Mt. Juliet and Lebanon TN
Anyone injured in a car accident will go through a very stressful time. Obviously, the main priority will be to repair bodily damage to allow it to heal. Meanwhile, significant bills and costs are likely to add up: medical bills, continuing rehabilitation, pharmaceutical expenses, and missed work.
Compensation for these costs should be forthcoming from insurance companies, but it’s not. Insurance companies are for-profit businesses, making that profit only when the premiums paid in are more than what the company pays out in claims. It is, therefore, in their best interest to pay as little as possible, and most will do whatever they can to avoid paying at all or, at the very least, paying less than what they theoretically should pay.
Insurance companies have a variety of maneuvers they can attempt that allows them to do this, and proper precautions against these will increase the likelihood that they will pay what they owe. An insurance company can lead an injured person to three particular pitfalls that could cost the injured person dearly. What are these pitfalls, and what sort of precautions should be taken?
Extreme caution when talking to insurance companies
Insurance companies may ask for a conversation about the injury, in which they will possibly ask several seemingly innocent questions. However, the language of these questions is often phrased in such a way to get the injured party to claim fault for what happened or volunteer any other circumstance which could diminish the company’s responsibility. The injured person must keep a clear head and say as little as possible, making sure to listen for any question whose answers might allow the company to evade paying or reduce the payment they would otherwise owe.
Similarly, if an insurance company asks for permission to record a conversation, permission should be refused. Insurance agents are trained how to ask questions and even make seemingly casual comments to which responses might allow them to avoid payment, and they count on the likelihood that the average person is not going to be as well-trained in spotting them. Anything that is said, tone of voice, and even pauses to process the question might be turned against the injured person in a lawsuit.
Extreme caution about release of records
While an injured person’s own health insurance might require a medical release to provide coverage, another insurance company might be seeking it to gain access to the injured person’s medical history. Once that other company has it, it can look for any reason to deny payment for medical treatment based on what they claim to be a condition that existed before the injury. The opposing insurance company might look for medical conditions that could cast doubt about who is at fault for the accident. Great vigilance needs to be employed for any releases that insurance companies seek.
Extreme caution about quick, early settlements
As bills begin to mount, it may not necessarily seem like time is on the side of the injured person. However, speedy resolution of an injury claim is usually far more valuable to the insurance company that may offer a payout before the extent or long-term repercussions of the injury are known. Furthermore, they may use mounting financial pressure on the people who have been hurt to convince them to accept a lesser sum than would otherwise be due to them.
While it is often far easier said than done to refuse an early offer and hold on for the prospect of obtaining a larger sum that is due, it is far more in an injured person’s interest to do precisely this.
Dealing with insurance companies after an injury
A person who has been injured and is under increasing monetary strain is not always in the best condition for navigating the arduous and, frankly, tricky process of negotiating with an insurance company. The insurance company has the advantage: they are not in pain, not under financial pressure, and they have trained employees whose job is to get out of paying an injured person or getting them to accept far less than they deserve.
For this reason, it is recommended that an injured person help even the playing field by retaining the services of an attorney. Experienced lawyers will be able to anticipate the tactics of an insurance company and will dedicate themselves to winning the best possible compensation for the person who has been hurt.
