How should I negotiate a settlement from an insurance company in regards to an auto accident?

My car was wrecked two times on two different occasions about a week apart from each other. Both were not my fault and both insured parties are insured by different companies. The first was when a car backed into my front bumper. The second totaled my car (rear ended) and I want to make sure that I am not taken advantage of from the claims adjusters. How can I legally seek the most monetary gain without hiring an attorney for the second accident? My girlfriend who is on my policy, along with my 2-month-old son were both in the car at the time. The first parties insurance company will settle with me and cash me out instead of paying to repair my car because my car is now a total loss.
A good website or someone with personal experience in an issue like this will be most beneficial.
Thanks.

If you had not seen a doctor after the first accident, it is not worth very much. If you had seen a doctor, and you went back to the same doctor, you may be able to have that person differentiate what injuries were from the first accident and what happened in the second. The law assumes that the sedond accident eclipsed or ended the injuries from the first, unless you can get testimony from a medically trained person that the effects of the first continued in some way past the first accident. As to negotiation, you can apply this rule of thumb, your claim includes any out of pocket loses, (medical costs, hiring the neighbor to cut your lawn because your doctor told you not to do work, lost work hours [even if you got paid sick leave, as by using the sick leave, you will not have it later, so you get paid twice for the same lost work] and an amount to cover the hassle of having to be in the accident. Some people call this pain & suffering, but no one can pay me enough to have to go through pain. But it is a value of what a group of people might award you if they had to experience what you did. Say you are bed ridden for two weeks, well that ought to be worth enough money to go to Hawaii for a two week vacation - do the math. Say you are then able to get up and get to work, but you tire alot and end up huritng some before the end of the day. Say that lasts four weeks. Well what is it worth to have had to go through this, maybe the cost of tickets to three sporting events. If you get totally well, your claim has about that kind of value. Now if you are permanently injured, well what will it take for you to have to pay someone to take care of certain things for you that you can not do for yourself again. What would it cost to have a person work for you for four hours a day seven days a week for the rest of your life. Then your claim is worth more than the companies have to pay you. Put a figure on what you think it is worth when you are well or stabilized, meaning you will not get well, but yuo can figure you know what you will have to live with tht was caused in this accident, and propose it to them. They will repond. If you think it is worth $10,000 and they offer you $500, well you are probably going to be seeing an attorney. He may come in for a fee for any amount above $400. Most attorneys work on a contingent fee, meaning you do not have to pay up front. This is done as a percentage, usually 30-33%. So let's say your $10,000 is way too high, but your claim is worth $3,000. So the attorney cost you $1,000 in fees, you are still ahead of the $500 offer they made. And if the attorney came on the basis of fee avoe $400, the fee would only be 1/3 of $2,600, so you'd have even more money in your pocket and the attorney did not cost you anything anyway. Good Luck

Why wouldn't you concentrate on the second TOTALED accident. How does a bumper compare to being totaled. You might collect the amount deducted from the second because of the reduced value due to the first accident. I would concentrate almost entirely on the second accident.

My suggestion would be to vote for Hillary Clinton.

hang in there tough w/them.

you're g/friend aut to be able to get some compensation also

Gather all the evidence of the condition of your car immediately before the first accident. Then consult the "Kelly Blue Book", www.kbb.com, for the fair market value of your car in that condition. Subtract out what the first company is paying you for the repairs of the bumper and ask the second company to pay the rest.

As for your girlfriend and son in the car, were they injured? If you are looking for personal injury reimbursement, your girlfriend should see an attorney to evaluate her case.

If there were no injuries, the 1st company will give you cash for the amount the bumper would have cost to fix, or replace. the second company will give you the amount the "blue book" says your car was worth,minus any money still owed on the vehicle. If you still owed money on it, that debt will be taken care of first, and I hope you didn't owe more than the car was worth. They can and will expect you to pay the remainder.