When you’ve been injured in an accident and need to file a personal injury claim, you will deal with insurance adjusters along the way. You will face questions and uncertainty about what comes next in the days and weeks after a serious accident. Meanwhile, your medical bills, lost pay, and other costs could mount.
You’ll want a full and fair settlement from the insurance company handling your claim for these reasons. Will you get what you deserve? That depends on how your claim is handled and how you deal with the insurance adjuster. An experienced Phoenix personal injury lawyer can help you deal with the unknowns and get the most out of your insurance claim.
What Does An Insurance Adjuster Do?
An insurance adjuster investigates insurance claims by interviewing claimants and witnesses, reviewing information, and inspecting damage when needed. Their goal is to determine the insurance company’s liability after an accident.
The insurance claims adjuster has several different responsibilities:
- Investigate and analyze insurance claims
- Review whether the insurance policy covers the damage claimed
- Determine an appropriate amount for the insurance company to pay
- Investigate to make sure an insurance claim is not fraudulent
- Get follow-up information from a claimant’s doctors, employers, and others
- Consult with the insurance company’s lawyers
- Negotiate settlements and authorize payments.
It is important to remember that the insurance adjuster works for their company, not for you. They aim to minimize and reduce payouts when they can to protect the insurance company’s bottom line.
7 Rules Of Dealing With An Insurance Company After An Accident
Before you talk to an insurance adjuster, you should know the following:
- Do not accept the first settlement offer. The insurance adjuster might make a settlement offer that initially seems fair to you. However, it will probably not account for your full range of expenses, future medical expenses, and reduced earnings. Nevertheless, they hope you will take the bait and save the company thousands of dollars at your expense.
- Anything you say can be used against you. Your conversations will be recorded and analyzed from your first conversation with an insurance adjuster to your last. The insurer will look for incriminating statements or admissions of responsibility on your part.
Anything you say that can hurt your personal injury claim can and will be used against you by the insurance adjuster. For example, if you admit liability or downplay your own injuries, the insurer will use those words to minimize or even deny your claim.
- The insurance company will try to avoid paying your medical bills. If you think the insurance company will simply cover the medical bills you send their way, think again. Your medical expenses will be scrutinized to no end so the insurer can avoid paying certain costs. For example, if medical treatment can be connected to some other cause, the insurance adjuster will seek to shift those costs back to you.
- Insurance adjusters are trained to negotiate. An insurance claims adjuster is not just a customer service agent trained to answer phones. They are trained to negotiate aggressively with claimants while appearing friendly and on your side. An insurance adjuster knows what weaknesses to look for in a claim and how to extract admissions and misstatements from you during an interview.
- Insurance companies will ignore you or pressure you to settle. Insurers will play different games during the claims process. In some situations, they will apply pressure to rush the process and make you settle quickly. In others, they will ignore you and delay the claim until you are ready to take whatever is offered.
After an accident, you might be going through the insurance claims process for the first time. Insurance companies deal with thousands of claimants every day and know tricks that work against accident victims.
- Preparation is key. Before you make your first call to the insurance adjuster, you want to make sure you review all of your information and what you plan to say. Go over the facts of the accident with yourself or, ideally, an attorney before you discuss it with an insurance adjuster. This way, you are less likely to trip over your words, miss a key detail, or say something that conflicts with what really happened.
- Don’t Sign Anything Unless A Lawyer Has Looked At It First. When an insurance settlement is offered in your personal injury claim, you will likely waive important rights to claims in the future.
For example, if your injuries require treatment in the future, or you find that you can no longer work the same job you used to, you would be entitled to have those costs covered. Not so, however, if you hastily signed an insurance settlement without reviewing your full legal rights.
A personal injury lawyer with experience dealing with insurance companies can review the details of an agreement to make sure it is fair to you. Since personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis in many cases, you would not have to pay out of pocket to have an experienced lawyer review your settlement agreement.
Our Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help You Negotiate With Insurance Adjusters
When you’ve been hurt in an accident and depend on a fair settlement to make you whole financially, you do not want to take chances on your own against experienced insurance adjusters. Contact our personal injury attorneys at Curiel & Runion Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers by calling (602) 595-5559 today to schedule a free consultation. We serve Arizona and New Mexico, with offices in Phoenix, and Albuquerque.