A car accident is a traumatic experience with temporary or permanent life-altering impacts on accident victims such as mounting medical bills and the inability to return to work during the recovery period—or at all, depending on the severity of the injury. After a serious car accident, injury victims expect the at-fault driver’s insurance to follow through on their contractual obligations to compensate them for their economic and non-economic damages like medical expenses, lost earnings, and compensation for pain and suffering. Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Auto insurance companies in the U.S. are private companies that prioritize profits over paying out on claims. Our Atlanta personal injury lawyers have seen these common tactics used by insurance companies to deny, dispute, or delay car accident claims as described below.
Insurance adjusters assigned to a car accident case often quickly reach out to the injury victim with a settlement offer while they are still reeling from the accident. They do this when they know their policyholder is at fault and liable for the damages. By making a fast settlement offer while the accident survivor is vulnerable, they protect themselves from a lawsuit. Signing a settlement offer requires signing away the right to a lawsuit or any further negotiation. Often, the settlement is intentionally offered before the injury victim knows the full extent of the economic and non-economic damages they are facing. Early offers are typically for far less than the full amount available to the injury victim.
Insurance adjusters sound compassionate on the phone, but when the injury victim agrees to speak on a recorded line, they fall into a common trap. An insurance company may use their remarks out of context against them later, turning a simple automatic response like, “I’m fine, thank you,” into an admission that they’ve fully recovered.
Insurance companies also use statements an accident victim made at the scene against them as an admission of fault. For example, if a car accident victim said, “I’m so sorry,” during the traumatic aftermath of a collision it becomes “admitting fault” even if they really only meant that they were sorry the whole thing happened or sorry that someone else was hurt.
Insurance adjusters assigned to the case may ask the injury victim to sign a medical authorization so they can review the injury record from the accident. This seems like a standard procedure, but often it’s a full medical authorization allowing the insurance adjuster access to the injury victim’s entire medical history. They do this so they can find a previous injury or pre-existing condition they can arguably claim is the true cause of the injury victim’s pain or other symptoms.
Insurance companies commonly dispute aspects of a compensation claim such as the doctor’s treatment recommendation. They may argue that their own medical experts don’t think the treatment is necessary for the injury.
It’s important for anyone in the process of a car accident claim to avoid posting or commenting on social media. It’s tempting to share important occurrences such as a major accident with family and friends, but insurance adjusters may comb through social media to find “evidence” such as a claimant’s post after the accident saying something like, “I was in an accident, but thankfully I’m alright,” as evidence that they weren’t truly injured. They may also use photos of the injury victim smiling on a beach as “proof” that they aren’t as injured as they claimed, even if the car accident victim was smiling through their pain.
After a serious car accident, it’s highly beneficial to protect yourself by hiring an experienced car accident lawyer in Atlanta and then directing all communication with the insurance company to your attorney. A skilled attorney anticipates and counteracts typical insurance company tactics used to avoid paying out on compensation claims.
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