim. If you file before reaching MMI, nothing that happens to you medically as a result of the injury will be eligible to receive compensation after the ruling has been made. However, you still can’t wait too long, as there still exists a reasonable statute of limitations after which the claim is not able to be pursued in court. The length of time for a statute of limitations varies state by state, and there is also no standard length of time for the negotiations to continue after you have made your claim and negotiated with the claims adjusters—cases are not often resolved very quickly.
After you have reached MMI and are ready to make the claim, your first step will be to submit a demand package to the insurance company of the liable driver, which will include all of your medical paperwork, legal documentation of the crash, and a full letter explaining what you need to accept the claim as completed.
Once the other insurance company receives your demand letter, they will have the opportunity to work with a claims adjuster to make what is mostly like a counter offer for what you believe you deserve from their company and their client. This is a negotiation process, and claims adjusters will do what they can to have their company pay you less.
They will use your medical records and the crash information you sent over to try to prove a different case and can only be beaten with solid facts and knowing the right questions to ask, as well as arguing convincingly for what a jury and judge would seem to find most likely. This requires confidence and a clear head. Having evidence is the key to getting out ahead in the negotiation process with claims adjusters, and having a solid insurance company on your side during the process is invaluable to drivers.
At Berliner-Gelfland, we have over 50 years of experience representing clients in the insurance industry and are well suited to support you following the difficulties of an accident. To talk with one of our representatives, give us a call today at 203-367-7704 to learn more about how we can put our expertise to work for you.