How Insurance Companies Minimize Payouts After a Car Crash (and How to Fight Back)

The stark reality is that insurance companies are businesses, and their primary purpose is to turn a profit by making more money than they spend. They make money by accepting premiums, and they spend money by paying claims. Consequently, insurance companies train their adjusters to make money for their employers by minimizing claims or denying them whenever possible. Sometimes, your insurance company’s interests are directly adverse to yours.

The insurance company’s bag of dirty tricks

Insurance adjusters minimize payouts in many different ways. Following is an extremely abbreviated list of some of the tricks that insurance companies like to play on claimants, especially those who choose to represent themselves:

Blaming you for the accident

Under Virginia’s contributory negligence system, the insurance company can defeat your claim if they prove that the accident was even one percent your fault.

Asking you to release your medical records

One way of doing this is by giving you a stack of forms to sign, with a medical consent form buried deep within the pile. The hope is that you won’t carefully read what you’re signing.

Demanding a recorded statement

They will then ask you trick questions:

“How are you today?” “I’m fine.” “Well, if you’re fine, then you must not be as seriously injured as you claim.”

“Can you tell me the EXACT time of the accident?” “OK, OK, it happened at EXACTLY 6:33.” “So, you were checking the time instead of watching the road.”
Never agree to give a recorded statement without your lawyer’s approval.

Drowning you in documentation requests

Demanding too much documentation as a prerequisite to finalizing your claim. Don’t forget, however, that a certain amount of documentation is normal.

Misinterpreting insurance policy language to your detriment

This is a serious offense on the part of the insurance company. If you have retained a lawyer, they can interpret policy language without the help of the insurance company.

 

Nickel and diming you to death

Insurance companies “nickel and dime you to death” by chiseling down the size of your claim bit by bit with a hundred “minor” objections.

Subjecting you to numerous small delays

The idea is to lull you into missing the statute of limitations deadline to file a lawsuit. Unless an exception applies, Virginia allows you two years from the date of an injury to file a car accident lawsuit.

Offering you a preliminary settlement check that turns out to be final once you cash it

Read every word printed or written on the check first. If it says “full and final settlement”, don’t cash it.

Questioning your medical treatment

The insurance company might challenge treatment such as acupuncture or chiropractic care as failing the reasonable and necessary test unless your physician referred these treatments to you.

Spying on your social network accounts

The defendant can use your Facebook, Instagram, and other social network pages as evidence against you. They can also use your friends’ posts about your accident.

Arbitrary claim denials

A claim denial is arbitrary if the reason is preposterous or irrelevant or if the insurance company doesn’t give a reason at all.

Arbitrary deadlines

The insurance cannot enforce their own payment deadline.

The “good neighbor” strategy

A “good neighbor” pretends to be your friend so they can take advantage of you. Never forget that the insurance company’s interests are often 180 degrees opposite to yours.

The lowball settlement offer

Insurance adjusters know when you’re confused and disoriented. They also know you might be having trouble paying your bills due to unexpected medical expenses and lost work time. They might take advantage of this to offer you a quick but inadequate settlement.

Attributing your injuries to a pre-existing condition

Did you suffer a similar injury years ago? The insurance adjuster might claim that your pain is caused solely by your old injury, not your new one. They might assert that you are just trying to use the accident as an excuse to deceive the insurance company into paying for pain caused by your old injury.

 

The biggest mistake you can make with a sizable claim is letting the insurance adjuster smooth-talk you into representing yourself instead of hiring a lawyer. The reason why this is the biggest mistake is that a lawyer could have helped you see through all of these insurance company tricks.

Let your lawyer handle the insurance adjuster

Even if you negotiate deals for a living, you probably don’t understand enough about personal injury law to negotiate a car accident settlement. That’s fine, because you can always have your lawyer do the negotiating with you. Insurance adjusters typically hesitate to even try to pull the same kind of tricks with a personal injury lawyer as they would with an unrepresented person.

 

Once your lawyer tells the insurance adjuster to direct all further correspondence to them, the insurance adjuster cannot initiate contact with you. You needn’t worry that your lawyer will settle your claim for an amount that is lower than anything you would have accepted. Your lawyer cannot settle your claim for a specified amount without your permission.

An experienced Virginia personal injury lawyer won’t fall for any of these tricks

Car and truck accidents frequently cause catastrophic injuries and wrongful death. Because the amount at stake tends to be large, insurance companies fight as hard as they can to avoid paying. That is exactly why you need a car accident lawyer.

Here at Phelan Petty Injury Lawyers, we are experienced Virginia personal injury lawyers who have seen every trick an insurance adjuster might play. We won’t fall for a single one of them. Contact us today to see how we can help you.