Insurance adjusters have several tricks up their sleeves in order to minimize a settlement payout or to get a victim to drop his/her claim. In this post, I’ll shed light on three of their most common, and sadly most effective, methods.
Passing the Buck
If the auto accident involved multiple parties, adjusters will tell a victim to, settle the other insurance company first. Their hope is that by passing the buck and delaying the settlement, the victim will stop pursuing the claim.
The truth? The police report for the accident will detail the amount of responsibility for all of the involved parties. Usually, the insurance company for the party who was most at-fault will commit to being the primary insurer. Until that time, a victim has the ability to proceed against any of the responsible parties.
Blurring the Statute of Limitations
The Statute of Limitations rules are confusing to many. In fact, we dedicated a whole blog post to Pennsylvania’s Statute of Limitations for personal injury cases. One of the adjuster’s favorite tricks is to use this complexity to his advantage. He’ll say: We cannot honor this claim because you waited too long to file it.
He is hoping the victim will take him at his word and drop the claim. But the truth is that the 2-year time limit for filing your Pennsylvania personal injury claim does not start until the injured party discovers he/she is injured. As long as the claim is brought within that window, it can go forward.
The Collateral Income Confusion
One of the most successful ways they get victims to take less than what they deserve is by confusing them with the following argument:
You have health insurance coverage and paid very little out of pocket, so your settlement should be lower.
When they try this tactic, they are taking advantage of the victim’s lack of legal knowledge, because other sources of income should not affect the settlement amount thanks to the collateral source rule. This rule prevents the at-fault insurance company from benefiting from the victim’s other sources of health coverage and income.
The best way to defeat this tactic is to head it off. It is none of the adjuster’s business if you have health coverage or if you were able to use accrued hours (such as annual or sick leave) to recover from the injury. This information should have no bearing on the settlement.
A Lawyer Is Your Best Defense
Insurance adjusters have one major goal: to minimize their company’s payout. Their tactics may seem under-handed, but they are often successful. A victim’s best chance to make sure they received their deserved compensation is to hire an accident attorney.
If you’ve been injured in the Philadelphia area by the negligence of another party, my best recommendation is to contact me for a free case evaluation. We can sort through the events together and figure out the best way for you to recover all the compensation you deserve after your accident.
Our promise is to deliver outstanding customer service and our motto is: More Service than You Would Expect.
Joe Mitchell: Harvard Educated, Street Smart. Philadelphia Accident Attorney
