When you get hurt in an accident and submit a claim, an insurance company will come back with a settlement offer. Most of the time, this offer is too low to actually help you deal with the expenses of the accident. This is why we rarely recommend that people take the first offer they are given. Instead, they should meet with our Washington D.C. injury attorneys to learn more about how we help our clients fight for better compensation offers.
Why is the First Offer From an Insurance Company Usually Too Low?
If an insurance company absolutely has to pay out due to an accident, it’s going to try and get away with paying as little as possible. It can send a victim an offer that looks significant and then the insurer often tries to rush the recipient into settling. Maybe an adjuster will tell you that there is no time to negotiate, but they are not being truthful. You can still take the time to seriously consider the insurer’s offer and whether or not you should hire a lawyer.
Can I Calculate My Own Damages?
There is one thing that you should do before accepting any offer from an insurance company. You should calculate your own damages by adding up:
- Lost wages
- Medical expenses
- Property damages
- The cost of your pain and suffering
The first three are easy enough to add up with documents like medical bills, pay stubs, and estimates for repairs, but what about the last one? How do you calculate pain and suffering?
You can use the “multiplier,” the same one that the insurance companies use. Take your medical expenses and multiply them by a number between 1 and 5. Settling for one with a decimal, like 2.5, is also okay. The higher the number, the more severe your injuries and the tougher your recovery. The number this equation gives you should be your compensation for pain and suffering.
So if you have fairly serious injuries and $10,000 in medical bills, maybe you’ll pick a multiplier of 3. That means that your damages for pain and suffering should be around $30,000.
What Can I Do If an Insurance Company Acts in Bad Faith?
Sometimes an insurance company just acts in bad faith. Its adjustors ignore clear evidence and just make low offers in the hopes that you’ll go away. A lawyer from our firm can help you hold a company that acts like this responsible.
Talk to an Attorney Today
If you were hurt in an accident and you are looking for compensation, you do not have to go it alone. Contact Trombly & Singer, PLLC to schedule a consultation with our attorneys. We can tell you more about your legal options and what we can do to help you win a larger settlement.
