Once you have been injured in an accident caused by the fault of another, there are a series of steps or best practices, if you will, that you should be following to avoid diminishing the value of a potential case. These include visiting the emergency room, following up with your doctor, and contacting a personal injury attorney to assist you with your case. In addition, you should expect that you are likely to receive a telephone call from the insurance adjuster representing the at-fault party. Here is what may happen during that call:

• The adjuster will probably tell you how sorry they are to hear about your accident.
• The adjuster will tell you that you must provide a recorded statement in order for them to process a claim.
• The adjuster will attempt to put you at ease. They will make you feel like you can work with the at-fault party to resolve your claim in a timely fashion and receive proper compensation for your injuries and damages.

Important Points to Note When Working with Adjusters

Before you even think about dealing directly with the insurance adjuster, there are some things that you must know. The insurance company wants to keep information from you, which will severely reduce the value of your case or may even destroy it completely. Please consider the following:

Insurance companies are publicly traded and have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to maximize profits.

One of the ways that insurance companies maximize their profits is by paying the least amount of money possible for each insurance company claim presented. The insurance company would rather deal directly with the injured party than an experienced personal injury lawyer because they have a much better chance of paying the injured party pennies on the dollar.

The insurance adjuster is not your friend.

The insurance adjuster is not there to help you. The insurance adjuster is not looking to provide you with fair, just, and reasonable compensation. The insurance adjuster is looking to either completely deny your claim or pay you the least amount of money possible for your injuries and damages.

The insurance adjuster will probably tell you that you do not need to hire a lawyer.

They may lead you to believe that the money you save by not hiring a lawyer will be paid directly to you, thus increasing the amount of money you will be able to obtain for your accident-related injuries and damages. An Insurance Institute study found that injured parties who lawyers represented received more money in their pockets after paying legal fees and costs than injured parties who represented themselves.

Insurance adjusters are experienced negotiators.

Remember that they are trained professionals and their sole objective is to pay you the very least amount of money possible for your case. Insurance adjusters will keep information from you, may give you misinformation, may threaten you, or will outright lie to you to pay you the least amount of money possible for your accident-related injuries and damages.

Insurance companies have a team of professionals looking for ways to pay you the least amount of money possible.

Why on earth would you attempt to represent yourself against these professionals when you do not have the same knowledge, training, or experience? You need to level the playing field by hiring an experienced personal injury lawyer to help maximize the amount of money that you were able to collect for your injuries and damages.

The Three D's

One strategy that insurance adjusters use is: delay, deny, and defend. In other words, the insurance adjuster will take a lengthy amount of time to review your case. They may ask for unnecessary or useless information or tell you that the insurance company never received the information you sent them and ask that you resend it. After all of that, you might even be told that your claim has been denied, despite the fact that you have provided the required information to the insurance company. Then, if you put your case into suit, they will defend it right until the end.

Get In Touch with Hastings, Cohan & Walsh, LLP

Even if you do not want to hire legal representation, you should consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer. It can help you understand what you need to be doing and what you should not be doing when dealing with the insurance adjuster. Our experienced Connecticut accident attorneys are happy to provide injured parties and their families with complimentary advice and information. Call us today at (203) 438-7450 or click here to contact us!

Resources

Make sure you get this valuable free information before you communicate with the insurance adjuster! You can download a free copy of our Connecticut accident and injury law book by visiting our downloads page.