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Accidents happen every day. People get injured at home, in their cars, at work, or outdoors. In fact, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention puts the number of emergency department visits for unintentional injuries at 31.0 million annually.
Whenever an accident or injury occurs, there are provisions for making a personal injury claim from the person or company that’s responsible for your accident or injury.
So whether it’s a car crash, maritime accident, or an injury through domestic violence, you can always make a claim and get compensation for your injury.
Again, personal injury protection is available primarily in no-fault states, meaning that if you get injured in a car crash, your insurance policy will pay for your medical care regardless of whether you caused the accident or another driver did as long as the accident itself is covered by the policy.
But how do you ensure that you’re paid your claims without delay? Here are 3 tips that would help you.
Keep your accident record
The first and most important step is to keep record of the accident. You must be able to support your claims with necessary documents such as picture evidence, police report, medical report and video footage.
This is because insurance companies are fond of looking for loopholes in your claims in order to delay or undervalue your settlement pay-outs. So if you don’t have any evidence to back up your claims, you might lose part of your claims.
Involve a personal injury attorney
This is very important if you can’t represent yourself before an adjuster. With insurance companies looking to minimize settlement pay-outs due to an injury victim’s naivety, you need the services of an experienced personal injury attorney.
You need good legal representation; whether it is a quick settlement, an auto accident claim, the highest possible compensation, coverage for your medical expenses, or admission by the negligent party of what was done to you.
Avoid common negotiation mistakes
If there’s one easy way of thwarting your chances to receive your injury claims quickly, it’s by making silly mistakes. These mistakes could occur right from the accident scene into the negotiation stage.
For example, making verbal assaults, suggesting that you could have been at fault, and threatening to file law suit, are mistakes that would affect your insurance claim. Whatever utterances you make could make or mar your chances of receiving your full claims.
Again, you must be careful during negotiation not to play into the hands of claim adjusters. Don’t be too friendly with your adjuster; give recorded statements, admit to have pre-existing injuries, or tell lies. But always be on the defensive and watch every word you utter.
You must keep calm, and never jump at a first offer. You should also have a settlement amount in mind by calculating your economic and general damages. Lastly, you must realize that hiring a personal injury attorney might seem expensive, but working with an experienced one will definitely help you claim your full compensation without undue delay.