In life, accidents can happen. If you have gotten into an accident and you got injured, then you should know that you need to get a personal injury lawyer right away. Most cases take somewhere between six months to a year to settle. However, depending on your case, the negotiations might take longer.
Here are a few tips that can help you reach a higher settlement.
Establish Liability
If you are about to set out for a personal injury settlement, the first thing you should do is establish liability. What this means is that the insurance companies are going to do their research and wonder who caused the accident. With the help of a lawyer, you want to get that taken care of as soon as possible.
What this means is that you need to keep your evidence of photographs at the scene, talk to the witnesses, and, if you are able to – get the police report. Usually, you will receive an accident exchange sheet that will give you the report number.
You will want to track down all that information so you can try to establish the liability of who caused the accident right off the bait.
Don’t Give Recorded Statements
Another secret tip that you can do to increase the amount of your personal injury settlement is to not give statements to any of the insurance companies that might contact you for this. What this means is that you will have both insurance companies to deal with – your own and the other person’s insurance company.
The insurance companies will call you and request a statement from you. If you contact a lawyer, we advise you to contact a lawyer right away, such as one of the Saginaw Personal Injury Attorneys if you live in Saginaw, and the lawyer will advise you the same, which is to hold off on giving any statements.
When it comes to statements, not only should you avoid giving statements about the accident but also about your injuries. You may want to do this later, but only after you have thoroughly consulted with the attorney.
The point is that you don’t want to get ticked because these insurance companies do everything they can to try to prevent paying you out in their claims. The insurance companies only have their best interest in mind, which is why they will do everything they can to minimize the potential amount that they are going to pay.
See A Doctor As Soon As Possible
The next tip to increase your chances for a higher personal injury settlement includes the aspect of getting diagnosed with any injuries that you might have by a doctor. What this means is that if you have an injury, you should not just sit on it and assume that the insurance companies will give you credit for that injury based on what you tell them.
In other words, you need to have a professional doctor diagnose your injury, so you might have to make an appointment with your primary health caregiver. If you have already been to the hospital, you will need to have referrals that you need to follow up with to get those scheduled.
Seeing a doctor as soon as possible is very important, and you should not delay it at any cost. You want to have the medical documents with you right from the start, as your injury settlement and financial compensation will rely on it greatly.
Listen to Your Doctor
This tip is directly linked with the tip that we shared before. You should follow the treatment plan that your doctor gives you. This aspect is pretty much self-explanatory, but it gets difficult with people who are in injuries and car accidents.
When you are fighting for a fair personal injury settlement, then you already have a lot going on. So, to double your personal injury settlement, what you want to do is make sure that you follow up with all of your doctor’s orders.
You must follow the treatment that your doctor has recommended. Also, make sure you go to all of your appointments and try not to miss any of them. If you need to get transportation in line, you need to try your best to get that worked out. Or, you might want to work with someone who will help you get that done.
Keep in mind that you will be ordering your records, and you want to have a full set that shows all of your progress.
Hire An Expert
You can also make the most of your personal injury settlement by hiring an expert who can follow up with any deficiencies and outstanding issues in your case. If there is a problem with liability, you need to get someone to review your police reports, go to the scene, perform an accident reconstruction, etc.
If you have pre-existing injuries or health conditions and the insurance company is telling you that the accident didn’t cause any of the injuries, you might need to have an expert involved to give their expert opinion about whether your injuries are the result of the most recent accident or not.
Collect All of Your Full Bills and Records
Another piece of advice is to get your full bills and records. There might be personal injury cases where you might need an attorney to get involved to reach a higher settlement. However, you might not need an attorney for some of the personal injury settlements.
However, whatever the case is, accumulating your full bills and medical records is one of the initial steps that you need to have in place to make sure that you are on the right track from the very start. So, you must take this step very seriously and get your full bills and records.
After you get out of the hospital or after you are done with the treatment, you should go to the provider and request them for your full bills and records. Get those in order, and this can take some time, but you should prioritize this task.
If you already have a lawyer, they might be doing all of this for you. But if you are trying to handle your personal injury settlement on your own, then you must take care of all of your medical bills and records.
