When a car accident occurs, your priority should be to get the medical care you need at that moment. You also need to focus on what happens next, such as getting reimbursed for the losses you have incurred, especially if someone else is responsible.
Understanding the car accident insurance claims process is key to knowing your rights and setting your expectations. The key here is not to assume it will be as simple as sending a bill to the insurance company.
At John Foy & Associates, we work closely with clients facing a wide range of car accidents, often involving serious injury and property damage. We know that while most victims simply want to move forward with a fair settlement, many of those responsible, including the insurance companies, will delay the process. We highly encourage you to work with a car accident attorney before you try to navigate this process yourself.
How Does the Car Accident Insurance Claim Process Work?
When someone else is responsible for your losses, you will need to file a claim with their insurance company. This lets the insurance company know what has occurred and the cost of recouping those losses. You will need to provide them with the following:
- Your name
- Information about what occurred
- Documents showing any financial loss
- The make, model, and year of the vehicles involved
- The name of your auto insurance company
This is called a third-party claim, where you are filing a claim for the damages you have suffered with the other driver’s insurance company.
Working with the Claims Adjuster
The next step involves a claims adjuster, a person whose job is to determine how much the insurance company is obligated to pay for the loss. Their first task is to make sure the party involved is covered by the policy and the type of losses you have suffered. For example, the policy may restrict those who are unlicensed drivers from coverage on another party’s policy.
Once they verify the coverage is valid, then they need to analyze your information about the losses you have incurred. Remember this simple fact: the insurance company does not want to pay more than what they have to and will do everything it can to reduce the amount paid out. The job of the claims adjuster is to adjust the claim downwards, as low as possible.
What Are They Looking For?
The claims adjuster will look at a few very specific things and then dive into the details to find any gaps in your claim that could lessen what they owe. Here are some factors that will play a role in this process.
- Did you have a pre-existing condition that caused or worsened this injury?
- What was the condition of the car before the accident?
- Is there any evidence that you were driving recklessly?
- Have you made a statement admitting any type or level of fault?
- Was the work done necessary?
- Did you really suffer any pain or long-term loss from this?
- Does your social media show that you are very active and doing well after your accident?
- What do the witnesses say that could refute what you claim?
There are many times when the claims adjuster will try to gather as much information as possible to use against you to lower the claim they pay. They do this by looking at all details, gathering statements from others, and pursuing any information they can.
You Receive a Negotiated Offer
Once the claims adjuster has done their work, they may come back to you with a claim settlement that is much lower than what you proposed. This is very normal and to be expected. In fact, if they try to settle very quickly or they do not negotiate with you to lower the claim, that could mean they found information that may mean you are owed more money.
Do not become upset by this lower claim settlement. You will need to respond to it with a counteroffer that provides additional evidence or insight into why you should be paid more. This back-and-forth may continue for some time.
Going to Court
If you cannot agree on a settlement amount during the claims process, the next step is to pursue legal action in a court of law. Doing so is necessary in large cases where there is a lot on the line. Your car accident attorney can offer insight to you about whether they believe you can win a lawsuit or not, as well as what it may take to do so.
Why You Should Have an Attorney to Help You with the Claims Process
You can file a car accident claim directly with the insurance company or work through your own insurance company for help. However, doing so is often a mistake that leads many people to settle for less than what they are owed.
Remember that claims adjusters want to require you to give them more information and may ask for things like medical records, numerous estimates for repair work to the vehicle, and information about your long-term prognosis. More so, their job is to trip you up into saying that you had some fault involved, leading to a reduction in what they owe to you.
Adjusters may seem like very nice people and could be quite pleasant to speak to at first. Yet, they will often negotiate any claim downwards significantly, and that means you may not receive the compensation owed to you.
Let Our Car Accident Attorneys Guide You Instead
At John Foy & Associates, our car accident attorneys will work diligently to help you get the compensation owed to you. We handle the entire car accident insurance claims process for you, which means adjusters do not get the chance to take advantage of you.
Contact us now for a free consultation. Let us provide a free consultation to you to discuss your specific needs. We will work to ensure you receive the compensation owed to you no matter what the adjuster tries to do.
February 7 2020 
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