Car Accident Insurance Claim Secrets Revealed

You are just another number. You are not a human. This is how car insurance companies treat you when you file an injury claim. I know this because I saw it firsthand. You see, I spent the first years of my career working on behalf of car insurance companies defending car accident injury claims in court. In this video, I will tell you how car accident claims and settlements against the other driver's insurance company works in hopes that you get an understanding of the process so that the insurance company does not take advantage of you. The first thing in the claims process following a car accident that needs to occur is that a claim needs to be set up with the other driver's insurance company. When the claim is set up, you will get a unique claim member for your claim that you should keep handy and reference anytime you're in contact with an insurance adjuster. You or your lawyer can set up the claim, but so could the other driver as well. To set up the claim, you will need to provide certain information to the insurance company like your name, the date of the accident, the names of any passengers in your vehicle, the other driver's policy number, and a description of how the accident happened. They will also want to know if your vehicle was damaged and if you were injured so they can know if they have to assign the claim to a property damage adjuster and or a bodily injury claim adjuster. The property damage adjuster will take care of the claim for damage to property like damage to your vehicle and any other property damaged in the accident like your cell phone or watch perhaps. A bodily injury adjuster is assigned to handle your claim for damages arising from your bodily injuries including your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Once the claim is set up, the insurance company will start investigating. First, they will investigate whether there is insurance coverage for the other driver in place at the time of the accident. I see this from time to time where there was no insurance coverage in place for the driver at the time of the accident even though the other driver provided police or you with insurance information at the scene of the accident. You see, the insurance coverage must be active and the other driver must be up to date with insurance premium payments at the time of the accident for there to be insurance coverage. On occasion, it could also be the case that an insurance company denies insurance based on an exclusion within the policy. For example, coverage can be excluded if the other driver did not have permission to drive the automobile like in the case where the vehicle was stolen. If insurance coverage is found to exist for the other driver, however, the insurance company will then investigate who is at fault for the accident. The insurance company will talk with the other driver to get their version of how the accident happened. What the insurance company will look to determine is who is ultimately at fault or legally liable for the accident. You see, just because you have a claim set up, does not mean the other driver's insurance company is willing to pay you on the claim. They will only pay you for your damages if they determine there was insurance coverage for the other driver and at least some evidence suggests their insured driver was at fault in the accident. Also, let me give you a tip. During the investigation stage of the claims process, the other driver's insurance company may request to take your recorded statement. If the other driver's insurance company asks that you give a recorded statement, decline to do so. It is not in your best interest to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company as it can later be used against you should you have to file a lawsuit and give your deposition at a later date. You are not required to give the other driver's insurance company a recorded statement. Don't believe the other driver's insurance company if they say you are required to give a recorded statement because you are not required to do so. During the liability investigation, the insurance company will also pull the police report, interview any witnesses to the accident, and possibly even pull the black box data on the vehicles or have an accident reconstruction expert examine the evidence from the accident to determine who is liable for the accident. Once the insurance company's liability investigation is complete, they will apportion a percentage of fault to each driver involved in the accident. Then, it's on to determining the value of your damages sustained in your accident. The insurance company will set a reserve aside to pay out your injury claim. Your goal is to get the insurance company to set the reserve to the highest number possible. To do this, you need to gather your medical records and medical bills from the medical providers that treated you for the accident-related treatment. To initiate settlement negotiations, you will want to send these to the insurance company along with any evidence of your lost wages like a doctor, off work note, and or pay stub just prior to the accident, photos of the accident scene or property damage to the vehicles, photographs depicting your injuries like lacerations or bruises, and any other evidence in support of your claim. So you may be thinking, what happens if I can't resolve my claim with the other driver's insurance company? What is my recourse? Well, if that is the case, your recourse is to file a lawsuit against the other driver to pursue compensation from them in court. The insurance company is obligated to defend the claim and hire a defense lawyer to defend the other driver in court. The thing is, just because you now know how the insurance claims process works, it does not mean the insurance company will make you a fair and reasonable offer on your claim. And it's certainly the case that you will only want to settle your claim for a fair and reasonable amount. In order to know if the insurance company is making you a fair and reasonable offer in your claim, you need to know how to calculate the value of your injuries and damages sustained in a car accident. And in this video about to pop up here, I'll tell you how insurance companies and lawyers calculate the value of someone's injuries and damages sustained in a car accident. Lastly, if you've been injured in a car accident in Kentucky, remember to don't wait, call Tate.