Watch Out For These Florida Insurance Adjuster Strategies
After a car accident, those with severe injuries as a result of an at-fault driver’s negligence will want to seek compensation with a car accident injury claim. When a severely injured car accident victim files an injury claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance, the insurance company will open a file for the claim and then assign an insurance adjuster. Insurance adjusters act as intermediaries between those that file claims and the insurance companies. They are sent out as agents of the insurance companies to make contact with the plaintiff and investigate the credibility of their claim.
Despite what insurance adjusters would like to tell you, they are absolutely not your friend and they do not have your best interests at heart. First and foremost, they are representatives of the insurance company and look out for their interest which is to ensure the least amount of payment possible or the outright denial of your claim. Insurance companies are for-profit enterprises concerned with the approval of shareholders that expect a steady increase in money that is made. They may have a duty to pay out on a policy that you took out with them but they will do everything within their power to minimize the money they payout while still abiding by the rules. Insurance adjusters are often key players in this and will use several strategies and tricks to reach this goal.
Tricks Insurance Adjusters Use to Reduce Your Claim Value
Asking for Authorization to View Your Medical Records
You have the right to refuse an insurance adjuster’s wishes to access your medical records should you find the request unreasonable. A lot of insurance adjusters will present the authorization of them to view your records as a routine aspect of the claims process and in some ways this is true. An insurance company may need to see medical records relating to the injuries that you suffered in an accident in order to verify that your injuries are credible. However, insurance adjusters do not need to have carte blanche to go through your entire medical history. They may try to nose into injuries from your past that they can try to use against you in a claim either because they could claim you have a pre-existing condition or a past injury may be embarrassing.
Delaying Payment of Your Car Accident Claim
Car accident injuries can often be severe enough to land a victim in the hospital for some time. These car accident injuries will usually require extensive treatment via surgery, medication, hospital stay, physical therapy, etc. that is all anything but cheap. These medical expenses can easily drain the finances of a person filing a car accident injury claim and insurance adjusters will use this to their advantage.
Insurance adjusters can delay the payment of your claim and leave you out to dry while your finances take a plunge. While this is happening they will try to get you to agree to a lowball offer on a payout that is significantly less than what you need but can be paid out immediately. Don’t give in to this kind of dirty trick. Employ an attorney that will fight for you and let the insurance company know that you will not be backing down.
Insurance Adjusters Could Have You Under Surveillance
Living with a car accident injury can be a difficult thing to deal with. You might have diminished mobility and ability to perform certain tasks. Despite the limitations that an injury may put on a car accident victim, some car accident victims give in to the temptation to partake in activities advised against doing due to their injuries. This is not only bad for injuries but could also affect your car accident injury claim. Insurance adjusters will sometimes have those that file a claim under surveillance. If an insurance adjuster catches someone who suffered severe injuries out engaging in serious physical activity, they can call into question the credibility of the claim. They may surveil either through traditional means such as by staking out and watching you or by looking into your social media presence.
Advising You to Not Get a Lawyer
Insurance adjusters may try to tell you that hiring a lawyer is completely unnecessary and that you can handle a claim entirely on your own. You can go about trying to handle a claim on your own and try negotiating with the insurance company but without the expertise of an experienced car accident lawyer, you will likely encounter some issues. It is true that you can technically go about filing a claim without a lawyer but settlements have been found to be significantly smaller when attained without a lawyer. Even with a lawyer’s contingency fee taken into account, a claim payout is typically much larger with an attorney’s help in investigating the fault of an accident, negotiating with the insurance company, dealing with insurance adjusters, and guiding accident victims through the legal process in general.
Consider Eberst Law For Your Car Accident Claim
The best thing you can do when you are severely injured in a car accident is to seek a lawyer experienced in car accident injury claims. You technically could pursue a claim on your own but the odds of you successfully navigating the many pitfalls of insurance tricks and legal process is greatly diminished. Insurance companies have everything they need to successfully deny a claim; as that is their goal since profits are their main priority. Insurance companies have the experience, personnel, resources, lawyers, and money to fight a claim to any extent necessary. If it turns into a “who can withstand the storm longer” type of situation, the answer will always be the insurance company when competing against an injured victim on their own.
It doesn’t cost you anything to get an injury attorney to look at your case. Likewise, car accident lawyers don’t cost anything out of your pocket since they work on a contingency fee basis. This means they take a percentage of the settlement once the claim is seen through and don’t get paid at all if the injury victim doesn’t recover financial compensation. You or your loved one are likely significantly injured if you are even considering hiring a car accident attorney in the first place. So you should focus on your recovery while a professional works to maximize your settlement with the insurance companies and courts.
If you have been injured in a car accident in the Stuart, Florida or Gainesville, Florida area, contact the experienced personal injury team at The Eberst Law Firm. We are ready to handle your case. You can contact us online or call us at 772-225-4900.
Stuart, Florida Office
101 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Stuart, FL 34994
Gainesville, Florida Office
716 E. University Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32601
