Customer Reviews

Insurance Settlement Secrets: A Step by Step Guide to Get Thousands of Dollars More for Your Auto Accident Injury Without a Lawyer!

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I bought this book hoping to get an insurance adjuster's perspective on the personal injury (PI) claims process. Unsurprisingly, I was particularly interested in learning a formula to calculate the value of PI claims. While it did provide some thoughts on the subject, the book's poor organization and worse writing left me wanting more. The book was more about sensationalizing the PI claim than it was about teaching readers how to reach a fair settlement without requiring a lawsuit. After reading this book from cover to cover, my overall impression was that the author badly needed an editor and had a personal vendetta against lawyers, especially plaintiffs lawyers. While on the topic, I'm not sure the book's suggestion that PI lawyers work on an hourly rate is based in fact. My experience has been that experienced and reputable PI lawyers will only take cases on a contingency basis. This is especially true because of the potential costs involved in litigating a case. Also, likely due to the author's poor writing ability, the forms in the book are subpar. For the reasons cited (and several more) I would suggest potential readers invest their money and time in another book on settling their PI claim. The shortcomings I found in Insurance Settlement Secrets by Matheson Mackinnon were substantial enough that I felt it necessary to read another book on the topic. After more Amazon research, I decided to order How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim, 7th Edition, by Joseph Matthews [...]. I have not had an opportunity to read it cover to cover yet, but the portions I have read thus far have done a markedly better job of connecting the dots than Mackinnon's book. This is especially true for the sections on calculating the value of your personal injury claim, writing your demand letter, and the negotiations process. The sample letters are also much higher quality and don't feel like the author rushed through them.

With the above in mind, there are some good points about the Mackinnon book, too. First, he gets the overall process right. I also enjoyed the section on "Common Types of Motor Vehicle Accidents." There is some information in here that will help injured people when going over the liability circumstances in their particular case. The book also emphasizes the importance of seeking medical treatment shortly after an accident. And although I felt the author unnecessarily sensationalized many monetary aspects of PI claims, the book did a good job of stressing that these claims take a significant amount of time to resolve.

Overall, I would not recommend this book to others. There are better books on handling your small personal injury claim.

I bought this book after my car accident and am so glad I did. It has helped me to put together a portable file so when I send my demand letter to the insurance company, I won't need a lawyer. I recommend it highly.