The insurance adjuster must determine a given claim’s value, in order to estimate the size of the lowest possible payout.

Adjusters always study the costs created by the accident

Medical expenses, for treatment of the claimant’s injuries
Value of claimant’s lost income
Costs created by development of any permanent changes to the plaintiff’s body

—Could be a small change, such as a scar
—Could be a large change, such as the need to get around in a wheelchair

The loss of a family, social or educational experience
Pain and suffering

—Depression
—Fear
—Stress
—Loss of sleep
—Loss of appetite
—Anger
—Pain or discomfort

Damaged property

After calculating the total for the above costs, adjusters use a damages formula

One figure in that formula is the total from the amount charged the patient/victim on each of the medical bills, as per personal injury lawyer in Brampton.

Another figure is one that represents the value for each of the non-economic damages. In order to determine that value, the adjuster would have to use a multiplier. A multiplier is a number between 1.5 and 5, with 5 signifying the existence of costly non-economic losses.

What are the non-economic losses? Those are the ones that cannot be matched with a specific figure. The cost created by a combination of pain and discomfort is an example of a non-economic loss. The formula helps adjuster to place a value on a non-economic loss.

The total for the medical expenses should be one factor in the formula’s multiplication operation. The chosen multiplier should be the other factor. The product of that multiplication operation should be added to the value of the plaintiff’s lost income.

The result that the adjuster obtains by using the damages formula serves as a guide, when it comes time to pick the opening bid for planned negotiations.

A challenge to adjusters in the past

In the past, the adjuster’s calculations could not take into consideration the type of treatment used by the victim/claimant. Insurance companies do not like to offer a large payout to someone that has used a chiropractor, instead of a medical doctor.

Today, some insurance companies use a computer program, during a determination of a given claim’s value. That program has the ability to create a formula that takes into consideration the type of doctor that was treating the victim/claimant.

That program does not serve as a way to replace the traditional formula. Instead it acts like an add-on to that formula. Input from the adjuster’s supervisor could also push the adjuster to make changes in the size of the opening bid.

Smart claimants have chosen the lowest acceptable bid, and have a sense for how to respond to the opening one.