This writer has to be careful not to step over the line of giving legal advise. I am Not a Attorney.

Having said that let me start by saying that is how you save a third of any insurance settlement. Many of us have been involved in an automobile accident and most of us have suffered the increase premiums passed on to the consumer public as a result of that, but let me emphasis that increase in premiums is not only attributed to automobile accidents your credit rating,geographic location, type of vehicle you own and age of driver are only a few other factors calculated into premiums. But whatever it is it will always be too high for us the consumer public and the best we can get out of this is an competive quote by a rival insurance company names will remain unsaid in that basicly all insurance companies work on the premise of profitability any thing over a dollar in expense ratio will surely creat a management decision regarding the livelyhood of their front line of Claim personnel.

We do not need to be bombarkd(?) with attorneys sending material or calling to say they will handle everything and unless there was a severe injury or death you as an individual can settle any insurance claim for damage to your vehicle and medical bills provided you are a responsible person to get things done per request of insurance companies.

Let us proceed on a listing basis as to how you can resolve your case without the benefit of an attorney and save one third of your proceeds. Image getting a 7,500 to 12,750 settlement and having to pay 1,750-4,275.00 to your representative right off the bat!

(1) Contact the insurance company be it yours or the "other guy's" Depending on which you chose determines what you will receive as far as what is owed to you.

If you proceed under your own coverage with your company then you are dealing with a contractual agreement(you pay a premium and Company provides certain coverages for that amount of premium). You may or may not have rental coverage under your policy, you may have a small amount of medical coverage available somewhere between 1,000-5,000 dollars per person in your vehicle,You will have a deductible between 100-1000 dollars to be immediately reduce from the automobile estimate,example being a 4,500.00 repair bill less a 1,000.00 deductible reflects your insurance paying 3,500.00. You would recieve your $1,000.00 upon your company collecting from the at fault driver-you at fault no recovery-the other guy at fault then how much @100% or had it been determined you were attributing cause to the accident by so much of per cent then your reimbursement on the car would reflect 1000.00 deductible less your per cent of liability contributing a net recovery of any where from 90 to nil per cent.

Your health insurance will pay your medical bill but they get reimbursed by your automobile carrier this term is known as subrogation rights. Remember your 1,000 to 5,000 medical coverage under your automobile coverage? Suppose to you had in excess of 5,000.00 in medical payment with 5,000 under the auto policy you would be at zero and owe nothing,but say your medical bills were Less than your automobile medical limits then your health carrier would be coming for the amount paid on your behalf . Example You have any where between 1,000-5,000 limits and the bills are say 2,500.00,then at 1,000 to 2,000 dollars no reimbursement expected,but at 3,000,4000 and 5,000 the health carrier recieves 500.00,1,500.00 or 2,500.00 in reimbursement.

The catch here is the Patient is RESPONSIBLE for any medical bills at any hospital or medical facility. Look out now because you do not have the amount requested thereby unable to make a 30-60-90-120 day payment resulting in Collections and there goes that credit rating! Remember it was part of your premiums calculation.

Your second option in the beginning was to go after the "other guy"s insurance policy. Whoa! First, the insurance company needs a week to 10 days to "investigate" the liability issue and they have up to 30 days under working conditions to give you a yes or no responds in taking care of your claim. Second, You receive no benefits until that has been established by the "other guys" insurance, although, they are right in there taking care of their insured car and any medical bills. Again, remember "the other guy" has a contractual agreement entitling him to get service(premiums vs.coverage). So you feel like you are in a catch 22 situation?

You are ,what happens to you in your company is what happens to you in the "other guys" company the only difference lies in using a limited set of rules with your own carrier vs. the rule of nothing happening until Liability is decided by the other guy"s insurance and remember this you have NO guarantee that you will recieve a 100% reimbursement or entitlement. The 90-nil attributed to you reflect % of recovery your going to achieve.

2) Rental car issue

If you carry that coverage you will be covered for a maximum of 30 days @ a given rate and you will only receive that rate until your vehicle is ready for the road,. For example it took two week 14 days it's paid, but you do not recieve the other 16 days of rate in CASH!

If the other guy carrier is handling it. You get unlimited time in a rental,but normally only 30 days, unless your vehicle has been determined to be a Total Loss that is the value of repairs to your car exceed the value of your car even if you hold payments in excess of what the Total Loss evaluation dictates. You would still owe your creditor the balance, unless you had Gap insurance usually purchased at time of a vehicle sale. It covers the total loss evaluation and the difference financially to your creditor. Good Idea!

The bad side is that you would have a 1-2 day additional time in any rental car until you would be personally responsible to pay those charges.

3) Complete any insurance forms that are sent or a verbal recorded conversation taken regarding the facts of the accident-Remember NEVER volunteer information unless you are specially asked the question. Such as Do you have a health issue ,or wear glasses ,or were you wearing the required seatbelt as prescribed in many states throughout our fair land ):

4) Medical bills

I can not stress the importance of this but get or keep ALL and ANY receipts that you incurr with regard to medical treatment,time loss from work, any additional expense you incurred that you would not normally had to use such as rental on a walker or cane,additional housekeeping assistance( Prefer non immediate family) and any expenses on your automobile damage that was NOT covered by your policy. The loss or Damage of personal property at the time, laptop,glasses,neighbor lawn mower and such.

Keep all assigned medical or rehabilitation appointments,log of your travel and daily activities recording your pain,medication and personal demeanor. Copies of all medical bills no matter how small such as a 10.00 prescription from your local pharmacy.

5) Loss of work

Be precise on the number of hours and rate of pay which can be verified through your human resource department.

All this will occur between date of the accident and completion of your medical treatment. It could be drawn out for 1-2 or more years depending on your individual State of Residency, example Indiana is 2 years from the date of the accident.

Therefore, unless you personally plan on exceeding the States Statute of Limations which then would require your immediate representation prior to the date of limitation that can go up to one or day of statute prior to midnight. I strongly advise a consult if that happens to you.Otherwise I am still able to help you save at least a third of the insurance settlement.

6)Settlement Time!!

Contact your insurance adjuster and have his name,telephone number, and the claim number assigned to you at the first call of reporting. Be sure, you have the right claim number in that if you contacted your carrier as well as "the other guy'" you will have recieved two different claim numbers representing each carrier separately.

Collect all the bills and add them up, add your loss wages to that total. Now determine how you had felt Did you suffer any Broken Bones? Did you suffer a muscle injury? or was it nothing more than a knot on the head and bruises? Each has it's own level of settlement and unless you can prove a permanent disability or partial (verified by Social Security) or Death do not expect Policy Limits on a Headache!

I suggest you receive total of your medical bill, loss wages, plus a term called "Pain and Suffering" which is like punitive damages in a jury trial, remember Paul Newman in the Verdict? or John Travolta in Civil Action? No one can realistic put a value on a injury. We do have a moral and business obiligation to be REASONABLE in any offer of settlement.

Therefore in conclusion, In our above example and to be reasonable(which we can now do in that our settlement is not being decreased or shared by outside influences) a total times three rule would apply- one for medical total-one for compenstion to actual expenses and finally one for the term "pain and suffering"equals total settlement to YOU and not the OTHER guy.