1. Report the accident immediately to the police. They will conduct an initial investigation that should include accident reconstruction, documenting evidence, and the interviewing of witnesses.
2. Record the names and contact information of all witnesses to the accident before they leave the scene and take pictures of the accident. This will help ensure the full value of your insurance claim.
3. If you experience any pain at all, go directly to the hospital or doctor.
4. If you are seriously injured, wait for paramedics to arrive to examine you.
5. Notify your insurance company as soon as you are able. But remember, never begin the settlement negotiation process until you are fully recovered.

1. Waiting to seek medical attention. The longer you wait to see a doctor after an accident—even if it’s to see if you can get better on your own—the harder time you’ll have convincing the at-fault insurance company you were injured.
2. Failing to properly report the accident. This means you either didn’t file a report with the police at the scene of the accident or didn’t take pictures of the damage to your vehicle and injuries sustained.
3. Divulging too much information to the insurance company. Recovery from an injury takes time. Nevertheless, insurance adjusters will try and get you to commit to an injury, often the same day of the crash, even before a doctor has properly diagnosed and treated you. This is an attempt by them to reduce a payout to you. Don’t do it unless you want to minimize your claim (Simply say “I’ll know more once I finish treatment with my doctor.”)
4. Waiting to file a claim. As soon as you are able (the day of, if possible), file a claim with the insurance company. This can be done by you or an attorney, the latter of which can be added to your original claim at anytime, so long as a settlement hasn’t been reached.
5. Exaggerating or lying about your injuries. Don’t do it unless you want to kiss your legitimate recovery money goodbye.
6. Failing to complete medical treatment. If you skip visits or fail to complete your treatment, the insurance company will argue you weren’t really hurt in an accident. Stick to the program unless your doctor says otherwise, even if you feel you are getting better.
7. Exaggerating or lying about personal mobility. Some people do this in an effort to inflate their general damages award (aka “pain and suffering”). This is an auto accident, not the lottery. So for the second time, don’t fudge the truth. Be honest so you can get compensated for your injuries and loss of life (if any).

For a more comprehensive explanation of personal injury recovery, please see our Settlement Booklet.

1. Failing to see a medical professional immediately after the accident. This is a no brainer for serious injury, but what about minor injuries? Soreness in your neck or back will go away, right? Headaches too, no? They might. They might not. Whatever the case, you lose if you don’t see a medical professional right away. This isn’t a cold you can treat on your own. It’s an injury that could worsen into something more serious over time. So see a doctor within 24 hours if you feel pain.

2. Exaggerating your pain to a medical provider. Remember, this is an auto accident not the lottery. If you’re in this hoping for a free ride, you’ll be disappointed with the results. If you’re hoping to get compensated for your treatment and the inconvenience associated with an injury, you’ll have a better chance in doing so by being up front and honest with your medical provider about your injury.

3. Talking with your doctor about filing an insurance claim or lawsuit. The doctor’s job is to treat your injury. Your job (or your lawyer’s job) is to ensure you get fair settlement from a stingy insurance company. Talking with your medical provider about your altercation with your insurance company only complicates the issue. And as soon as you file a personal injury claim, doctor confidentiality is out the window.

4. Missing your medical appointments. Defaulting on scheduled visits with your medical provider(s) suggests you may not as injured as you say you are. Don’t do it unless you want to jeopardize your claim.

5. Failing to update your medical records. Everyone knows you’re suppose to share physical ailments with your doctor. What you may not know is to share your emotional ailments with your doctor as well in the event of an auto injury. Losing sleep due to headaches and pain? Tell your doctor. Feeling depressed due to the injury? Tell your doctor. And don’t forget to maintain a personal journal as well to keep track of your medical care.

6. Failing to inform your doctor and employer when an injury is affecting your work. If you want to get compensated for wage loss or additional pain and suffering, notify the authorities. You paid for the insurance. As claimant, you’re entitled to the legitimate benefits.

7. Failing to follow or complete your treatment plan. As with reason No. 4, insurance companies will argue you aren’t as injured as you say you are if you fail to follow the treatment plan as directed by a medical professional. Hopefully you recover from an injury faster than expected. If you feel this is the case, tell your doctor and let him update the treatment plan if he chooses. But always do as prescribed. Otherwise you’ll suffer the physical and financial strains.

8. Negotiating or accepting settlement before finishing treatment. In the case of an claim, which you should open within 24 hours of your accident, the at-fault insurance company will offer fast cash to get you to sign a preemptive agreement, releasing them from further liability. This is an attempt by them to, again, maximize profits. When this happens, simply tell the adjuster your working with, “No, thank you. I’m not going to negotiate a settlement until I’ve finished my treatment, so I can be fully compensated for any unforeseen injury.”

Click here to download a free sample from our Personal Injury Settlement Booklet™ discussing medical treatment and how it affects your claim.

Case Study

Gender: Male

Age: 20’s

Type of accident: The defendant ran a stop sign and collided with the male

At-fault insurance company: Allied

Type of medical care: Instacare visit during the first week following the car accident with follow up care at the chiropractor

Length of treatment: 4 months total

Settlement amount: His total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 2.17 times the total medical bills.

Example: $5,000 in medical bills times 2.17 equals a $10,850 total money settlement from Allied.

Things to note: Wage loss is the most common type of reimbursement for people hurt in a car accident. However, you can get reimbursed for other things as well. In this case, the male missed some of his college course finals and received failing grades. He was able to get tuition reimbursement from the insurance company for the classes he failed due to the accident.

1. What adjuster do you have working on your claim? Every adjuster evaluates claims slightly different. You may get an adjuster that is extremely tight with their evaluation or you might get an adjuster that is a little loose with their evaluation. Every person will see your claim slightly differently.

2. What kind of treatment did you receive for your injuries? Different forms of therapy are worth different amounts to insurance companies. Picking the right type of therapy will increase your chances of getting a little bit more in your settlement.

3. How severe was the impact to your car? The larger the impact, the more believable your injuries to an adjuster.

4. How well have you documented the impact the car accident has had on your life? Pain and suffering is all about documentation. If you inform your doctors how the auto accident has impacted your life, they will put it in their records. If you keep a journal of your troubles since the accident and activities that have been negatively affected by the accident, you can present this to the adjuster to help them understand exactly the impact on your life. The better the evidence you have, the more likely you will get a little more for your settlement.

5. How well do you negotiate? Even if you have all your ducks in a row, if you lack good negotiating skills, you will never get what you deserve out of your auto accident injury settlement. Adjusters are highly trained to make you frustrated and very good at putting pressure on you to settle for less than your injury claim might be worth.

Currently, we are seeing average settlements of 2.10 the amount of the total medical bills. Depending on what type of car accident you have and what variables are in play with your injury claim, you may end up with more or less money than the “average”. To try and build the strongest claim possible in an attempt to get more than the average settlement, consider buying our Personal Injury Settlement Booklet™.

The first thing to understanding how much your claim is worth is to break your claim down into two categories. The first category is your property damage. The more damage to your vehicle, the more likely you are seriously hurt. This isn’t always the case because cars are safer than they have ever been, but it is a good indication to the insurance company that you are more likely to be hurt in a serious accident versus a minor accident.

The second category is your actual medical treatment and therapy. This is the bulk of your evidence and where you really start to determine how much your accident claim is worth. If you have $500 in medical bills and you make a good recovery, your claim probably isn’t worth much more than just your medical bills. However, if you spent 3 days in the ICU and 6 months in recovery with 2 major surgeries and $60,000 in medical bills, your claim is obviously worth a lot more. The next step in determining the value of your injury claim is figuring out how the insurance company values your evidence and offers you pain and suffering for your injuries.

Most insurance companies have some form of a computer system to help them determine how much your auto injury claim is worth. Allstate and some of the other larger insurance companies use the most famous one named Collosus. The way this computer program works is you input all the CPT codes from the medical providers contained in their bills. The computer then determines what kind of injury you have based on these codes. From there, it compares your claim to every claim similar to yours that is contained in the database. It then gives the adjuster a range they can offer you to try and settle your claim.

But don’t be fooled by this system of determining the value of your claim. Every adjuster out their will low ball you in an effort to get you to sign off on a value less than what Collosus may tell them your claim is worth. There are many reasons for this. Some adjusters just like to win bragging rights with their co-workers. They can brag that they were able to get someone with a $50,000 claim to settle for $15,000. Some adjusters may low ball you to look good for management to try and get a promotion. Others may low ball you because they are jaded. Whatever the reason, you will likely get low balled by the adjuster when it comes time to negotiate.

To really determine the value of your specific claim, you need to build your case right from the very moment the accident happens. You can imagine that this can be a lengthy and complicated process and you would be right. Being that it is a complicated process, it would be impossible to really help you determine the value of your claim in a single blog post. Luckily for you, we created an easy to follow Settlement Booklet that will guide you from start to finish how how to settle your injury claim with the insurance company. Using this tool and the other resources on our site, you should have a good idea of how much your accident claim is worth and how to successfully negotiate your claim with the adjuster.

Now that you have a shiny new camera phone, what should you be taking pictures of? Everything! Don’t let the other person move their car until you get lots of pictures of the damage, the accident scene, bruising, cuts and bleeding, weather conditions, traffic conditions, or just about anything else you can think of. The more pictures the better so don’t be timid in documenting the accident.

The reason you want to take your own pictures is because you can’t rely on the insurance companies to document your accident fairly. For example, you may be driving a pickup that has a trailer hitch. If the person that hit you was driving a compact car like a Honda Civic, their car may be totaled out, but your truck may have little to no damage at all. Does this mean that the impact was not severe enough to injury you? Of course not. However, the adjuster may try and make that very argument with you. The problem you will face if you did not gather your own pictures, will be trying to overcome this argument if you do not have your own evidence. Do you really think the adjuster will just give you his pictures of their totaled out car? Don’t count on it.

Injuries are another important thing to document with pictures. If you have bruises, they will eventually heal and how will the adjuster know how severe they were if you didn’t take pictures of them. Scars fade over time, so take pictures along the way to show how long you had to live with the scar before it finally faded. Did you have blood all over your face? A jury would surely love to see those graphic pictures when trying to assign value to your claim.

If you are the one person in the United States that does not have a cell phone with a camera, please at least buy a disposable camera and stash it in your glove compartment. Eye witnesses are good to have, but pictures never lie.