Adjusters try to estimate the worth of a claim made by an injured accident victim. An understanding of the worth provides adjusters with an indication of how to proceed with the claim’s investigation.
Each adjuster knows which of any claimant’s losses must be compensated.
• The medical expenses
• The lost income
• Any damage due to development of a disability, or problems related to a disfigurement
• Loss of family, social or educational experiences
• Pain and suffering- Stress, embarrassment, depression, damaged property
Many adjusters use a formula, when calculating the worth of a given claim.
One of the figures in that formula functions as a multiplier. It usually falls between 1.5 and 5, depending on the seriousness of the victim’s injury. The multiplier is one factor in a multiplication operation. The other factor is the sum for all of the totals from the different medical bills.
Once the adjuster has learned the product of that multiplication operation, he or she must add to that the value for the claimant’s lost income. That formula does not tell the adjuster the exact value of the submitted claim. However, it does function as all adjusters’ source of guidance. The number achieved by using that formula becomes the starting point for each adjuster’s initial bid.
Other methods for estimating a claim’s worth:
Some insurance adjusters translate the claimant’s costs into a figure that can represent the cost for each day of a claimant’s recovery. The adjuster then uses that calculated figure, by carrying out another multiplication operation.
That second multiplication operation involves using both the estimate of the daily cost and the number of days within the recovery period. Those 2 figures are multiplied together. The product of that multiplication provides some adjusters with a figure that can be used at the start of negotiations.
Today, an increasing number of insurance companies have chosen to use a software program, when trying to establish the worth of specific claim. That software can take into consideration the type of doctor used by the claimant. Insurers tend to offer a lower compensation, if a claimant has been seen by a chiropractor, as per Personal Injury Lawyer in Richmond Hill.
In the past, no adjuster’s approach included a method for deciding how the claimant’s choice of a doctor should affect the size of the submitted claim’s worth. Today, though, that is no longer a problem, due to the availability of useful software programs.
Regardless of the method used, one thing remains the same. The adjuster uses the estimate of a given claim’s worth to arrive at the figure that ought to be put forward during the start of negotiations. That approach seems to end any efforts that might reflect an attempt to make a low-ball bid.