Adjusters do this every day and you do it once a decade. This closes the information gap — the coverages nobody mentions, the deadlines that end claims, and a figure built entirely from documents you can produce.
Time limits for filing and for bringing a legal action vary by state, and missing one can end a claim permanently regardless of how strong it was. It's the highest-stakes fact in the whole process and the least advertised.
Rental, towing, storage, personal property in the car, time off work, and in some states diminished value. None of these appear unless you raise them, and none of them are volunteered.
That asymmetry isn't about who's cleverer — it's about who knows what the process looks like and what a documented claim sounds like. Preparation closes most of it.
A release signed before the extent of an injury is known generally closes the claim for good, and injuries can surface weeks later. The same goes for cashing a cheque marked as full and final settlement.