Personal Injury Legal Advice: Knowing Insurance Company Tactics

When you are beginning a personal injury claim involving your car insurance company, you will help yourself by understanding the tactics employed by your insurer in assessing such claims. Knowing the rules of the rode will help you as you attempt to sufficiently settle your claim, and while it is essential to get professional personal injury legal advice to ensure you are truly prepared, it is also good to have some basic knowledge about what your insurance company is likely to do.

Dealing with Your Insurer

Your insurance company will send an adjuster, who works for the insurer to examine the facts, evidence, and details of your injury and the incident that occurred, and who will make a determination regarding your settlement.

When working with an adjuster and your insurer, remember that your adjuster is trained to find ways to pay these least toward your claim. To do so, he or she will employ a variety of tactics, including:

Slowing down the process – the insurer will do a variety of things with the hopes of delaying your settlement process, including taking long to process information and requesting largely unnecessary data. They do this with the hopes that you will become so weary of the lengthy process that you will “settle” for a low settlement.
Refuting the need for medical care – your adjuster may try to weigh in on what your injury may or may not need by way of medical attention. Of course from the insurer’s perspective this is a good strategy for lowering your settlement value, but remember that you need a physician, not an adjuster, to determine what you need medically.
Developing a relationship with you – many adjusters will work hard to build a friendship with you, so that you will feel “safe” enough to settle for whatever they offer you for your injury. Being friendly is fine, so long as it does not unduly lower your settlement.
Refusing portions of your medical treatment – an adjuster will look closely at your medical bills and offer to pay only portions, things that you are likely not to refute because what you are paying out of pocket seems so little. Over time, these bits add up, so beware.
Discouraging your work with an attorney – You are likely to speak to an insurance adjuster before you see an attorney, and the adjuster will threaten to lower the offered settlement if you hire a lawyer. Statistics show that hiring a lawyer will increase your settlement, so do not be discouraged from hiring an attorney if your case warrants one.

Getting Help

Hiring an attorney to deal with your insurance company is one of the best ways to make sure you get the money you are owed. You should consult with a competent professional as early in the process as you can to ensure that you get the help you need for a successful claim.

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