Accidents can throw a Middletown resident’s life into chaos. Suddenly, schedules are filled with doctor appointments, automobile repair estimates, therapy sessions, and the anxiety of losing loved ones.
In such a scenario, the last thing you may want to handle is a battle with the insurance company.
A Middletown personal injury lawyer strongly asserts that, unfortunately, that’s exactly what a majority of people have to go through. While insurance companies can bend over backward to claim their reliability, the harsh truth is they only pay claims as they legally need to, not because they truly want to.
In fact, a majority of them will pull out all the stops so they can pay you as little as possible. They won’t even hesitate to play tricks to ‘convince’ you to settle for less than you deserve, or even worse, to deny your claims flat-out!
No need to worry. You can easily outwit them by becoming well-versed in all these tricks so that you can prepare yourself beforehand. On that note, let’s take a look at 4 common tricks insurance adjusters try to use against claimants.
Trick #1 – Delaying the Process
According to Forbes, 5,930,496 motor vehicle accidents were reported in the US in 2022. Among them, 42,514 motor vehicle fatalities occurred across the country. A majority of survivors and their families had to suffer due to this common tactic used by insurance companies.
While employing this tactic, the insurance companies conveniently fail to return your calls. And when you finally get hold of them, they may try to baffle you with paperwork or legal jargon. Their key objective for dragging their feet here can be twofold. They want
- You become impatient while settling or simply give up
- To give enough time for the bill collectors to begin harassing you for payment so that you’re pressured to settle faster for whatever they’re offering you.
In either case, they’re using cheap manipulation techniques to get you to accept less settlement money.
Trick #2 – Acting Like They Truly Care About You
Try not to get fooled by this one.
In such a scenario, the insurance adjuster or agent will call you often to ‘check up on you’ and convey their empathy. However, this is not a friendly call. They do not care about you and are just waiting for you to let your guard down and place your faith in them.
Once they’ve gained the trust, they will begin asking questions that are designed to trip you up. Or, they may even baffle you and get you to say something that they can use against you to minimize your settlement claim.
Trick #3 – Offering a Simple or Fast Settlement
The insurance adjusters of any company know that accident victims require money for medical bills and other expenditures after being injured. Hence, they try to make the most of this situation by offering quick settlement payouts that appear to be fair.
If you accept it, higher chances are you’ll end up getting a lot less than what you deserve. Hence, you must always be highly suspicious of quick offers, as it generally means the company knows something about which you have no clue, like how much money you should get.
Trick #4 – Using Your Words Against You or Out of the Context
This trick is especially underhanded, as it can be considered legal. The insurance adjusters may take statements you made to them out of context and construe them in ways you didn’t imply. They will go to any length to twist your words and make it sound like you’re taking partial responsibility for the accident as a way of minimizing the claim.
Finally, remember that insurance adjusters do not care about your physical and mental pain. They know you lack the expertise to navigate an injury claim. They only care about their bottom line. Hence, it is always wise to be aware of all the tricks they employ so you can prepare yourself and hire a personal injury lawyer to get what you deserve and more. Good luck!
