You work hard to protect your loved ones. One aspect of that protection lies with your insurance. You pay a hefty percentage of your wages to ensure that you’ll have support and coverage in case of an accident. Although the coverage is expensive, you’ve come to terms with the fact that you have to pay to have peace of mind.
However, just like any other business, insurance companies want to make money. They’re more than happy to collect their premiums, but not so inclined to pay out when you need them. Therefore, they’ve pretty much perfected the art of dodging claims, manipulating claimants, and coming up with subtle ways to deny your coverage.
How Insurance Adjusters Lower Their Payouts
Every time an insurance company has to pay a claim, their profits decrease. So, in order to prevent payouts, insurers encourage their adjusters to decrease or flat-out deny claims to protect their revenue, rather than your financial future. These callously creative tricks include:
- Undermining your claim. Rather than investigate your claim and the severity of your injuries, the adjuster will suggest that your accident wasn’t as bad as your claim suggests. He may imply that you even lied on the form to commit fraud and therefore either deserve nothing or a drastically decreased settlement.
- Playing dumb. A common tactic for adjusters is to claim that your accident (no matter what it is) is not covered by your policy. They may even tell you that you must prove coverage before they can help. This ploy not only buys them time to come up with another trick, but also places more work and frustration on you, with the hopes that you’ll just get fed up and accept whatever settlement they offer.
- Harassing, manipulating, and confusing you into an agreement. This strategy is commonly used by adjusters. The hope is that by continuously hounding you to accept a settlement while also throwing legal jargon at you will confuse and upset you to the point of frustration. The more frustrated you are, the more likely you are to accept their offer just to get them to go away. This trick also encompasses demands for releases (which will pardon the insurance company from any further claims), medical records, statements (with the hopes of getting you to misspeak), and encouragements to forego your right to an attorney.
- Waiting for bill collectors to start circling. For every week that goes by where you don’t receive your settlement, more and more creditors will begin harassing you for payment. This allows the insurance company to approach you when you are feeling most vulnerable. After blowing you off for weeks, an adjuster will tempt you with a meager settlement that may wind up saving you from the creditors for now, but will not be enough to get you back on your feet.
- Negotiation. If the above tactics fail to manipulate you, the adjuster may fall back on negotiations. Although your settlement may be worth a lot if taken to trial, you’ll still be forced to pay bills and deal with your recovery until a settlement is made. However, if you agree on a lesser amount, the adjuster may consider paying right then.
The One Trick That Will Trump Their Tactics
Even though insurance companies have spent years perfecting their game, you can still put up a fight. Contact our office today to schedule a FREE consultation to discuss your accident, your claim, and your options. Attorney John Griffith started his career as an insurance adjuster and he knows the game. Call him today, to see how he can use his own tactics against the adjusters to get you the settlement you deserve.
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