Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you how car accident settlements and claims work. We're going to cover everything from immediately after the accident through you hopefully getting your settlement money. Most car accident settlements are paid by the other driver's insurance company. In order for them to pay you, a claim needs to be set up. Every claim gets its own unique claim number. There are generally two ways that a claim is set up with the at-fault driver's insurance company. Number one, the other driver reported the claim to their insurance company. And number two, you or your lawyer report the claim to the other driver's insurance company. In car accidents with huge damage to the cars, there's a higher chance that the other driver reported the claim to their insurance company. This is because they likely want their car fixed or they are nervous about you suing them. To set up a claim, the car insurance company needs a few things. Number one, the date of the accident. Number two, their insurance policy number. And three, a short description of how the accident happened. Their car insurance company will ask you if your car was damaged. They'll also ask you if you were injured in the accident. This is so they can assign the case to the proper level insurance adjuster. More experienced adjusters handle bigger injury claims, like those involving a broken bone or surgery. Settlements for those injuries tend to be bigger. Once the claim is set up, the insurance company will start investigation. Now, just because an insurance company assigns a claim number does not mean that you will get paid. This is one of the biggest mistakes that people who are in accidents make. They assume that the other driver's insurance company will pay them since they have a claim number. This is 100% wrong. In order for you to get paid, several things need to happen. First, the at-fault driver's insurance company needs to confirm that there is insurance coverage for your accident. Just because the other driver gave the police officer or you their insurance card at the time of the accident does not mean that there is coverage. You have nothing to worry about. In order for there to be insurance coverage, the policy needs to be active at the time of the accident. In other words, the other driver must have paid their insurance bill. Also, there can't be an exclusion in their policy that would cause a denial of coverage. Exclusion is just a fancy word for coverage that is not included. The most common coverage denial is either the other car or driver is not listed on the insurance policy. If you are injured, the at-fault driver's insurance will usually assign two different adjusters to the claim. One is the property damage liability adjuster. This adjuster handles payment for damage to your car or your property like a broken cell phone or watch. The other adjuster that they'll assign is the bodily injury liability adjuster. They often call themselves the BI adjuster. The bodily injury liability adjuster handles payment to you for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If the insurance company clears coverage, this means that there is coverage for your claim. However, the adjuster still needs to determine two things. Number one, fault, which is also called liability. Number two, your damages or your injuries. To determine fault, the insurance adjuster will look at the traffic crash report. They will also try to speak with several people about how the accident happened. They'll want to speak with the driver of their insurance car, you, and any witnesses. They'll want to take your recorded statement. However, since you don't have a contract with them, you usually are not required to give them a recorded statement. One tactic that insurance adjusters use is that they tell you that they cannot pay for your car damage unless they get your recorded statement. This is not true. I've settled several cases for over $300,000 where the at-fault driver's adjuster never took my client's statement. Next, the insurance adjuster will assign a certain percentage of fault to the drivers or people involved in the accident. They may assign anywhere from zero to 100% fault to the drivers. Next, they'll want to get all your medical bills and records. They'll ask you to sign a medical authorization so that they can gather your records. You generally are not required to sign this medical authorization. The insurance company will set a reserve to pay your personal injury claim. By law, they are required to set aside a certain amount of money to pay your personal injury claim. This amount could be anywhere from $0 to a huge number. As the insurance adjuster gets more information, they can either increase or decrease the settlement reserve. Your goal is to get them to increase the settlement reserve as fast as possible. To do this, either you or your lawyer will gather and send them any medical records and bills that show how badly you were hurt. Here's a tip. It takes time for insurance companies to increase their settlement reserve. And not getting the insurance company your medical records and bills fast usually delays your settlement. The insurance adjuster will have a settlement range they can settle your case within. Unfortunately, they won't tell you what this range is. If they do, they are likely not telling you the truth. You or your lawyer will need to calculate your own value of your personal injury case. You do this by adding your out-of-pocket medical bills, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering amount. To do this, you need to know how much your pain and suffering is worth. To learn how much your pain and suffering is worth, watch this video here or click on the link in the description below. And if you're seriously injured in a car accident in Florida and you think someone else may be at fault, click on the link in the description below to see if I can represent you.