What You Need to Know About Settlement Offers

By Thomas Greer | April 13, 2014

If you have been involved in an automobile accident, do not be surprised if the other driver’s insurance company offers you a settlement shortly after the crash. If you have recently received a settlement offer, you are probably wondering whether or not you should accept it. When you receive a settlement offer, the most important thing for you to know is that the decision of whether to accept that settlement offer is yours and yours alone. While you could evaluate the settlement offer on your own, many people find it helpful to evaluate settlement offers with help of a Tennessee automobile accident attorney. A skilled automobile accident attorney can help you to understand whether a particular settlement offer will adequately compensate you for the injuries and damages that you sustained.

Settlement offers are prepared by insurance adjusters, so keep this in mind as you read through the offer that you have received. It is the adjuster’s job to represent the interest of the insurance company, so they have created the settlement offer with that interest in mind. In case you are wondering what the interest of the insurance company is, it is to settle each claim as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Since the settlement offer was not prepared with your interest in mind, you must determine whether or not the proposed settlement offer will adequately compensate you for the full extent of your injuries and all of the damage that your vehicle sustained in the accident. Keep in mind that an initial settlement offer may come to you before you know the full extent of your injuries and damages. If this happens, let the adjuster know that you cannot think about accepting the offer until you are able to know more about the extent of your injuries and damages.

If you do know the full extent of your injuries, and the cost of all of your damages, you can evaluate the settlement offer. First, you will need to add up what the accident has cost you so far and estimate any future costs. To do this, gather the repair bills or estimates for repair work for your vehicle. If the vehicle has been declared a total loss, obtain documentation of its value. Add up all of your medical bills to date. Do not forget to consider any extra costs that you may have incurred such as lost wages, temporary transportation, and things like that. If your injuries will require treatment into the future, such as physical therapy or a series of surgeries, obtain estimates of the cost of your future treatment from your doctor. The total of all of the aforementioned costs is an estimate of what the accident has cost you to date, as well as the future costs that you can reasonably anticipate.

Your estimate of what your accident will end up costing you is a good standard against which you can measure settlement offers. When you compare your estimate to the settlement offer that you have received, do not be surprised to find that the offer is too low to fully compensate you for your injuries and damages. If a settlement offer comes close to your estimate, check your numbers again and make sure that you have not forgotten to consider any type of costs. In deciding whether or not to accept a settlement offer, remember not to sell yourself short. You have a right to be compensated for all of your injuries and the damage to your vehicle, and you have the power to accept or reject any settlement offer which is proposed to you.

The experienced Tennessee automobile accident attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC offer caring and compassionate assistance to accident victims and their families. To learn more, call us at 901-680-9777 to schedule a time to discuss your case.  At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.

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