The Role Of The Insurance Adjuster: Who They Are And How They Handle Claims

Insurance company adjusters are not really on your side.

Having the proper types of insurance is indispensable in our day and age, but when you deal with insurance companies, it is important to understand exactly how they work your claim, as paying out in full is detrimental to their bottom lines. While the insurance company’s adjuster may try to keep your payment as low as possible, you should be aware that if you were not at fault in the accident or injury you reported, you are entitled to have all of your reasonable damages and expenses covered.

Some of the things adjusters may ask you to do which may help them to lessen or altogether deny your claim:

1. Say that the accident was actually your fault, either wholly or partially. If the adjuster can get you to admit to even partial fault in an accident, your recovery may be greatly diminished.
2. Ask for a recorded or written statement. Adjusters are trained to ask questions that are weighed to extract the information they want in favor of the insurance company.
3. Have you sign a medical release. If you do this, it provides the insurance company with the ability to discover prior personal information that may go beyond that required for the accident in question, and which can be used against you.
4. Offer a quick settlement. Sometimes people accept a quick settlement before they have even had a chance to see a physician, and while getting money on the spot may be tempting, some accident injuries do not necessarily show up immediately. Accepting the quick settlement will risk their right to full recovery for injuries discovered later on.
5. Delay payment on your claim. This happens, and if you have incurred financial difficulties because of your accident, the longer your payment is delayed the greater the chance that you will accept a lesser settlement than that to which you are rightfully entitled.
6. Dispute the necessity or expense of your medical treatment. Appropriate care for your injuries should be determined by a physician – not by preset charts outlining typical treatments or recovery times for different types of injuries.
7. Tell you that you’re better off accepting the insurance settlement than paying an attorney to represent you. If you’ve read points 1 through 6 above, you understand that an experienced attorney knows – and can deal with – insurance tricks of the trade much more efficiently than the average layman. You need a seasoned professional to represent you in order to obtain the best possible settlement in any accident case.

If you have been involved in an accident or suffered any type of personal injury in South Florida, and you feel that you are not being treated fairly by your insurance company, contact the Fenstersheib Law Group, P.A., toll-free, at 1-800-TellRobert. We have over three decades of experience in dealing with insurance agencies to make sure that the right compensation is provided to our clients. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, and we will evaluate your accident claim free of charge and advise you of the necessary steps to secure your legal rights.