A car insurance company’s number one goal is to make money, they are not on your side.
Since no two accidents are the same, a settlement offer for an accident will vary from one to the next. A car insurance company’s number-one goal is not to make sure that the injured individual gets all that they are entitled to and is fairly compensated. In fact, their job is often to limit how much they have to pay someone in an accident. There are formulas that they use to calculate how much your accident is worth. These formulas are often not fair and don’t always cover all that you may need when injured.
If you have been in a car accident, you may be entitled to both non-economic and economic damages. Non-economic damages are things like pain and suffering and emotional distress, which are highly subjective. Although economic damages can be determined through specific documentation – like medical bills and lost wages, which can’t really be altered by the insurance company – non-economic damages are more difficult to put a price on.
Factors the Insurance Company Will Use
The Amount of Damage Done to Your Vehicle
If there isn’t a whole lot of damage done to your automobile, the insurance company will claim that your injuries must also be minor. The problem is that many injuries that you can sustain in a car accident have very little to do with the condition of the car. Neck, spine, ligament and back injuries can all be very severe and do not require the car to be damaged very seriously.
The adjuster will likely measure the damage done to your car and estimate your injuries accordingly, which can be a huge mistake. That is why having medical documentation is so important. The calculation of non-economic damages should be estimated not on the state of the car, but on the nature of your injuries according to your medical needs.
Whether You Sought Treatment Immediately
Insurance companies will often claim that if you didn’t seek medical attention immediately, then the injuries could not have been that bad. The problem is that many injuries that you sustain in a car accident may seem minor in the beginning but can become more extensive over time. So when you seek medical treatment is very important to your case.
Even if you think that it is just a minor bruise or soreness, you have to rule critical injuries out to ensure that you get all that you are entitled to. If you don’t know what is lurking underneath the surface of your injury, you may not get the money you deserve to take care of the medical treatment you might need in the future.
Insurance companies seek to minimize what they have to pay for in an auto accident. This means the way that they interpret your damages and injuries in your Missouri accident are going to be far less than if they were calculated by a St. Louis car accident attorney. That is why, if you are dealing with an insurance company, it is imperative to have legal representation to fully understand what you are entitled to. If you don’t know how to calculate what your injuries and damages are worth, then there is no way to know if your settlement offer is fair or not.