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Secrets of Car Accident Insurance Adjusters

| Sep 29, 2011 | Uncategorized

Many years ago, I worked as an adjuster for a major insurance company and since then I have been explaining on this blog and my website the many ways in which insurance companies attempt to devalue your personal injury claim and poke holes in your liability claim to make you appear at fault. I have used this personal experience to the benefit of my clients resulting in fantastic and quick personal injury settlements. Despite my previous writings, I was surprised to see an article about the “secrets of insurance adjusters” on a major website such as MSN.com. Nevertheless, there it was… This is a very interesting article covering many of the insurance industries tactics and tricks to ensure you do not receive what you are entitled to for your personal injury claim.

Although they are contractually obligated to protect their insured and pay for all reasonable damages, it is essential to note as this article points out that insurance companies did not become multi-billion dollars businesses by giving away their money!

Devalue the Case!!!

This is insurance adjusting 101. As soon as the accident is reported to the company an adjuster is on the phone talking to you. He or she may try a number of tactics to ensure that you do not get full value for your case:

1) The adjuster will tell you that you do not need an attorney because they value cases the same way with or without an attorney and that the attorney will just take your money. Ask my recent client about this strategy. She attempted to work with the insurance company directly until they offered her an insulting amount of money (less than $20,000). Just a few months after hiring me we settled the case for the at-fault driver’s policy limits – $100,000.After hearing this you should understand why insurance adjusters want you to stay away from auto accident lawyers.

2) They will try to convince you to settle quickly. Releases are binding contracts and the insurance companies know that if they throw a few thousand dollars at you early on before you know the full extent of your injuries they can receive a binding Release which will prevent you from seeking any further damages in the future. Never settle early and without first speaking to a Rhode Island personal injury lawyer.

3) They will try to steer you to “preferred” auto body shops. Do not get me wrong, many “preferred” auto body shops do a wonderful job repairing your vehicle, but they do not press the insurance companies for certain repairs that other body shops might. This is because they receive a good amount of business referrals from the insurance companies. Go to the shop you want to go to and if it happens to be a “preferred” body shop then that is fine you can still be confident that they will do a great job!

4) They will look to take a recorded statement from you. Remember that you are under no obligation to give any kind of statement to the other driver’s insurance company. They are taking the statement, in part, to confirm the facts of the accident, but also in hopes that you might trip up and say something damaging to your own case. If you make a statement against your own interest, they know have it on tape and will use it against you to offer you less than 100%. In Rhode Island, as I have discussed in the past, the insurance company can withhold any percentage of money that they feel you contributed to the accident. If they believe you were speeding do not be surprised to find out they are reducing your payout by 10-20%. Do not give a statement to the other driver’s insurance company without first speaking to a car accident lawyer.

Do not confuse this with your own insurance company who you are contractually obligated to cooperate with.

5) Devalue your injury. The insurance adjuster will attempt to settle your case early, even if you are still seeking medical treatment. They will try to convince you that the injury is not very serious and that their offer is fair. They may even tell you that this is all the money you would receive even if an attorney were involved or if the case went to trial. If you think the offer is too low, it probably is.

As you can see the insurance companies set out early with a plan to cut costs and devalue your case. If you do not hire an experienced personal injury attorney they will use one or all of these tactics to ensure that you do not receive all the money you are entitled to. Don’t fall into any of these traps… even MSN money wants to make sure you do not make bad financial decisions following an accident or injury, this is no longer just my office speaking. Call my office today for a free initial consultation. There is no fee unless we obtain money for you!

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