Figuring out how to recover as much compensation as possible from your personal injury case can be tricky. To start, you’ll have to navigate the nuanced process of dealing with insurance companies that are best positioned to pay your what you’re owed. But even though you might think these companies are looking out for your best interest, that is probably far from the truth. These entities are only interested in protecting themselves and making money, which means they’re going to do everything they can to avoid paying out your claim. They might deny your request outright, or they may lowball a settlement offer in hopes of getting off the hook for a larger payout. Either way, you need to know how to protect yourself when dealing with these insurance companies.
How do insurance companies try to pay you less?
Insurance companies have a lot of sneaky tactics to try to avoid having to pay out claims. Here are some of the strategies that you need to be aware of:
- Claiming that you’re at fault: If you’re to blame for the accident, then the insurance company isn’t going to pay you. Therefore, they’ll scour the facts of your wreck to look for evidence that tends to show that you contributed to the wreck. You should also analyze the facts so that you can anticipate their arguments here and can effectively counter them.
- Misapplying the terms of your policy: Insurance policies can be complex and difficult to understand. Insurance companies often use this fact to their advantage by intentionally misinterpret and misapply the policy’s terms to your detriment. Unless you call them out on it, they may get away with doing so.
- Requiring you to submit a ton of documentation: The insurance company will require you to provide documentation supporting the cause of your accident, your medical condition and the extent of your losses. But they might keep requesting documentation even after you’ve submitted what you thought was everything. The goal here is to try to bog you down to the point that you miss something, or you simply give up. Doing either will give them justification to deny your claim or pay you less money than you deserve.
- Delaying payment: In some instances, the insurance company may act in bad faith by stalling the claims process or withholding warranted payment. When this happens, the insurance company hopes that you’ll give in and ask for a lower settlement amount so that the process can speed up and you can get your hands on the money that you need.
- Claiming that your injuries are attributable to pre-existing conditions: You should be able to recover compensation for any accident injuries that you’ve suffered. But if your medical records reflect that you have a pre-existing condition, then the insurance company is probably going to try to argue that the harm caused to you is more likely than not chalked up to that condition rather than any negligence on the defendant’s part. This highlights the importance of having thorough medical documentation and sound expert legal opinions on your side.
Build a compelling case to secure the compensation you deserve
There’s a lot to deal with when pursuing a personal injury claim. If you improvise your way through your case, then you’re bound to make mistakes that the insurance company will capitalize upon and that’ll cost you a lot of time, money and stress in the long run. So, even though it may seem overwhelming to address the ins and outs of your case, now is the time to build your legal strategy if you want to maximize your chances of recovering the compensation you deserve.