Insurance Claims

If You Have An Insurance Claim, Read This

If you have been in a crash, or had some other kind of insured loss and already know you need help dealing with the insurance company, contact me. If you want to know why I say so, read on.

The first and most important thing is to know your rights BEFORE you talk to the insurance company. If someone hits you, you do not have to give a statement to their insurance company. You don’t have to give them an authorization to get your medical records. If you already have, steps can be taken to make it better. The sooner the better. (You do have a duty to cooperate with your insurance company, but that doesn’t mean you have to give them everything they ask for.)

Take-Home Message: Know your rights and obligations before you start talking to any insurance company.

Here’s why: The claim adjuster that you'll be working with does this as a job, 40+ hours/week, 50 weeks a year. Your adjuster gets training to learn how to handle claims as effectively as possible. At any given time, the adjuster will have between 50 and 200 claims open. This means the adjuster has a lot more practice at this than you do. While this doesn't mean that you must have a lawyer, it's useful to know. Even though the adjuster will be pleasant and courteous, the adjuster is not on your side.

The second thing to keep in mind is that the insurance company is in it for the money. It makes money by collecting premiums. The less it pays out in claims, the more profit. This is the American way, and there is nothing wrong with that. But there is a problem if a legitimately injured person is denied fair compensation. Consider this: if an insurer saves an average of $100 per property damage claim by careful negotiation and has 1000 property damage claims per month, over the course of a year that insurance company will save $1.2 million which falls right down to the bottom line. The insurance company could do it the same way by saving $1,000 per personal injury claim on 100 claims per month. Studies have shown that injured people who have lawyers receive significantly more in settlement than unrepresented people. Once a claim is settled, you cannot go back and get more, regardless of your injuries.

Take-home message: Make sure what you are offered is reasonable, and carefully evaluate any offer before accepting it.

Here’s why: Any settlement you enter into is final. Once you take the money, you won’t be able to go back and get more. You are going to have to live with your decision: you should make the best one possible. If you are uneasy or uncertain about an offer, take your time.