Can you settle your own bodily injury claim?
Settling a bodily injury claim has more to do with good negotiation skills than with legal or medical knowledge. The pure basics of any negotiation apply to this type of settlement. You want to display your strengths and hide your weaknesses.
In order to know you strengths, you need to know your rights under the insurance policy and under your state statutes. In the medical end, you want to show that your injury is a painful and that it will have lingering issues later on. To be able to cover you basis in the medical aspect, you need to read your medical records. It is very important that you know what your doctors say about your health. Adjusters will read your medical records to uncover anything that would devalue your claim.
Equally, you want to uncover any information that would add value to your claim. Anything that your medical doctor says that hinders your recovery will add value to your claim.
Once you know what to look for and acquire your records, you can negotiate with the upper hand and not allow the insurance adjuster tell you what the records say. Do not take anything they tell you at face value. Always double check that what they are telling you is completely true.
