What should I consider before accepting an insurance company settlement payment?

With a car accident injury claim: settle or go to court are the two common results. If you’ve been in an accident and the insurance company responsible for compensating you offers you a settlement amount to avoid the courtroom, or in cases where you’ve already entered court proceedings and the insurance company has offered you a settlement as a result, you need to be extremely careful before accepting any offer the insurance company makes. The motive is the first thing you should consider, because typically if an insurance company is offering to settle on an amount of compensation outside of court, it means they are most likely thinking they’ll have to pay out more if the matter goes in front of a jury. A few other things to consider before accepting a compensation settlement are: 

• Whether or not the settlement amount will be enough to cover all of your loss and/or damages that were suffered in the accident. Will your time off of work be paid for? Will the settlement pay all of your medical expenses?
• Any settlement offer usually means an agreement stating you will not attempt to sue the insurance company for any further compensation, so make sure you get what you feel you are entitled to.

Before you accept any offer from an insurance company for any type of accident, if you’re unsure about any part of the agreement you should consult a lawyer immediately to examine the settlement terms. They can help you decide whether or not the settlement agreement will be in your favor or the insurance company’s.