A commercial for an insurance company is a must-see on television. The following can be filled in: …”, “… is on your side”, “…the great hands people”, and “Like a good neighbor…is there?” Are they truly on your side? Are they really your best friends? Are they like a good neighbor? You might find the answer “no” if you’ve been in an accident.
A contract is between you and your insurance company. This contract is your insurance policy. If there is an accident involving your automobile, the insurance policy will state what the insurance company will cover. Your insurance company will pay if the accident is covered by the policy. If not, they won’t pay. Accident victims should remember that insurance companies will do all they can to help them. Insurance companies are a business. Their goal is to make money. They must make money to pay their employees, to give bonuses to their CEOs, to pay dividends to stockholders, and to grow the business.
Insurance companies employ adjusters who are responsible for taking your statement, contacting witnesses, and looking at medical records. This is done to determine the value of your case. Your case will be assigned a dollar value. They will look for any evidence that could increase or decrease the case’s value. If you say that you were not hurt, it could reduce the value of your case. If your wife stated that you were okay. Are there any references to past injuries in your medical records? These are the things they want. Unless they find something that will lower the case’s value, you will get paid the case’s actual value.
This is where you need to be cautious. Because they are friendly to you, the adjuster will try to get information from you to lower their final payout. We all know we can speak freely with the people we like. This philosophy is used by insurance companies to obtain information that may not be beneficial to you or your case.
You can be sure that the insurance adjuster will contact you shortly after an accident. You are often still injured, on pain medication, vulnerable, and in dire need of money. They will attempt to obtain information that will enable them to devalue or defeat your claim. They will try to discourage you from hiring an attorney. They will tell you that an attorney will collect your entire settlement and that your insurance company won’t settle with you if they hire an attorney.
However, this is not true. An adjuster will give you instructions on how to stop you from hiring an attorney. The adjuster must follow certain scripts and answer any questions you may have. This is because they know that your case will settle for less if an attorney is not hired. They know exactly what to say when you tell them you want to talk to an attorney. An attorney will help you avoid devaluing your case.
