Insurance Adjusters Negotiation Techniques In Personal Injury Cases
If youve been in an accident, have been injured and are considering pursuing a personal injury claim, you should never attempt to deal with an insurance company on your own.
Your first contact with an insurance company will be through an insurance adjuster. They work for the insurance company and their job is to settle a case as quickly and inexpensively as possible and theyre very good at that. It's your job to make sure you get a fair shake.
To do this, you are best advised to hire an experienced personal injury attorney. They deal with insurance companies every day. They know all the tricks insurance companies employ in an attempt to get you to settle quickly for less money, and they employ a lot of tricks. You will be at an extreme disadvantage if you try to deal with them yourself.
Here are some things you should be aware of:
The musical chairs game. You start out with one adjuster then the claim gets reassigned to another adjuster with no explanation to you. This makes you renegotiate already-settled points if they are not in writing.
Dealing with different adjusters helps the insurance company isolate different issues. One adjuster will settle the total loss, another will settle fault, and a third one will settle the injury. This way, insurance adjusters can keep you off guard and not give you a straight answer.
You cant prevent this from happening but the best way to deal with it is to establish a paper trail. Put everything they agree to or tell you in writing and send them a cover letter to that effect. This way, when the claim is reassigned, you can point to your correspondence and show what the insurance company has already agreed to.
Changing the shape of the money. The adjuster will offer a sum of money that would be ideal for a Nice trip to Mexico for two or A big flat screen TV.
This is very powerful. They get you to thinking about trips or electronics instead of your pain and suffering. This "helps" the injured party "spend the money in their heads," and makes them want to settlemost often for less. Think in terms of real dollars, there is simply too much at stake.
Do things at your convenience. Adjusters want to call you when it is inconvenient for you. Theyll call when you are about to go to work or sit down to dinner. The goal is to put pressure on you to settle right there.
Why not turn the tables on them? Call the adjuster right before lunch time or before a three day weekend. Tell them right before the weekend to picture themselves relaxing with one less claim to worry about when they come back to the office.
What time of year is it? Most people are looking for money before or after a holiday, so insurance companies push adjusters to be more aggressive around the holidays.
Adjusters are savvy and this is a great time for them. Think about it. You need money for the kids' Christmas toys. Once again they want you to spend the money in your head. If they can do that, youll settle for less.
Silence is the name of the game. Adjusters are trained to make an offer then stop talking. This often works because silence makes people uncomfortable. If they can get you to talking about the number theyve offered, theyre ahead of the game. Dont do this. Turn things around by making a counter-offer and hit the mute button!
Avoid psychologically loaded questions. When you do make a statement, watch out for loaded questions. An adjuster might ask things like: How could you have avoided the auto crash? or How much do you think you are responsible? or Did you have any previous injuries like back or neck pain before the accident? These are questions designed to get you to say more than you shouldthings that can be used against you later on.
Be ready to push back. While you're waiting to hear from the adjuster do your own homework. Find out everything you can about your particular kind of accident. If your car was damaged, get comps of comparable makes and models. If your car is declared a total loss, you want to know a realistic replacement cost so you can judge whether the adjuster's offer is fair.
Remember: Insurance companies are in business to make money. They do that by taking in more than they pay out. It's in their best interest to get you to accept a bare minimum, so always be prepared to push back.
As you can see, dealing with insurance companies can be brutal. The best way to counter this is to hire an experienced personal injury attorney. Youll get a far better settlement by doing so.
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