After completing her therapy with a local chiropractor, we gathered all of the medical bills and records from the hospital and the chiropractor. The total amount of the medical bills was just over $3,800. I put all of the bills and records in chronological order and put a soft demand letter together and faxed it all over to the adjuster.

One week after faxing the demand package to the adjuster I called him up to confirm that he had received everything. He confirmed that he had in fact received my fax and that he would need some time to evaluate the information. I asked when I could expect to hear from him and he said a couple of weeks.

A few weeks passed and I had not heard from the adjuster so I decided that I would follow up with him again. He informed me that he still had not evaluated my wife’s claim. (Note: This is typical from adjusters as they have lots of claims and the reason why you must be diligent on your part to keep your claim on top of their list of claims to work on.) He did mention that he would try and get me an offer in the next couple of days. Sure enough, a few days pasted and he called with the first offer.

“Let me tell you, I think this is a fair offer”, he said. “I can offer your wife $2,000 plus all of her medical bills. If you want to settle, I can have the check ready today.”

I said, “Thanks for taking the time to evaluate our claim. Let me discuss it with my wife and I will get back to you.”

Of course the adjuster thinks $2,000 is fair. Most adjusters would think $10 was a fair offer if they could get someone to sign a release. What they fail to realize is the person that went through the pain and suffering of the injury probably does not think any amount is fair. I mentioned the offer to my wife and sure enough, she was insulted. I informed her that this is typical for adjusters to offer a low amount and to not worry about it too much. Knowing what I know about the value of claims, I knew he had more money.

After helping my wife understand how claims are evaluated, we decided that we would not accept an amount less than $4,000 plus all of the medical bills. I called the adjuster and left him a voice mail indicating that we would be declining his offer and that we would be making a counteroffer of $7,000 plus the medical bills.

He called later that night in shock. “You don’t really think her claim is worth $7,000 do you?”

I said, “Well, all I know is that we are not going to accept your offer of $2,000. Why don’t you try and increase your offer and we will re-evaluate our position.”

He proceed to increase to $2,800. I decreased to $6,000. He increased to $3,500 and I decreased to $5,200. He then increased to $3,800 and I decreased to $4,500.

“$3,800 is the best I can do,” he said.

“It’s too bad we are so close yet you won’t be getting a signed release from us. I really wish we could have gotten this file off your desk, but we are looking for a specific amount and really aren’t willing to settle for anything under that amount. If you can talk to your supervisor and let her know how close we are, maybe we can reach some middle ground.”

“Let me talk to my supervisor and get back with you,” he said.

A few minutes later he called back and informed me that his supervisor would be willing to offer $4,000 plus the medical bills if we would sign the release in the morning. I talked it over with my wife and we agreed to the settlement offer. The total money offer was $7,800 ($4,000 in general damages plus $3,800 in medical bills) which is 2.05 times the medical bills.

You will note that a lot happened from start to finish on my wife’s injury claim. You can find every tactic used in my negotiations with the adjuster and information on how to evaluate your personal injury claim using our Settlement Booklet™.

Case Study

Gender: Female

Age: 20’s

Type of accident: Female was hit from behind at a stop light and pushed into the car in front of her

At-fault insurance company: Nationwide

Type of medical care: Ambulanced to the hospital with a few follow up visits

Length of treatment: 2 weeks of medical care with a few months of pain

Settlement amount: Her total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 2.04 times the total medical bills.

Example: $8,000 in medical bills times 2.04 equals a $16,320 total money settlement from Nationwide.

Things to note: Even though the actual medical treatment was relatively short, the severity of the injury helped bolster the value of this claim. Any time you have a broken bone, scar, surgery or other major injury, your claim is worth more money. A fractured sternum is painful and there is not a lot of treatment that can be performed and that is why the claim still had good value.

Case Study

Gender: Male

Age: 30’s

Type of accident: Male gets t-boned while driving through an intersection

At-fault insurance company: State Farm and Allstate

Type of medical care: Chiropractic, Shoulder surgery, and rehab

Length of treatment: 6 months total

Settlement amount: His total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 1.28 times the total medical bills.

Example: $39,000 in medical bills times 1.28 equals a $50,000 total money settlement from State Farm and Allstate.

Things to note: Policy limits can really hamper the amount you receive in your settlement. This is particularly true when you have a serious injury or surgery. In this case, this male should have easily received $70,000 or more due to the seriousness of his injury. However, the person that hit him only had $25,000 liability coverage and he only carried $25,000 in UIM (under insured motorist) coverage. Because that was the limits to the insurance coverage available, he was stuck receiving less than the actual value of the claim. This is why we recommend protecting yourself by buying enough coverage.

Special damages are really simple to calculate. You have a fixed expense in medical bills and other expenses and you know exactly how much that cost you when you add them all together. If your medical bills were $2,000 and you had $50 out of pocket for prescriptions, you have $2,050 in special damages. General damages are not so easy to calculate.

When trying to figure out how much your general damages (pain and suffering) are worth, you are trying to put a price on something that does not have a price. How much is it worth to you to miss your sons t-ball game because you had a doctor appointment? $100, $200, or maybe there isn’t enough money in the world to keep you from your sons t-ball game. This is why you value your pain and suffering different than the insurance company will value your pain and suffering. You may think there is no price for missing your sons t-ball game, but the insurance company does think there is a price. Because the insurance company can not turn back the hands of time and get you to your sons t-ball game, they will offer you money instead.

So even if you really can’t put a price on your pain and suffering, when negotiating your personal injury claim with the insurance company, you will have to try. If the adjuster offers you $1,000 for pain and suffering, come back at $3,000 and see if he increases his offer. If you want to settle your claim, you and the adjuster will have to reach some common ground on the general damages portion of your personal injury claim.

Case Study

Gender: Male

Age: 20’s

Type of accident: Male stopped at a red light is hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of him

At-fault insurance company: Allstate

Type of medical care: Chiropractic care only

Length of treatment: 2 months total

Settlement amount: His total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 1.54 times the total medical bills.

Example: $3,000 in medical bills times 1.54 equals a $4,620 total money settlement from Allstate.

Things to note: Treating with only a chiropractor or physical therapist can limit the value of your claim. This is especially true when dealing with Allstate or the other big insurance companies like Farmers and State Farm. Big insurance companies see these as “soft tissue” injuries and really don’t offer a lot of value on these types of claims. That’s not to say you should seek treatment you don’t need just to try and increase the value of your claim, but understand if you have a minor injury with only chiropractic care, your claim isn’t worth a whole lot of money.

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™.

Case Study

Gender: Female

Age: 30’s

Type of accident: Female was rear ended and had her car totaled out

At-fault insurance company: State Farm

Type of medical care: ER the day of the accident with follow up care at the chiropractor

Length of treatment: 4 months total

Settlement amount: Her total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 2.35 times the total medical bills.

Example: $4,000 in medical bills times 2.35 equals a $9,400 total money settlement from State Farm.

Things to note: The reason why large impacts can generate a larger settlement has to do with how a jury perceives larger impacts. It’s really easy to understand, a jury can relate more to a roll over and the associated damage and a higher chance of injury more so than a minor fender bender. Because of this, juries will often award more for larger impact accidents. If you are involved in a high damage accident, you should be able to get a larger award from the insurance company.

Case Study

Gender: Male

Age: 20’s

Type of accident: Male was a pedestrian hit by the at-fault driver

At-fault insurance company: Farmers

Type of medical care: Life flight to the hospital with a painful and lengthy recovery from a broken hip

Length of treatment: 4 months total

Settlement amount: His total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 1.47 times the total medical bills.

Example: $35,000 in medical bills times 1.47 equals a $51,450 total money settlement from Farmers.

Things to note: This person had a claim that should have gone to court. The insurance company was not offering near the value that the injured person would have likely received had he decided to file a lawsuit. However, he did not want to go to court and was in need of the money right away. Often times, people will accept low offers from the insurance companies because that feel they need the money ASAP. If you can show a little patience on your claim, you can avoid the trap of accepting an offer less than what you deserve.

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.