Leave Your Social Skills at Home When Dealing With Car Insurance Companies

If you ask people what is the worst part of trying to get reimbursement from the car insurance company after an accident, they might mention the annoyances of driving a rental car, instead of the old clunker they are used to, while their car is in the shop.  They might mention the phone calls from doctors’ offices, bugging them yet again for payment, when they have already said multiple times that the car accident claim is pending.  Few people will mention giving a recorded statement to a claims adjuster.  Some people, especially the chatty ones who have long since exhausted the members of their household’s patience for conversation, might even cite that as the most fun part of the aftermath of a car accident.  While the conversations with claims adjusters are painless while they are going on, they are not harmless.  Insurance companies hire the most charming people they can to sweet talk you into going on record saying all kinds of things that damage your credibility and give the insurance company excuses to pay you less on your claim.  Instead, you should hand the phone to someone impervious to sweet talk, namely a Fort Lauderdale auto accident attorney.

Suppress Your “Excuse Me” Reflex

The insurance claims adjuster may ask you to narrate the events of the accident and the moments leading up to it in your own words.  If you are a polite person, your instinct might be to describe it in a self-effacing way, just like you did when you walked to the other driver’s car to exchange insurance information and see if anyone needed immediate medical attention.  This is a mistake when you are giving a recorded statement to an insurance claims adjuster.  If you apologize for the accident or otherwise accept responsibility for it, the insurance company has you on record admitting fault for the accident.

Small Talk Is Not Innocent

It might sound like the claims adjuster is just shooting the breeze with you, but small talk can easily add up to big bucks that the insurance company gets to keep instead of paying them to you.  The claims adjuster may start by making self-deprecating jokes about her age and her creaky old bones, and you may join in, but remember that everything you say can and will be used against you.  Anything you say about your health or personal history becomes, in the hands of the insurance company, evidence of a pre-existing medical condition.  They will use this evidence, flimsy as it may be, to argue that the medical bills you are claiming do not arise from the accident-related injury, but rather from an old injury, a chronic illness, or even simply old age.  The best person to avoid falling into the snares of sweet-talking claims adjusters is a personal injury lawyer.

Set Up a Consultation Today

A car accident lawyer can help you negotiate with insurance companies while giving a carefully worded recorded statement to the claims adjuster.  Contact Boone & Davis in Fort Lauderdale, Florida or call 954-566-919 to explore your potential recovery options today.

Source:

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