8 Common Insurance Company Tricks You Need to Know

When you get in a car accident, what’s the first thing on your mind? You have to call the insurance company and file an auto accident claim, even if it wasn’t your fault. 

Do you think that the insurance adjuster will be helpful and resolve your claim for what it’s worth? Unfortunately, they aren’t in some cases. They often use tactics to pay as little as possible on your claim. 

Today, insurance is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it wasn’t always. Insurance companies got here by keeping the bulk of your money in their pocket. 

As car accident attorneys, it’s our job to collect this money and give it to our clients, who have been seriously injured. 

But insurance companies don’t pay claims without a fight. 

In this article, we reveal how insurance companies avoid paying claims fairly, the common tactics they use, and what you can expect. 

How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, and Defend Claims

The insurance company playbook for getting out of paying claims is to follow the three “D”s:  deny, delay, and defend: 

DENY 

They deny, wholly or partially, everything that they can get out of paying to save money. 

DELAY  

Insurance companies will conduct as many investigations, tests, and paperwork as possible to delay paying claimants.  

This has two benefits.  First, while they delay, they earn interest on the money they have no right to hold.  

Second, the longer they delay, the more desperate injured people become. Many injured folks have their family economies disrupted, and they are willing to settle for less than they deserve to pay the bills.

DEFEND  

If a claimant disputes anything or puts up a fight, the insurers put up as much of a defense as possible, even on small claims.  

Allstate and other insurers have actually taken up the strategy to defend smaller claims seriously. The goal is to make them so expensive and difficult that attorneys will just stop taking those cases.

8 Insurance Company Tactics That Can Disrupt Your Auto Accident Claim

Here is a rundown of some of the common tactics insurance companies use to put the deny, delay, and defend tactic into action.

#1: Intercepting Car Accident Victims Before They Contact a Lawyer

Adjusters are specifically trained to meet with injured claimants as quickly as possible. They aim to “educate” them about the claims process, build rapport, and begin filing a claim for them.  

The whole purpose of this system is to keep claimants from getting an attorney. An experienced car accident attorney will make the insurer pay the full amount to which their client is entitled.

#2: Use Fear to Discourage Claimants from Hiring an Attorney  

Adjusters are also trained to inform claimants that their claims will take “a lot longer” to resolve if they get an attorney. That is true, of course, because insurance companies fight tooth and nail against attorneys to keep from paying the true value of claims.  

Adjusters also tell claimants that attorneys will take “25 to 40 percent of their settlement.” But they don’t tell them that, on average, claims handled with representation return as much as 350 percent to claimants. 

In short, hiring an attorney will leave the claimant with much greater recovery than if they weren’t represented.

#3: Demanding Unnecessary Information

Insurance companies will insist that they need several documents from you before they will even begin to evaluate your claim. 

The truth is that many of the things they ask for will never be used to value your claim. That’s because they get the value of their settlement offer from their computer system.  

They will insist you gather all of these documents, however. It is just another tactic to delay paying you what you are owed.

#4: Disputing Medical Treatment 

Once you do make your claim, insurers will often run your claim through their computer system. Their computer’s algorithm will tell them what medical procedures the claimant should undertake. 

But their computer is not a doctor. It has never evaluated you. It has never even seen you. 

However, that won’t stop them from claiming your treatment is unnecessary.  For them, whether disputing treatment is legitimate or illegitimate, it is a win-win. Either they delay and earn interest on your money, or they deny the charge and keep your money for themselves.

#5: Not Paying Because It Was “the Other Guy’s Fault” 

Adjusters often misinform their insured that they have to go through the at-fault driver’s insurance company to make a claim since the crash was their fault.  

This is not true. You paid your insurance company for this service. They have a duty to deliver.  If it was the other guy’s fault, they should get the payment back from his insurance company and recoup you for any deductible you had to pay.

#6: Misrepresenting What a Policy Covers  

Insurance companies will frequently refuse to pay a legitimate claim. They’ll use the excuse that it is outside the policy coverage limits when that is absolutely false.  

Many claimants who don’t know better just accept the adjuster’s explanation and move on.

#7: Snooping on You via Social Media  

Insurance company investigators don’t just follow people in public. They often scour Facebook, Google, YouTube, and any other online source for information about you. They want to find any evidence that contradicts your injury. 

Adjusters can argue, “Well, you don’t look that injured in the photos from your vacation to Florida!”  Sometimes they even have investigators try to “befriend” you on social media. They’ll try to get you to admit to certain actions they can use against you.

#8: Refusing to Settle Legitimate Claims, thus Putting Their Insured at Risk: 

I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen this happen. Insurers have refused to take legitimate, reasonable settlement offers within policy limits, only to have a huge judgment against their insured, leaving him or her on the hook.  

I’ve tried many cases where insurance companies refused to offer a settlement for the policy limits of their insured. They forced a case to go to trial, only to have a jury enter a judgment against them many times the policy limits.  

For example, I tried a case in which the insurer refused to even offer its $250,000 policy limits.  After trial, we entered a judgment against their insured for almost three times the policy limit.  The policyholder was left out in the cold.  

Injured in an Auto Accident? You Have Rights. Talk To An Attorney Today

If you were seriously injured in a car accident, you have rights under Illinois law. Don’t let the insurance company trick you into settling your claim for less than what it’s worth. 

Our experienced car crash attorneys are here to help you navigate your claim. Contact us to schedule a free consultation. Call us today at (312) 578-9501 or fill out the form on this page.