Tag: insurance

Top 3 Months in which Insurance Adjusters are Swamped and Want to Settle

There are two times a year that the adjusters are swamped. November/December due to Christmas and March because lawyers have to pay taxes. Everyone wants to settle before Christmas, so they can spend more on the holidays. Taxes are due in April, so lawyers want to settle more cases to pay their taxes due in April.

So if an adjuster gets say an average of 25 cases to be settled a month, the number could double during those months. Also in November/December, adjusters like everyone else wants time off for vacation, holidays etc, so could limit the time they have to review their claims or have someone else try and pick up the slack. And as MSAD stated, it depends on the type of case, injuries etc that they review.

Some cases may have to go through several people for authority and that adds time, since until management reviews, then nothing can be done to make an offer or reject it. But you have one thing in your favor and that is that most companies want to close as many claims by the end of they year and they push the adjuster to do so. But that does not mean that the offer could come before Christmas, only that an offer could be made and the check does not come till after the 1st of the year, but then the case is closed and off the books.

Also, say the adjuster calls the lawyer on Wednesday, but they play phone tag back and forth, could be another week before they actually talk to each other. Then the lawyer calls back and once again, phone tag back and forth. Your lawyer will call you when they make an offer, since by law he is obligated to do so. good luck

12 Things to Consider When Seuing Your Own Insurance Company

1. Even if their slogan says they are on your side, they truly are not when you are asking for a settlement.

2. Insurance companies are financially able to hire the best of the best legal counsel, but this should not intimidate the honest people who are truly deserving of a fair settlement offer.

3. Suing on your own is probably not the best idea if you want to be taken seriously.

4. Going up against a large corporation may take a lot of time to get a settlement. The longer they keep their funds, the better off they are with their financial investments.

5. Your insurance premiums may go up even though they are not supposed to.

6. You might need to look for different insurance coverage due to them having the right to drop you as a customer.

7. They may have you go to an independent medical representative to consider if your injuries are real or not.

8. If you do not have an official police report saying the fault was an uninsured motorist they may attempt to find you at fault.

9. Be assured they will attempt to limit your medical coverage at all cost. However, you do have the right to see whichever doctor you prefer even if this includes a chiropractor.

10. It is always a good idea to make sure you see an MD as part of your initial treatment as they are viewed as more reputable by the insurance companies.

11. They may even refuse to pay certain bills without you knowing, which results in damaging your credit due to being turned over to a bill collector.

12. Insurance companies are professionals when it comes to dealing with being sued and they do not easily admit fault. They will use whatever bad fair tactic to get what they want including low balling, intimidation not to pay bills, false threats, delay of communication, etc.

To Sue or Not To Sue?

If you are the person who is struggling with whether of not to sue an insurance company there are a few things you can consider.

First, you have to get over any negative feelings you might have towards lawsuits. Unfortunately, the way the system is set up, at times there are no other options, but to bring suit in order to be compensated at all.

If the insurance company is not willing to work with you and are not even willing to cover your medical expenses, they leave you with no choice. You should consider suing if you feel like you have tried all attempts to get the insurance company to work with you and they are not.

If you feel you have just cause with proof you are the victim you should considering suing. If you are suing because you are greedy, you should be ashamed and this will more than likely bit you in the butt. You should never sue because of greed. The system is thankfully set up to weed out this type of scam artist.

3 Effective Ways To Deal With An Insurance Adjuster

1. Take notes – you can be legally liable if you RECORD the conversation in audio or video format, but you are free to keep notes. In my case, once I felt like I was being jerked around by the insurance adjuster dealing with my case, I began a journal recording all conversations, phone conferences, meetings, numbers, expenses, keeping all receipts and so-on. No one else will do it for you and you will be in big trouble if you need to recollect a certain detail one day and have no record and/or receipt of it in your notes. Simply said, you cannot remember it all, but you better believe when I tell you that you will need all the details you can recall.

2. If the insurance people seem to be difficult from the very beginning, please understand for your own sake, that it will only get worse. Get a lawyer. Continue reading 3 Effective Ways To Deal With An Insurance Adjuster

How to Communicate with an Insurance Adjuster After a Auto Accident

If you chose not to continue to deal with an insurance adjuster on your own and not get a lawyer, you have a couple of resources to resort to:

(1) Call their manager directly. Don’t just say you will call them or threaten with this, because words will NOT help you much. Speak with action. Call the manager and ask him/her to call you back on their office’s expense. Discussing the situation with the manager will upset your adjuster, which will probably NOT help much, but let’s face – they will continue to treat you in this way, so at least for now you will have the upper hand.

(2) Described your situation in a brief 1-2 page complaint and submit to your State Insurance Commissioner’s Office. While they cannot pressure your insurance for a settlement, they are obligated by law to register your complaint, contact you back and force the manager of your insurance’s local office to contact you and discuss your case. Again, this may not help you much, but it does help public records. If every mistreated customer files a complaint, the insurance will eventually have to deal with the State Insurance Commissioner on a higher level.

Occupy Nationwide

I am not a lawyer and I am not a medical expert, but I did spend eight long years fighting my own insurance company in person, in mediation and in court, because an uninsured motorist hit us from behind injuring both myself and my passenger and totaling our vehicle. I won my case against the insurance and this victory is a matter of public record, which anyone can check and consider that if you were in a car accident, which was NOT your fault, you will beat any insurance in court. How can you do this, is the subject of this website. Follow these links for questions on: car accidents | adjusters | lawyers | courts.

I hope this website is helpful to you and I hope you win. Godspeed!

Will I Get a Larger Settlement If I Go To Court?

The answer to this is of course unknown.  There are so many variables and unknowns to consider. If you have a trial by your peers, the case is worth whatever they say it is worth and if you have a crummy lawyer whom does not present properly your case you could go backwards in your settlement amount. Yet, you do get the satisfaction of your day in court.

Regardless, for us, personally being faced with no other option, we did receive more by going to court.  But what your lawyer is not going to specifically point out is that when you go to court whatever medical bills the insurance company has paid this amount will come out of your final settlement and this is not before he/she gets there percentage.

So basically it will look like:

Court awards $30,000

Minus – Lawyer fee of $10,000
Minus – Medical covered by insurance of $5,000
Minus – Court fees and expenses of $5,000

AND YOUR TOTAL = $10,000

So consider if you are willing to take a chance with the court system.  Do you have a winnable case?  Do you have a good lawyer?  Is the insurance company leaving you with no choice?

5 Main Reason for Avoiding Suing Your Own Insurance Company

1. They are giant and will crush you like a bug. They have unlimited resources and can take as many expert witness depositions as needed to build their case against you. You on the other hand with limited about of money to pay for these witnesses will have pay a lot of out of pocket expenses to build a strong case. This is how the court works. If you do not have a deposition of the testimony then the facts don’t make it to court and your case is weak.

2. The outcome of your lawsuit will be public record. Your settlement about will be for all to see. This $100,000 that you were awarded will appear as so and not “after expenses”. Meaning after your lawyer gets his 40% fee and you have paid off the doctors bills and in some cases you have even paid for the lawyer expenses of the opposing side. So anyone that googles your name will think you just came into big money and not the fact that after all was said and done you end up with nothing.

3. You feel really bad about suiting someone. This may be against your religious beliefs and you may perhaps be shunned by those close to you.

4. When going to trail as opposed to mediation their is a risk of never knowing the outcome. You get a group of jurors that may or may not like you, believe you or think you have a case. So you could potentially walk away with the outcome ruling against you.

5. It takes a lot of nerves and time. You will have to put a lot of time into the preparation of making a strong case. Then the actually time in trail could be stretchered over a large period of time. It could be days sitting in a courtroom listening to testimonies. You, your friends and perhaps family will have to testify. This is the most stressful part and some feel that it is not work going to court. Some cannot take this pressure.

So before you turn down the option of mediation, be aware of this disadvantages, but do keep in mind that you do have the right to go to court and have a jury of your peers determine your outcome instead of some lawyers that more than likely don’t have your best interest at heart.

3 People Types who Get the Runaround from Insurance Company

If you are breathing – First of all, it is nearly a given that if you are breathing and you are attempting to get your insurance company to pay up, you will get the runaround. They will employ some tactic to get you to settle with the least amount of loss to their pockets and this will involve getting you to agree on an amount quick, but drawing out the payment process until the last hour.

HEY IF THEY GIVE YOU THE MONEY, THEY CAN’T MAKE ANY INTEREST OFF IT.

If you are a woman – I know this is a sexist statement, but I have found that there is great prejudice towards females when it comes to a situation in which you are negotiating. Whether you are buying a car, coming to an agreed price on selling an item or reaching a settlement, most times a male will have the more dominant advantage. Therefore, if you have the opportunity for your husband or male presence in your life be your voice for negotiation, you will more than likely be better off.

You might think that the victim card may be one to play and a female will have the greater advantage, but THIS IS NOT TRUE. Insurance personal are trained to leave ALL EMOTIONS out of the deal. I don’t know how, but they truly are trained to be cold blooded. But I guess you would be too if your job depended on it.

If you are young or look young – Going up against an inexperienced person is a plus for any type of negotiator. And most of the time if you are young it is true that you do not know your rights and might take an unfair settlement by being easily tricked to do so.

If you are insecure – If you do not speak with confidence or have any type of non-verbal behavior that suggest you are non-confrontational, this is a red flag that you can be taken advantage of. If you want to get any type of fair settlement you will have to overcome any type of insecurities or social challenges. Suck it up and it will pay off.

Take some Confidence Training if you have to.

What You Need to Know About “New Money”

One thing that was quite confusing to me personally was why everybody (lawyer and insurance company) kept on saying this word “New Money”. And even when our lawyer explained what this concept, it took a little while to figure out what it really meant.

Basically ‘New Money” means that the offered amount is what you will get. If a settlement offer is made of $20,000 you will get $20,000 from the opposing side. However, you still have to deduct from this amount your lawyer fees and expenses. So, the insurance company is saying I will not ask for the cost of medical bills or any other expenses they have already paid. Basically, if they have paid $5,000 of medical you will not get only $15,000 ($20,000-$5,000) like you would if you went to trial and received a court decision.

SO BE AWARE: IF YOU GO TO COURT YOU DO NOT GET “NEW MONEY.”

But honestly I think this terminology is just another tactic to confuse the honest, innocent, common people.