Speaker 1: Want to know some tips for your injury case that may greatly increase your settlement in a car accident, slipper trip and fall, dog attack or any type of personal injury claim? Well you're in luck because in this video I'm going to be sharing these tips I learned over several years of handling injury claims and be sure to stick around for my last tip as the last tip I provide if you do not follow this tip can completely kill your injury case. First tip, be polite but stick with your position. When you call and speak with anyone from the insurance company they are judging your character and taking notes. They want to know if you are someone that is willing to take your case the distance all the way to a trial if necessary but they really want to know how you will present to a jury. Are you someone that is going to present well to a jury? Someone a jury will like and want to award a large sum of money to. If you are rude or impatient with the insurance adjuster that will give them the impression you are not someone that is going to be very likable in front of a jury. They will take note of that and it will have a negative impact on the amount an insurance company may value your case at. Being nice and polite does not mean you don't stay strong and stick to your position that your case has significant value. You do not have to agree with everything the adjuster says about your case. So be nice but stick to your position. Don't undersell the value of your case. Second tip, provide insurance companies with all evidence. Insurance companies value injury claims based on all the evidence in your case. For instance, the more medical treatment or medical bills you have can equate to the insurance company valuing your case at a larger amount. Thus, it's crucial you provide all your evidence to the insurance company. Provide them with all your medical records and bills. If you were in a car accident and the vehicles involved sustained significant property damage, be sure to provide the photos depicting the property damage of the vehicles to the insurance company. Just as a side note, in motor vehicle accident cases, insurance companies typically value cases higher the more significant the property damage sustained by the vehicles. If you have photos depicting your injuries, provide those to the insurance company as well. For instance, maybe you had a laceration on your body, road rash, maybe you had to wear a neck brace for a certain amount of time, or maybe you had to use crutches or a cane following your accident. Be sure to take photos and send those to the insurance company. Third tip, don't believe what the adjuster says. Listen, the insurance adjuster is not your friend. They will try to bluff you into thinking your claim has little to no value or at least certainly not as much value as your case is worth. They will also say things like that they will spend a lot of money and manpower to defend your claim. It's the adjuster's job to try to help make the insurance company more money and thus get you to settle for the lowest amount possible. So when the adjuster tells you things like your case has very little value or we will never pay much money on your claim, don't believe what they say. Again, stay strong and stick to your position. If you stick with your position and don't fall for the adjuster's bluffs, you have a good shot of getting paid a fair and reasonable amount on your case so you can enjoy more cannonballs while poolside. Fourth tip, send a written demand for the policy limits or an amount higher than your claim is worth. Always start negotiations with the demand that the insurer pay you the policy limits or at least for an amount that is higher than your claim is worth. Do not sell your claim short. If the insurance company does not offer you the policy limits right after your initial demand offer, I can almost guarantee you that the insurance company is willing to offer you more to settle your case than their initial offer. You see, in response to your initial demand, the insurance company will either make you an offer for the policy limits, make you an offer for a specific amount that is not the most they are willing to offer you to settle your claim or they will deny your claim. It's not in your best interest to start off negotiations by making a demand for the amount of money your claim is worth. If you do that, it leaves you with little to no bargaining power for negotiations. Fifth tip, do not accept the first offer unless that first offer is for the policy limits. Like I just mentioned, the initial offer made by the insurance company is never, in my experience, the most amount of money the insurance company is willing to offer you to settle your claim. They will negotiate further with you. Do not accept their first offer. I've even had cases where I've eventually settled the case for 20 times or more than their initial offer. While you might not have that type of success in every case, I can almost guarantee you that if the insurance company has made you an initial offer below the insurance policy limits in your case, you can negotiate a settlement for an amount higher than the initial offer. Sixth tip, don't post on social media while your claim is pending. Any photos or information you share online can be used against you by the insurance company or their defense lawyers to try to minimize your payout. Photographs or videos posted on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media sites specifically can be harming evidence. It's best to simply stay off social media and not post anything on social media while your injury claim is pending. It's probably also best to stay out of photographs that friends or others are taking while you're out socializing or engaging in activities if you think the photograph might eventually be published on social media. The thing is, if you've been in a car accident, knowing and putting to use these claim tips that insurance adjusters hate can be helpful to the value of your injury claim. But that alone doesn't tell you if you have a fair and reasonable offer in your case. To know if the insurance company has made a fair and reasonable offer in your car accident injury case, it's crucial you know how to calculate your damages in a car accident injury claim. And in this video about to pop up here, I'll show you just how you can calculate the value of your car accident injury claim. Lastly, if you've been injured in Kentucky, remember to don't wait, call Tate.