What Should I Do If An Insurance Adjuster Calls?
If you get in any kind of accident, you’re most likely going to want to take some time to heal and recover from your injuries. However, if your injuries are serious and you have decided to file an insurance claim, you’re probably going to have to deal with an insurance adjuster shortly after your accident. If your injuries were caused by another person’s negligence, you also want their insurance company to pay your bills instead of your own insurance company. This blog post is meant to help guide any conversations or phone calls you have with an insurance adjuster so you have the best chance at receiving the compensation you deserve.
Insurance companies are notorious for trying to lowball accident victims with initial settlement offers, as they are always trying to save money for the company they work for. Insurance adjusters know how expensive car accidents can be, and that most people don’t have enough money saved up to pay for all their medical bills. So, they try to get accident victims who really need the money to accept their early offers so they can avoid paying for the rest of the victim’s bills. Once you’ve signed a settlement agreement, you actually can’t ask for more money later.
If the insurance company can’t get you to to accept one of their settlement offers they will probably continue to call you, even if you tell them that you are still in treatment or that you are trying to contact a lawyer. They will also probably ask you for a recorded statement, claiming to want to know about the details of the accident. Their actual goal for these calls is to get you to make a conflicting statement while you’re being recorded. An example of a situation like this would be if the insurance adjuster called you after an accident and you told them that you’re having a lot of neck pain. Then, after a couple weeks or even months, you begin to get knee pain that you suspect was caused by the accident. If you mention this to the adjuster, they could try to argue that you didn’t originally mention the knee pain in your recorded statement, and that it wasn’t an injury caused by the accident. Using your own statements, they could try to deny compensation for your knee injury.
So, what should you do when an adjuster calls? There are a few things that you can do to escape the lowball offers of the shrewd insurance adjusters. Make sure that you write down the name, address, and phone number of both the insurance adjuster and the insurance company. You should also provide your full name, address, and phone number to the adjuster and make sure to be very general when you describe your injuries. Tell the adjuster that you will provide a complete and detailed medical report once you and your doctors have made a complete assessment of your injuries. You should also make sure that you don’t agree to a recorded conversation, and you should only talk about the basic facts of the accident, like where it happened, the date and time it occurred, and what type of accident it was (car accident, dog bite, slip-and-fall). You are not obligated to sign or agree to anything, or provide information about your family, doctor, or work. Make sure to be brief and provide only necessary information when an adjuster calls. If you get in an accident and need help with insurance adjusters, make sure to call an experienced accident attorney so they can provide advice and assistance.
