Accidents happen every day, and in the year 2017, there were over 38,659 motor vehicle deaths. After you’ve received proper medical treatment, and contacted an attorney, then you’ll send a demand letter to the at-fault party. Insurance companies will respond with an offer in their best interest because they want to solve your case as cheaply and quickly as possible. If you’ve been in a bus accident, visit our website and speak with a bus accident attorney in New York to recover the damages you’ve faced as a result of your injury.
Expectations of an insurance settlement offer
In normal cases, a claim adjuster will follow up with you and your legal team about the details of your case and conduct an interview with you.
What factors should I consider?
Consider all of the factors when delineating your case. Medications can cloud your judgment so it could be in your best interest to work with a trusted legal professional. While accessing your case all parties involved should consider:
- Expenses like your medical bills, property damages, and repair estimates
- Your injuries, their severity, and their complications
- When do you expect to make a full recovery?
- What amount of wages will you lose because you can’t work?
- Special and general damages
Tips on how to respond
When the insurers present you with a low ball offer, you could be tempted to respond in a frustrated state. First, consider that your response may directly affect the settlement that you seek. Here are a few tips on how to properly respond to a low settlement offer.
Analyze the offer before responding
It’s a mistake to hastily accept a low ball offer. You could misrepresent yourself and do more harm than good. You also won’t be able to receive all of the damages that you seek. When litigating a case, it’s important to always have a cooperative, and professional relationship with the defendant, even if you’re offended by the low offer. Insurance companies use the first offer as a bargaining tool.
Write a formal response
Before submitting your formal response, your legal team may be in correspondence with the defendant’s team to discuss their reasoning for the low offer. How they respond can guide you on submitting your formal written response.
Make sure that the claim adjusters have all of the information necessary to properly analyze your damages, and that you have listed all of your expenses in your demand letter. If you haven’t, that could explain why your initial offer was low.
In your formal response, focus on the emotional distress you’ve experienced as a result of your injuries. Insurers will have an understanding of the financial toll of your accident but use this opportunity to help them understand how you have been affected.
Consider your counter-offers wisely
You may feel you deserve $50,000 and the insurance company offers $25,000. A reasonable counter-offer could be $35,000 or $40,000. Insurers deal with many cases, and it may seem like a waste of time, but this is a negotiation and therefore there will be a discourse. Consider what you deserve, the limits of the insurance coverage, and the defendant’s assets.
Don’t settle too quickly
Accepting the insurance companies offer, before you’ve fully healed, or understood the full extent of your injury, is a mistake. Once your case is settled, you can’t ask for more money. It’s important to make sure your settlement covers all of your current and future expenses. Visit our website.
