Tips when you're making a car accident compensation claim

This article is for the DIY-type people, who would like to go ahead and settle the car accident compensation claim without the intervention of  a lawyer. Harvard can go to hell, we'll pave our way ourselves. Fair enough. Thus, you're injured, you've got no car, very little money left, and you're all set to take on the insurance bigwigs in their temperature controlled glass office with the half-man half-shark lawyers. Press on! However, here are a few things you might want to know:

1. Get to a doctor first
And ensure you have ample proof to show that you've been to not just one, but quite a few and not just once, but quite a few times too. Add variety. If your injury has to appear serious, it needs to be looked at by you family doctor, a specialist, a chiropractor and a physiotherapist. They need to give you detailed medical reports, ask you to get X-rays and at least 10 other tests. Also, you need to look like you take your injury seriously – so go to the doctor asap.

2. Evidence is all-important
Play the sympathy and threat cards later. Lawyers will consider evidence first and last too (in most cases). The evidence you have must prove that a) you're not at fault b) somebody else is at fault c) you've suffered BECAUSE of that somebody else's fault, and in some cases d) you would not have suffered had this somebody else not been at fault. The evidence could be in form of written statements by witnesses, photographs, police reports, medical reports, the offending party's statement, and most importantly, your recount of the incident.   

3. Hold back some of the info
Don't be too zealous to show how well you've done for yourself without a lawyer. Discretion is important. You're dealing with sharks that can smell a drop of blood in an ocean. They will dissect everything you say to find anything that could put you in a compromised spot. Rehearse and reconsider everything

4. Don't be too eager to get the cash
You will not have a complete of all your monetary losses until a few months after the accident. Some injuries like whiplash take some time to surface and then even longer to heal. Take some time to figure out all your expenses and then decide on compensation. Also remember that insurance companies will only shell out compensation once for an accident

5. Look in other places too.
You may be lucky enough to have options other than the offending party's insurance provider. Go over the accident carefully – may be other factors or people were also at fault. Were the roads bad? Did some moron drive by with glaring headlamps? Did a biker cut your lane? Was a pedestrian standing where he shouldn't have been? If there are other factors to the accident, they also make good sources of compensation.