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.

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.

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.

Case Study

Gender: Male

Age: 20’s

Type of accident: The at-fault driver sideswiped his car after losing control in wet conditions

At-fault insurance company: American Family

Type of medical care: First seen at an InstaCare and then had follow up therapy with a chiropractor

Length of treatment: 2 months total

Settlement amount: His total money offer (medical bills and pain and suffering) was 2.91 times the total medical bills.

Example: $5,000 in medical bills times 2.91 equals a $14,550 total money settlement from American Family.

Things to note: Not only did he have the typical whiplash type injury but this claim had additional value placed on it because of the injury to the foot. The pain was very severe and it hurt to put pressure on it. Because everyone has to walk around, that extra pain put extra money in his pocket.

We are now entering week 4 of my wife’s injury claim. At this point, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take our Free Crash Evaluator™ and find out what kind of an injury claim we are looking at. Keep in mind that her injury can still change and I will probably have to take the Crash Evaluator again after she has completed treatment if her injury gets worse of any of the variables to her personal injury case change.

As you can see, based on her current status, the Crash Evaluator™ suggests she may have a claim that she can settle on her own. However, I need to point out one word of caution. SHE IS STILL TREATING. You never want to settle your claim while you are actively treating with a medical professional. If you settle your claim and you have to go back to the doctor for injuries related to the auto accident, you will be the one paying out of pocket for any additional care.

The next step for my wife and her claim is to finish her treatment. At that point, we will begin to gather all of her medical bills and records to get ready to submit our demand package to the insurance adjuster. All of the tactics that I am using for my wife’s claim are contained in our Personal Injury Settlement Booklet™. No matter what stage you are at in your injury claim, our Personal Injury Settlement Booklet™ can help you get the most out our your injury claim.

Since the accident my wife was in happened on a Friday afternoon, we weren’t able to get in contact with the adjuster until after the weekend. On Monday morning, I called over to Progressive to set up the claim and talk with the adjuster. After giving him the details that I wanted to give him and being light on details on the ones he wanted, he asked if he could set up an appointment to meet with my wife. I said that would be fine and we scheduled an appointment for Wednesday.

Wednesday came and my wife and I were driving to meet with the adjuster. I took a few minutes in the car to give my wife some pointers so that she would be prepared for what the adjuster was going to ask her. I could have predicted the conversation any better than I did. In fact, you can call me Nostradamus because the adjuster was word for word on what I told my wife to expect. The key points of the conversation went as follows with some inserted commentary for your benefit:

Adjuster: So, tell me about your injury?

Wife: Well, right now I have some pretty severe headaches that are constant all the time. Also, my neck and back are pretty sore.

Adjuster: How bad do you think it is? (Loaded question, if you say, “oh its not that bad or I think I’ll be okay” look out because he will use this against you later on)

Wife: I don’t know how bad it is right now. I went to the ER and they said I should see some improvement by the end of the weekend. If it wasn’t getting better or if it was getting worse, they told me I should start some therapy. (Notice how she uses the doctors opinions to answer this question. Instead of giving her opinion on the injury, she deferred it to the professionals)

Adjuster: Well since you are hurt, can you sign this release of information so I can start gathering your medical records?

Me: No. Instead of letting you gather her records, we will gather them for you and submit them to you as we get them. (If you sign their release of information, you lose control over what they see. You want to submit what you want them to see and not let them have unbridled access to your medical history)

Adjuster: Ok, that’s fine. Let me tell you what we can do for you. I can offer you $750 today to have you sign a release. We at Progressive don’t have to offer you anything, but we are willing to give you something to show you we are all about customer service.  We at Progressive just want you to have the best experience possible during these stressful times. (This offer is NOT about customer service. This offer is intended to get the file off of the adjusters desk. It is also Progressive trying to limit the amount they have to pay out on this claim to line their pockets with bigger profits. This offer goes out to every single person. If someone accepts this offer this early in their claim, the insurance company wins. The longer your claim is open, the larger the likelihood you will have increased medical bills. That means the larger the amount that Progressive or any insurance company will be required to pay out on any given claim eating into their posh profits)

Me: I appreciate your offer, but we are in no hurry to settle. We want to make sure that we fully explore my wife’s injury to make sure she doesn’t have anything too serious wrong with her. Once she is done with treatment, we can discuss settlement at that time. (The only time you should consider accepting any offer from the insurance company is after you have finished your treatment. Once you accept the offer from the insurance company and your case is closed, you can’t re-open it. That means any additional medical bills you incur after you accept the offer will be your responsibility to pay)

We left our meeting with that and told him that we would keep him updated along the way. Next time, my wife takes our Crash Evaluator and the results will be published.