A Tennessee traffic accident can bring life as you know it to a halt, at least temporarily. While your focus may be on your recovery from your injuries and getting your family back on track, you will not be able to help worrying about the bills, car repairs and medical expenses piling up while you are out of work. You are really counting on the insurance claim to help your family through the tough times.
You want to be certain you obtain the maximum amount of benefits you deserve. However, it is the job of the insurance adjuster to pay as little as possible for your car accident claim. For this reason, you will want to be aware of the tactics an adjuster may use to trick you into jeopardizing your claim.
Be alert!
Representatives from insurance companies count on the fact that you may have little experience with insurance claims, and that you are distracted and confused by your own circumstances. If you are aware of the ways insurance adjusters may try to trick you into defeating your own case, you may be able to skillfully avoid them. Some examples include the following:
Making friends:
By gaining your confidence when you are at your lowest, they hope to get you to say things they can use against you or to get you to accept a meager settlement.
Recording your statement:
You cannot refute something you have said on a recording, and the insurance companies know how to manipulate your most innocent statements.
Saving you time:
With this pretense, an insurance adjuster may ask you to sign a blank medical record and offer to fill in the rest as a courtesy. This will never end well for you.
Making impossible demands:
An insurance company may require you to present unreasonable proof of your lost wages or other damages that is impossible to compile.
Rushing your decision:
Since it isn’t always easy to see how serious your injuries really are, the first offer an insurance company makes is seldom enough to cover your case.
The best advice for encounters with insurance companies following an accident is to be polite, professional and impersonal. Allow your attorney to handle the insurance adjuster while you focus on your recovery. If your attorney has past experience dealing with the tactics of insurance companies, you will not have to worry about being trapped by these tricks.