First thing, add Med Pay to your auto insurance policy. This covers your medical bills in the event you are hit by someone else. This puts you in the most favorable position, but if you let this one slip by (to save a few bucks) you may end up paying for this mistake for years to come. This article is for those neglected to purchase Med Pay. Now in the event of an accident, realize that to get your medicals bills will only get paid after you settle in court, so you will need to hire a good Personal Insurance (PI) Attorney.

Below I begin to cover the 7 fatal mistakes that you will need to avoid in your journey for justice. These are from a book by John Bisnar, The 7 Fatal Mistakes that can Wreck your PI Claim. Today we cover mistake number one:

Believing the Insurance Adjuster is on your side.
It is the adjuster's job to pay you as little as possible, period. They get bonuses based on how much they save the insurance company. Years ago I was involved in a rear ended, lots of damage to other car, but less than a 1000 dollars to the car I was driving. At the time of impact I felt a big jolt to my back and a little jolt to the top of my neck. Got out of the car and really no big deal, I said I feel fine simply because I was astonished that I did not feel worse. Will for a month I had a low grade nagging neck pain but not enough to make me go get it checked out. At one month I awoke with numbness on top of my right shoulder and into my arm, and the pain got worse through the day. Never had anything like that before. I now had nerve symptoms, plus my right arm was weaker and it hurt to move it and it affected my work. I called my friend the Insurance Adjuster (from the offending drivers insurance) and this time she was not sympathetic. "We reviewed your case and we are glad to say we can pay you $225.00 toward your health care." Folks I'm telling you, if you have no med pay than be ready to bend over or start looking for a lawyer. By the way, I needed took multiple chiropractic visits and 4 massages to get my shoulder worked out and me straight again, but not without a residual nagging ache at the base of my head.  For information and facts on whiplash see my blog article, "Whiplash and its Complications".

Here are other the Six Mistakes you can learn about in John Bisnar's book on PI claims:
-Rushing to settle your claim
-Signing a medical lien
-Letting your Attorney dictate you Medical Treatment
-Failing to keep accurate record of your damages
-Failing to prepare with skill
-Failing to negotiate with skill

We will cover the other mistakes in upcoming articles.