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Car insurance companies reach out to potential policy buyers with comforting commercials and compassionate tones; however, they are private businesses with profits as their motives. To protect those profits, their bottom line depends on minimizing the compensation they pay out on claims—or denying those claims completely.
After a car accident, you may expect a clear path to compensation when the other driver is clearly at fault. Sadly, insurance companies hire adjusters to investigate the claim with the primary purpose of throwing rocks in that path. A New Haven car accident attorney protects a client’s best interests against insurance companies, but it’s helpful to understand common insurance company methods used to deny car accident claims.
Don’t hesitate to call Weber & Rubano at (203) 888-8888 for a consultation with a lawyer free of charge.
In fault-based insurance states like Connecticut, the insurance company of the driver at fault for the accident pays out on an injury victim’s claim for property damage, medical expenses, lost earnings, and compensation for pain and suffering. If the insurance company quickly determines that their policyholder is at fault for an accident, they may reach out right away to an injury victim with a settlement offer.
This is almost always a lowball offer for far less than the claim’s true value. Often, the insurance company intentionally makes this offer before the injury victim knows the extent of their damages. Accepting a settlement requires signing away the right to a lawsuit.
When an insurance company representative warns that the call is being recorded, continuing to speak on the line gives consent to the recording. The insurance adjuster may sound compassionate on the phone, but often they take the accident survivor’s words out of context to use against them later.
For instance, a simple, “I never saw him coming” becomes an “admission” to not paying attention, making the accident the injured driver’s fault, or increasing their percentage of fault to reduce the compensation they owe on the claim.
An insurance adjuster may request a signature on a medical authorization form so they can examine the injury victim’s medical report from the accident. Unfortunately, the form may be a blanket authorization granting the adjuster access to the injury victim’s entire medical history.
They do this so they can scrutinize the history to see if they can blame the injury victim’s symptoms on a previous injury or medical condition and deny the injury claim.
Like most states, Connecticut is a modified comparative negligence insurance state. This fault-based insurance system assigns a percentage of fault to each involved party in an accident. If an injury victim contributes fault to the accident, they can still collect compensation as long as they aren’t more than 51% at fault. The insurance company subtracts the percentage of fault from the amount they pay out on the claim. By assigning 25% of the fault to an injury victim they reduce a $100,000 claim to a $75,000 payout.
One of the most common tactics used by insurance companies is delaying action on claims, dragging out the progress of the claim, stalling by asking for redundant paperwork or failing to return calls or emails. They do this for multiple reasons, including hoping that the injury victim becomes impatient and accepts a lowball offer or gives up the claim completely.
Delaying as long as possible benefits them because the amount of compensation in the claim remains in their account collecting interest rather than in the injury victim’s bank account.
Dealing with a car accident claim in Connecticut can quickly become overwhelming, especially when insurance companies use profit-protecting tactics against you. If you suffered injuries in a car accident in Connecticut, experienced legal representation from a New Haven personal injury attorney is essential for a streamlined process so you collect the maximum compensation.
Call Weber & Rubano today at (203) 888-8888 or contact us online so we can begin strategizing your financial recovery while you focus on your physical recovery.