Tactics Car Insurance Companies Use to Devalue or Deny Valid Claims

The trauma, pain, and distress of a car accident can make the days and weeks during the aftermath challenging. Fortunately, you can expect at least some relief from the financial consequences of the accident when the insurance claim comes through. But what if the insurance company protects its profits at your expense by delaying, devaluing, or denying your valid compensation claim, leaving you alone to deal with a totaled car and a pile of medical bills? Often, these bills are due at the same time that the painful recovery process leaves you unable to return to work in your previous capacity—or at all.

Sadly, insurance companies often use predictable tactics to avoid paying out on valid claims. While a skilled South Jersey injury attorney safeguards against these methods, it helps to be aware of the potential strategies an insurance company might use against you.

Offering a Fast Settlement

When an insurance company quickly reaches out with a settlement offer, many car accident victims feel a sense of relief; however, a quick settlement offer is often for far less than the full value of the claim. It may be intentionally offered in a hurry in the hopes that you’ll accept it while it’s too soon for you to know the true scope of the damages you’re facing. For instance, you may be unaware of how much time you’ll miss from work, what additional medical procedures you may need, and how many out-of-pocket expenses will pile up.

Instead of accepting an early settlement offer, speak to a car accident lawyer. Once you’ve hired an attorney, direct all communication with the insurance company to your lawyer.

Calling You On a Recorded Line

When a caller warns that a phone call is being recorded and you accept the call, you give implicit permission for the recording—and any way they decide to use it. Insurance adjusters may sound compassionate on the phone when they ask you how you are feeling and other details about your accident and injuries, but their true agenda may surprise you. An insurance company may use your words against you later, even if they take them out of context. For instance, an automatic, “I’m fine, thank you,” and “I never saw them coming” becomes your admission of fault and confession that you aren’t in serious pain.

Direct the insurance adjuster to your attorney instead of speaking on a recorded line about your accident or injuries.

Asking You to Sign a Medical Authorization

It may seem logical that the insurance company needs access to your medical records to review the notes about your car accident injury but be wary of this common insurance company tactic. While sharing your medical report with the insurance company is acceptable, share only the report Instead of signing a medical authorization. A blanket authorization grants the insurance company access to your entire medical history. They may scour through your medical records to look for a pre-existing condition or previous injury so they can claim this is the real reason for pain and other symptoms and then dispute your compensation claim.

Denying That Your Doctor’s Recommended Treatment Is Necessary

Common damages in car accident claims include medical expenses and calculated future medical expenses related to injury care. No matter how much you trust your doctor, the insurance company may inform you that their own medical experts know better than your doctor and the treatment the doctor recommended for you isn’t necessary. They may attempt to deny your compensation for past or future medical expenses for procedures or physical therapy and attribute the denial to their medical experts.

Denying Your Claim Based on the Minimal Damage to Your Car

The crash force of a collision is powerful. A person weighing only 100 pounds becomes a 3,000-pound force in a crash at only 30 miles per hour. In a low-speed collision, the car may only have a few scratches and a dented bumper, but the car accident victim’s body suffers significant trauma, including soft tissue damage like whiplash, sprains, and strains, as well as lower back injuries. These injuries occur even when wearing a seatbelt. Unfortunately, insurance companies sometimes use the minimal damage to a vehicle after an accident as “evidence” that you cannot have suffered significant injury.

Needlessly Delaying Progress on Your Claim

New Jersey has a two-year statute of limitations on car accident claims. While this may seem like plenty of time, what this time limit actually means is that you cannot pursue a lawsuit in court once the two-year statute of limitations expires. An insurance company may use stalling methods like asking for redundant paperwork, failing to return calls and emails, or changing insurance adjusters and restarting the investigation or claim process. If they can delay your claim, they know you are less likely to have time to take them to court. If nothing else, keeping the amount of your settlement in their account for as long as possible means they earn the interest instead of you.

Following You On Social Media

It’s always best to avoid posting on social media after an accident until you’ve recovered your compensation. Insurance adjusters sometimes follow claimants on social media. They may try to “catch” you looking fit and uninjured in a photograph and use it against you, even if you were bravely smiling for the camera despite your pain. 

What Is Insurance Company Bad Faith?

An insurance company has a legal responsibility to live up to the terms of its contracts. While most of the above tactics are frustrating, they are not illegal; however, when an insurance company fails to follow through with its contractual obligations, the claimant can hold them accountable through a lawsuit for bad faith insurance practices and gain additional compensation. 

Insurance companies may take advantage of a car accident victim during a turbulent and vulnerable time in their lives, just when they most need them to follow through on the promises in their glossy ads. Instead of dealing with an insurance company that’s not on your side, it’s always to your benefit to hire a South Jersey car accident attorney to navigate your claim.