An insurance company adjuster that you may be dealing probably has years of experience in negotiating claims with people who represent themselves.  Their goal is to settle a claim for as little as possible.  If you have never negotiated such claims before, then how can you professionally and intelligently negotiate such a claim with an insurance adjuster?

The insurance adjuster will offer you a number to settle your case, then your response may be a different number and then insurance company’s response will be, “Oh, that's way too high.  We could never possibly pay that much money for your claim.”  The insurance company's goal, as I said, is to settle for as little as possible.  

The minimum that you need to do is to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney who can find out the things that you need to do to prep your case for settling the claim.  Many people think to themselves that they don't want to consult with an attorney or don't want to hire an attorney, because then they’re going to have to pay that attorney a fee.  Statistically, cases for people who are represented by attorneys settle for approximately three times what they would have settled for if the person had represented themselves.  

Therefore, whatever fee that the attorney takes, unless it’s 100 percent of the value of your case, which is never going to happen, you will always recover more money, if that holds true.  

So the bottom line is if you negotiate with an insurance company and you're not experienced in doing this, you’re probably shortchanging yourself.