Insurance Company Pitfalls in Personal Injury Claims
When you hear from an insurance company representative, you might be pleasantly surprised-at first. That's because being friendly and soothing is one of the many tactics some insurance companies employ to get people to make statements against their own interests and minimize their claims in personal injury cases.
Of course, if you trust the person on the other end of the line, you're more likely to follow his or her "advice". It's critical that you remember that every payment made on a personal injury claim is money out of the insurance company's pocket.
That friendly conversation that seems so reassuring can serve several purposes that are NOT in your best interests. For instance, some insurance company representatives will try to keep you talking and make promises that are delayed just a little longer and then a little longer until the statute of limitations runs out. Once you are without legal recourse, the insurance company will no longer have any incentive to settle with you for your personal injury.
Another possibility is that the insurance company representative will claim to be trying to help you expedite payment, and may use that claim to get you to sign documents that aren't in your best interests or make statements that could ultimately hurt your personal injury claim.
Insurance Companies May Not Keep Their Verbal Promises When Handling Personal Injury Cases
You may hear promises from an insurance company like, "All I need is a tape-recorded statement and then I'll be able to make payment on this personal injury claim", or "We definitely want to get that bill paid for you, but first we need your signature on this form." Remember that you have no way to enforce those promises if you haven't received them in writing, and that the true motivation for getting your signature on the dotted line or your story on tape may be very different from the one being relayed to you. It's not uncommon for a personal injury victim who goes along with the insurance company to later hear, "I never said that," or "You must have misunderstood," or "at that time we didn't know.."
Nothing is "Off the Record."
There is no such thing as "off the record" with an insurance company. Anything you say to an insurance adjuster can and will be used against you. While you may think that you're engaging in light chit-chat while the insurance company representative waits for the next computer screen to load or looks for a document, your answers to simple questions like, "How are you feeling today?" and "But you're a little bit better, right?" can have a devastating impact on your personal injury claim-even when your answers may have been intended more as polite filler than factual responses. If an insurance company representative asks what you did last weekend, expect that your response will be noted and your activities examined to see whether they might be used to claim you're not as seriously injured as you said you were.
Negotiating with the Insurance Company on Your Own Can Be Risky
Negotiating with an insurance company is full of pitfalls. Some people who attempt to negotiate settlements with insurance companies directly settle too soon, leaving themselves stuck with future medical bills and other expenses. Some inadvertently make statements that harm their cases because they aren't aware of the way an insurance company may take statements out of context or use passing comments against them. Some engage in long negotiations with the insurance company only to discover that once the statute of limitations runs out, the "settlement" that was in the works disappears and leaves them with nothing. The list goes on.
The Insurance Rep's Job is to Minimize Your Claim
One of the most important things for you to remember if you've been injured and have a personal injury claim is that insurance companies are for-profit companies. An insurance company representative works for the insurance company, and his or her job is to increase company profits. The primary ways that an insurance company can increase profits are to raise premiums and to minimize or deny claims. Any money the insurance company pays out to you is money that doesn't go into its annual profits.
Talk to a Personal Injury Attorney before You Make Any Decisions
An insurance company succeeds when it denies or minimizes your personal injury claim and saves the company money, but for a personal injury attorney success means getting you the compensation you deserve. Schedule a free consultation with a personal injury attorney so that you can make an educated decision about how to proceed with your personal injury case-and do so BEFORE you talk with the insurance company!
We make it simple for you to get started. Just fill out our free personal injury case evaluation form or call now, toll-free, 1 (877) 288-7564, and we'll connect you with a local personal injury lawyer who can provide more information about personal injury case value, your personal injury rights and typical personal injury case steps.