If you are involved in an accident, you are going to have to deal with an insurance company. Possibly, multiple insurance companies. The number one thing to remember when dealing with insurance is that insurance adjusters are not your friends.
They may seem friendly and helpful, but their job is to pay you as little as possible and if they can manage it, nothing at all. The best way to deal with an insurance adjuster is to hire a competent lawyer with experience battling insurers.
With Whose Insurance Should I Negotiate?
If involved in an auto accident that is not your fault, and you purchased a “full coverage” policy, you have options as to which insurance company you would like to deal with. Rather than working with an insurance company that is actively working against you, you can choose to work with your own insurance provider.
Should you choose this option, you will likely have to pay a deductible. However, your insurance company may be willing to waive the deductible, especially if it is clear that the other party was truly at fault for your accident. If you have the option to deal with your own insurer, that is often preferable, as they tend to be quicker and more cooperative in paying your claim.
Don’t Be Misled
While working with your own insurance can be better in situations where another party was liable for the accident, don’t let that fool you into thinking that your insurer is on your side. The insurance company claims adjuster will be friendly and seemingly want to help, but no insurance company is truly on your side.
They have legal requirements in certain situations, but the most important thing for any insurance company is the bottom line. They will only help you if it doesn’t conflict with their own profit margins or if they have no other choice under the law.
The only reason your insurance company seems so cooperative and helpful when you file a claim in which another party is at fault is that the money that they pay you is not coming out of their own pockets. They plan to fully recover all of the money that they pay to you through subrogation. Subrogation is the act of the insurance company stepping into your place and making a claim against the other party or their insurance provider on your behalf.
Your insurance provider is essentially acting as a middleman to get you the money owed to you by the other party. If you find yourself in a position where there wasn’t another party at fault for your accident, and you try to file a claim with your insurance, you can expect the same attempts to force you into taking a lowball offer that you would receive from a third-party insurer.
Things To Remember
When filing a claim against your insurance company, there are many important things to remember to make sure you receive the money to which you are entitled. Here are a few key components to keep in mind:
- Insurance companies protect themselves, not you
- They will be friendly to lure you in and hope to trap you
- The settlement offer they send you is likely a lot less than what you deserve
- They will try to intimidate you into taking their low offer by putting a clock on it
- The law says they must act in “good faith“
Insurance adjusters are trained in all the tricks to keep you from getting the money you deserve. A friendly manner and the offer of money that is only available for a short time are good ways to get a claimant to take an offer that is well below the amount to which they are entitled.
Remember, while you want to get the process started on your claim sooner rather than later, you have plenty of time to reach a number that works for you. There is no rush to settle quickly.
The best thing you can do to protect yourself from getting bullied by an insurance adjuster who will not cooperate is to hire a competent lawyer whom they know they won’t be able to push around. While required by law to act in good faith, if an insurance adjuster is dealing with a claimant rather than a lawyer, they may decide to take the risk and not play fair. An experienced attorney helps you to level the playing field.
