When you first get your insurance settlement from your insurance company, there is typically a sense of both excitement and relief… that is, of course, until you actually see the number on the check.
“That’s not enough to help me!”
Luckily for you, you don’t have to accept the first amount of money that your insurance company offers you for your insurance claim. Most insurance companies have processes in place that allow you to negotiate with them and find ways to increase the amount of money that you would be receiving.
So you might be asking yourself “How do I negotiate with my insurance company?”
Here are our tips to help you do just that!
Understand your policy
Most insurance policyholders probably haven’t reviewed their entire policy since they bought it. For some, it might have even been decades since the last time they reviewed what their insurance policy covers. In order to properly negotiate your insurance settlement, you need to be hyper-aware of what your policy actually covers and what the terms of your policy are.
Many times, insurance companies will assume they are working with someone that knows nothing about their policy and will try to ignore important pieces of it in order to give you a lower claim.
We know…. reading your insurance policy doesn’t sound like a good time, but reviewing it from time to time really won’t take all that long and could end up helping you in a big way!
Document everything
One of the biggest “gotchas!” an insurance company will try to pull in order to get you a lower settlement is a lack of documentation. In the insurance company’s eyes, if it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
Especially when it comes to negotiating, having pictures, videos, and other documents that can help display the extent of damage and how that damage took place will help you greatly in making sure you are treated fairly.
With the proper documentation of events, you set yourself up for an easy negotiation where there are very few questions from the insurance company.
Be incredibly thorough
It’s all about the details! If you have ever gone through the insurance claim process before, you know how difficult, complex and hard to understand it is. And this fact is not something that happened by accident.
Insurance companies know that all the complex details of a claim mean that it is much easier for someone to miss something. Even if that thing is small, insurance companies will use it as an excuse to deny your claim altogether or give you a lesser settlement. Don’t let them have the opportunity to do that!
Be incredibly detailed with everything that you are putting together for the insurance company. Double, and even triple-check your claim to be sure nothing is going to be missed!
Get professional help if you need it
At the end of the day, negotiating with an insurance company just isn’t something a lot of people are good at or enjoy doing.
Luckily for you, that’s why we are here!
We have successfully negotiated hundreds of insurance settlements for our clients. Insurance companies know, when you hire a public adjuster, that your settlement is something that they cannot mess around with. The earlier in the process you involve a public adjuster, the smoother and easier your overall claim process will go. But even if you have gotten to the point of needing to negotiate with the insurance company, we will have your back!
