[Car Accident] How do you negotiate for personal injury settlements?

My sister was in a car accident a few months ago that was another driver's fault. She had a fair amount of neck and back pain, along with totalling her car. She went to the doctor, and he recommended a chiropractor, and after a couple of months now she's finally back to normal and ready to deal with settling her case.

She's been working with the guy's insurance company, trying to get them to settle, and the insurance guy is lowballing her. She asked for double her medical expenses total, the other half to compensate for pain and suffering, and the insurance company is offering her expenses plus about 500 bucks. She tried to negotiate, but he wouldn't budge.

So, great ClutchFan's community, how do you negotiate with an insurance company?

I've got friends who are lawyers that could write letters or maybe even file a suit, but none of them are even remotely experienced in this area of the law. I hear it's a pretty shady area of the law to begin with, so I might have to do a bulk of the research on my own. I was just hoping for some advice and experiences to know what I'm getting myself into, and non-legal strategies for handling the negotiation.

 

Thanks guys. Any suggestion for Austin lawyers? She's in Austin.

Any other options from anybody, or is this just a good ol' game of mexican stand-off, and lawyering up is the only way to get the insurance company to budge?