As a responsible person, you make sure you have the insurance coverage required by law. You invest a significant portion of your income each and every month to ensure that if tragedy strikes, your home, vehicles, and family will be safeguarded and restored to some extent so it will be possible to move on. You pay your insurance premiums on time and are confident that no matter what storms come your way, you will endure. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.
Homeowner Insurance Disputes
Motor Vehicle Insurance Disputes
Life Insurance Disputes
Your Insurance Company’s Interests Are Directly Opposed to Yours
Generally speaking, insurance companies have little to no interest in protecting your interests. Like any business, their primary goal is to make the largest possible profit for their owners and shareholders. This is in direct opposition to what most of us have been led to believe. In most cases, the only thing that encourages some of these businesses to fulfill their obligations to you is the threat of sanction under penalty of law.
The REAL Reason for That Fast Insurance Company Response
When we experience a covered peril or suffer a loss such as a house fire, automobile accident, personal injury, or death, we expect that our insurance company will reach out right away to offer assistance. While you can indeed expect a lightning-fast response, your insurance adjuster is not focused on helping you. They want to contact you in order to settle your claim as fast as possible – and as cheaply as they can get away with. If they can get you to provide a recorded statement with answers you provide based on manipulative, leading lines of questioning, before you have a chance to comprehend the full extent of your losses and retain legal representation to protect your interests, your ability to recover fair compensation for the loss of everything you worked so hard for may be lost forever. Sickeningly, that is exactly what they want.
“No. That Can’t Be. My Insurance Adjuster Is Wonderful.”
Yes. That is exactly what is going on. Insurance companies specifically seek out individuals with charming, relatable personalities to hire on as adjusters. They know what they’re doing and they are masters at the art of deception. While that smiling, attractive man or woman may actually be a pleasure to talk to and seem genuinely interested in helping you out, do not allow yourself to fall for it. The insurance company is the one putting food on their table, not you. You represent a threat to their salary, their job, and their family – and from their perspective the less compensation they can get you to agree to, the better.
Watch Out for These Deceptive Insurance Adjuster Tactics
Because you likely have much more frequent and regular contact with your insurance company than a personal injury attorney, you are at significant disadvantage. With every bill, direct mailing, and in-office ad directed at you, your insurance company conditions you to believe they’re on your side. Frankly, they are not – and the best way to protect your interests is to be aware of what they are actually up to. We have listed seven of the most common deceptive tactics insurance companies have been known to use to avoid paying you what you deserve or deny your claim altogether.
1. Asking for a Recorded Statement
Do not provide this! Simply replying that you are doing good when asked how you are can be used as evidence to deny your claim – and they have a lot more dirty tricks up their sleeves that they are itching to use on you.
2. Requesting Your Medical Records
They need these, right? WRONG. Your medical records will be scrutinized with a fine tooth comb to find anything that could possibly be used to discredit you or show that your injuries already existed, don’t exist, or worse. Do not sign a medical records authorization request – or anything else – without the approval of your lawyer.
3. Offering a Fast Settlement If You Sign a Release
This is the dirtiest trick in the book. They know you are too injured to work, without transportation, or dealing with significant damage to your home or the pain of losing a loved one. They know you are scared. If an insurance adjuster tries to use your emotional trauma and fears to rob you of what is rightfully yours by offering an on-the-spot settlement before you have had a chance to find out what the claim is truly worth, say no and contact a trusted attorney immediately.
4. Advising Against Protecting Yourself With a Lawyer
You have a right to legal representation. You should always seek competent legal counsel before consenting to any communication with an insurance company and their employees to discuss your claim. The insurance adjuster knows that they will be able to manipulate you into accepting less financial compensation than you are entitled to receive if you do not have a lawyer representing your interests.
5. Spying On You
You may not realize it, but once your insurance company is aware that you are injured they will often hire a private investigator to place you under surveillance. Your actions may be watched discretely from a distance and recorded in an attempt to discredit your claim. Even though you are seriously injured, a professional photographer can selectively capture your activities and movements in such a way to make it appear that you are not as seriously injured as you claim or not injured at all. They may watch you for months to capture just one image of you laughing and smiling to create a false impression that you are living it up. A favorite target is social media posts on places such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where you yourself may choose to feature photos of yourself doing well. You may want to consider closing these types of accounts until your case is closed.
6. Intentionally Delaying Your Claim
They know you are having a hard time financially due to your injuries and will delay paying your claim as long as possible in hopes that your situation will become so dire that you give in and accept less than you deserve. They will use every method at their disposal to try to deny liability and blame the accident on you or someone else.
7. Lying About Your Insurance Coverage
Insurance adjusters can be very creative about misrepresenting your insurance coverage. They may lead you to believe that you are only eligible to claim a tiny portion of what you are actually entitled to receive for your loss. For example, unless you specifically chose to reject it in writing, every auto insurance customer in West Virginia has uninsured motorist coverage. This is just one example. Between omissions, creative wording, obscurely written policies, and blatant lies, it can be impossible for most claimants to know what they are actually entitled to claim for their loss. A dedicated attorney is invaluable to protect your rights.
Unfortunately, these and many other types of underhanded tactics are common. In some cases, they are illegal.
Do Not Face the Insurance Company Alone
Contact Angotti & Straface Attorneys at Law
Did you or a loved one suffer serious injuries? Did you lose a loved one due to wrongful death? Have you experienced a covered loss or peril under your homeowners, automobile, boat, motorcycle, ATV, or life insurance policy and you’re worried you are being treated unfairly? If so, let us know what you are dealing with. Contact Angotti & Straface Attorneys at Law for a free initial consultation today. Our phone lines are open 24-hours a day. Call: (304) 292-4381.