When you are involved in an accident, the investigating officer has identified the drivers involved in the crash and obtained their respective insurance information. The officer also completed an accident report that was filed with the DMV.
Now, if the accident wasn’t your fault, then you are the claimant because you may have a claim for personal injuries and property damage.
Why Will the Insurance Adjuster Contact You?
Shortly after an accident, the other driver’s insurance company will open a claim file. What happens then is that the insurance adjuster will contact you about the following:
- Your injuries
- Your property damage
- Both
As a claimant, you want to get a fair settlement, which is why you must keep in mind that the insurance adjuster works for the insurance company, not you. The job of the insurance adjuster is to save the insurance company money.
If we were to use simple words, we would tell you that the insurance adjusters don’t have your best interest at heart. The insurance adjuster doesn’t carry any sort of responsibility to you.
The Insurance Adjuster Does Not Care About You
The insurance adjusters are trained on how to earn the claimant’s trust. Their company manual tells them to tell claimants that they don’t need an attorney. On that note, you can expect the adjuster to tell you that the lawyer will get all the money, and the case will take forever to be resolved.
However, none of the things that the insurance adjuster might tell you is true. Your lawyer will not get all the money. Most law firms charge one-third of the recovery for personal injuries as their fee. Just think about it – if the lawyers were getting all the money, they wouldn’t get any clients.
The Insurance Adjuster Will Tell You Don’t Need a Lawyer
If the lawyers couldn’t recover settlements for their clients, they wouldn’t be getting any attorney fees. The thing that we are emphasizing here is that if you get into an auto accident, you must call an attorney, especially if you are injured.
For instance, if you live in Nevada, you might want to opt for Nevada car accident compensation that your lawyer will help you get access to. A car accident lawyer will ensure that you get the sum that is rightfully yours to cover your property damage, lost wages, and medical bills.
Of course, your lawyer will have a fee, but the fees will be so much less than the compensation that they will be helping you to get through the case settlement.
There is also some truth to the point that cases can take time to get resolved. However, this is in your best interest. Your lawyer will ensure that you know the extent of your injuries before you proceed to settle your accident or personal injury claim. This aspect takes time, so you have to be patient.
Never Rush into Any Settlement
The thing is that insurance companies will want you to rush into any offer coming from their side as soon as possible. However, if you want to get a fair settlement, you must avoid rushing into any settlement.
Initially, when you have just gotten out of an accident, the extent of your injuries might not be known. If you make the mistake of accepting a quick settlement – you are doing yourself a great injustice. You may find out a few more months down the road that you need further medical treatment. Or, you might find out that you have developed a permanent injury due to the accident that wasn’t, however, noticeable right after the accident.
Just think about it – if you have already accepted the insurance company’s offer of settlement, you may develop a more serious injury than you can imagine. In this case, you will be left with no other option but to pay out of your packet.
The Lawyer Will Ensure a Fair Settlement
Now, the real reason that insurance adjusters will do their best to prevent you from seeking legal advice is that when you hire a lawyer, you will receive at least two to three times more money than the amount the insurance company is willing to offer you.
So, if you have been in an accident and you have gotten injured, you should never make the mistake of settling directly with the insurance company. Instead, the best thing you can do for yourself is to hire a lawyer and let the professional legal expert negotiate with the insurance company on your behalf.
Unlike the insurance adjuster, the lawyer will have your best interest at heart, and they will do what they can to help you reach a fair settlement that is rightfully yours.
The Lawyer Will Tell You the Value of Your Claim
Now, you might know why an insurance adjuster doesn’t want you to know what your rights are and what you are legally entitled to. Nonetheless, if you get in touch with a lawyer, you will get a complete picture of the value of your claim.
Personal injury claims include the following:
- Medical expenses
- Permanent injury
- Scarring
- Pain and suffering
- Lost wages
With the help of an attorney, you will get a better understanding of your claim’s value, which will save you from settling for less.
Personal Injury Claims Are Complex – Lawyers Can Help
Another reason why you should hire a professional attorney has a lot to do with the complex nature of personal injury and car accident laws. You might have heard about the term “contributory negligence”, which concludes that if the injured person is even slightly at fault in the accident, they are no longer eligible to recover anything.
So, you should be mindful of the fact that the adjuster handling your claim knows this law, and they will do their best to look for reasons to pay you nothing.
The Takeaway
We recommend you never talk to an insurance adjuster without consulting a car accident or personal injury lawyer. Most importantly, never give any recorded statements or allow the adjuster to record your statement without legal help. Keep in mind that any recorded statements can and will be used by the insurance adjusters against you as their sole objective is to save their company’s money.
