If you’re the victim of a South Carolina car accident and wonder how to negotiate a settlement with the insurance adjuster, you’ve come to the right place. We’re about to pull back the veil on this law firm’s process to get settlements for our clients.
One question you should have is, when do I need an attorney for a South Carolina car accident case? We answer that and tell you WHY it can be critical to get a car accident lawyer in serious cases here.
If you wonder if it’s worth hiring a personal injury attorney or just need some questions answered about your case, we’re here for you as Spartanburg, South Carolina car accident attorneys. Call us toll-free at 888-230-1841 or fill out a Get Help Now form. Don’t forget to download our FREE BOOK on South Carolina car accident cases.
And without further ado…
Our Spartanburg Attorney's Six-Point Process to Negotiate a Settlement in a South Carolina Car Accident Case
Here are the strategies and tactics we use to get our clients settlements in South Carolina car accident cases:
1. Investigate the facts to prove you are not at fault in the car accident.
Naturally, we get a clear understanding of how the wreck occurred from your viewpoint when you come to our office for your FREE, EASY strategy session. Then we gather other evidence, like:
- The police report. For extremely serious car accidents, especially fatal accidents, we may be able to use extensive evidence developed by a special unit of the highway patrol called the MAIT team.
- Pictures of the crash, especially showing crashed vehicles and the scene, if you have any. If it’s a serious enough crash, we might get these from police evidence, especially if the accident got investigated by the MAIT team as mentioned above.
- If there are witnesses we can contact, we track them down to get their statements.
- If you are the victim of a South Carolina drunk driving accident, the evaluation takes a whole different turn. We assess possible punitive damages against the drunk driver and consider making a case against any bar or restaurant that sold the driver alcohol leading to the accident.
2. Find and use medical evidence.
You do likely have to pay your medical bills from a South Carolina car accident settlement, so you need to know how that’s done, especially if you have health insurance or benefits like Medicare or Medicaid.
The simple answer is, we pay them for you from the settlement. Often, we’re able to negotiate a discount for prompt repayment.
Just getting providers to hand over the bills and records can be a frustrating, lengthy process requiring tons of follow-ups. It’s so challenging I have a dedicated staff member whose only job is to do just that!
But we don’t just gather the records and sling them at the insurance company. We study them for a full understanding of the medical impact of your injuries. That helps us value your case.
We may take it a step further, even meeting with your doctors to get powerful and brief questionnaires answered that clearly summarize the clinical extent of your injuries and what that can mean for your future. We are especially careful to preserve your right to a settlement, including future medical care if you’re going to require that as a result of your South Carolina car accident.
3. Prove how the injuries affected you.
A big question many victims have is, how much can you get for pain and suffering in a South Carolina car accident case? The truth is, it varies from case to case.
And let me dispel an awful rumor that can’t even qualify as “fake news”: there is no pain and suffering calculator for accident cases. That’s because every victim is unique, so each victim’s life is affected differently by his or her injuries.
And in South Carolina, “pain and suffering” is more than just pain and suffering, so I call it human loss.
This is one of the most critical parts of your case. We work closely with you so we can understand what you’re going through to help us present your case more convincingly to the insurance company to help generate a maximum settlement. For especially severe injuries, we may meet with you several times to develop this.
Another critical part of this analysis includes how much work you missed. We'll work to make sure we've accurately calculated every penny of lost income you're owed, and even enlist your employer to verify it,
If you're married, your spouse actually has their own case for damage caused to your marriage from your injuries. It's called "loss of consortium," and it doesn't mean you've got to prove injuries brought you to the brink of divorce. It's a settlement recognizing those injuries caused your spouse to miss out on what you do to make your marriage strong- helping them, bringing comfort and joy to their life in various and unique ways.
4. Evaluate how much we should ask for in a settlement and discuss it with you.
We don’t just throw a settlement offer out there without discussing it with the most important person in the room—you! Once we have all the evidence, we consider all relevant factors to help you understand how much of a settlement you’re entitled to in your South Carolina car accident case. We give you a written settlement evaluation in honest, real terms. Together, we set a settlement goal and set out to achieve it!
5. Send a demand letter to the insurance company.
Basically, a demand letter summarizes why it’s a good idea for the insurance company to pay a settlement for your South Carolina car accident case. Our demand letter is often the culmination of months of work if you’ve suffered a severe injury, as we gather all of your medical bills and records and present a complete picture of what you went through as a result of the car accident.
Our demand letter may be the last in a series of letters we’ve sent the adjuster with medical bills and records, plus our analysis of them, along with a progress report on what you’ve suffered up to that point. Sending several packages to adjusters is the best way to get a faster settlement in severe injury cases, as we’ve found adjusters, like most people, have only so many hours in the day. When you dump hundreds of pages of evidence on them, they have to find long periods of time to carve out to review it properly. So it’s easier and better to gather the evidence and present it to the adjuster as your case moves along.
6. Insurance company negotiations and the next step, if they won’t settle.
As we negotiate with the adjuster to reach a settlement, we keep you updated on progress, so you’ll know where things stand and can give your input on every critical step in the settlement process. Hopefully, it ends with the satisfaction of realizing your goal to settle your car accident case for the right amount.
Sometimes insurance companies just don’t do the right thing. If they refuse to settle for a proper amount, we file a lawsuit and begin the litigation process. By the time we do that, we’ve got your case worked up so well that all that’s left to do is make final preparations to present it to a jury if we’re called to trial. However, the vast majority of cases settle way before then—sometimes, it just takes extra work to get the insurance company to do the right thing.
An Early Part of the Settlement Process That Cannot Be Overlooked
A critical consideration in most South Carolina car accident cases is how much insurance is available to pay a settlement? We address that primary concern as soon as you hire us, which includes an investigation of your own car insurance since wise consumers [or those who have really good insurance agents] can actually have a type of coverage that covers you if the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough insurance.
Getting a South Carolina Car Accident Case Settled Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Our mission is to help deserving victims recover proper settlements for what they’ve undergone. You give us the burden, and we handle the dirty work to get your South Carolina car accident case settled the right way. Meanwhile, you can focus on recovering and getting back to a normal life.
If you’re looking for help from a Spartanburg car accident attorney, look no further. You can contact us with a live chat, fill out a Get Help Now form, or call toll-free at 888-230-1841.
And we’re not afraid if you need to see what others say about us. In fact, we welcome it. Check out what real clients have said about us on an attorney review website we don’t own and Google.
|
Related Links: |
