While insurance companies should practice good faith, they often engage in tactics that are meant to persuade a personal injury victim to take a much lower settlement than what you deserve. This is what is known as Bad faith. Bad Faith is when an insurance company uses multiple tactics to try and make you take a lower settlement than you deserve for your personal injury claim. Insurance companies do this because they assume the client does not know a lot of information about the value of their case, so they can get away with it.
Insurance adjusters do this because they know medical bills add up, and injuries related to the accident typically prevent people from working. If you are not working, and medical treatment is causing bills to pile up, you’ll want to settle your claim as quickly as possible. We are going to go over a few tactics insurance adjusters may employ to try to get you out of potentially thousands of dollars for your claim.
Remember, you don’t have to fight powerful insurance companies alone. With the assistance of a qualified law firm and a cash advance from Provident, you will be able to ride your claim out instead of settling for less than you deserve. Insurance companies want to pay as little as possible when it comes to insurance claims. Your car insurance company may try to drag out the process as long as possible so you settle for less. With a lawsuit cash advance from Provident, you will have the funding you need to continue making ends meet and to fight the insurance company. Contact us at (800) 908-6860 if you’re interested in funding today.
Low settlements
One tactic that an insurance company may try to use for your car accident claim is offering an unfairly low settlement. Insurance companies know that because of your car accident, you may be unable to return to work, and you may have bills piling up. So, insurance adjusters may offer you a settlement for your claim that is much lower than what your case is actually worth. It is one of the most common and effective forms of bad faith. A car insurance company will convince an uninformed client to settle their claim for a fraction of what it’s worth.
The statute of limitations has expired
Another bad faith tactic is for an insurance company to wait for the statute of limitations to expire. A statute of limitations is how long you have to file a claim before you can no longer legally sue. Insurance companies will sometimes go completely silent or refuse to reply in a timely manner to drag out the claim process. If an insurance company is successfully able to make your car accident claim process longer than the statute of limitations, then you lose the right to sue altogether. This tactic is extremely beneficial to car insurance companies because after the statute of limitations has expired, you are no longer able to receive compensation for your injuries.
Unfair “experts”
Insurance companies need experts to evaluate the worth of an accident victim’s claim. Experts can be a range of people, lawyers, doctors, mechanics, engineers, etc. An insurance company hiring an expert in and of itself is not a sign of bath faith. However, when insurance companies use experts they know will act in their favor, this is an act of bad faith. A biased expert will adjust the insurance claim to work in the companies’ favor instead of accurately depicting the injuries the victim has sustained. This could be in the form of misrepresenting medical records, ignoring medical treatment by believing the policyholder isn’t actually hurt, and general misrepresentation of all available information.
Asking for unneeded documentation
An insurance adjuster may ask for a lot of documentation that the insurance company does not need. An insurance adjuster may ask you to sign a medical authorization form so they can access all of your medical records. It’s possible that an adjuster will do the same thing with your employment history. This is so they can find any other possible explanation for your injuries that they can use to deny your personal injury claim.
Refusing documentation
An insurance company may also refuse to give you the documentation you need. If the insurance company comes to a conclusion that you do not agree with, you can ask for a detailed written explanation on why. An insurance company acting in bad faith will not give you documents that allowed them to deny your personal injury claim. If an insurance company did not have anything to hide, they would provide the information to you without question. However, if the car insurance company you use has questionable methods for reaching your claim denial, then they won’t be as forthcoming with documentation.
Long delays
Another popular form of tactics an insurance company may use to lessen the amount of funding you receive for your car accident claim is to delay. This isn’t just waiting a day or two to reply. This is intentionally dragging their feet for as long as possible so you lose the resolve to fight for a fair settlement for your accident claim. An auto insurance adjuster may repeatedly ask for documentation and information that is not required for the accident claim. It may take them days or weeks to reply to your calls, emails and letters. An insurance adjuster may use this tactic to make it feel like it is impossible for you to receive a fair settlement for your injuries. Luckily, unreasonably delay is a sign of bad faith, which you can prosecute your insurance company for.
False friendliness
An insurance company may delay claims by asking their adjusters to pose as very friendly individuals who are on your side. Under this fake friendliness, adjusters may tell clients that they are still investigating their claim, that they are gathering more information, and that they need more information on the clients’ medical records. All of this is done to delay the insurance claims as much as possible. If they can delay the claim process they can delay the settlement payment.
Legal funding from Provident
Don’t let a powerful insurance company bully you into taking a smaller settlement than you deserve. Your injuries are important, you deserve proper compensation for the accident. A lawsuit loan from Provident will give you an upper hand on the insurance company, and put you in a position to negotiate more.
You will not be in a position of desperately needing money to pay for your potential medical bills and living expenses. The insurance company will not be able to use your injuries against you. With our funding, you’ll be able to ride out your accident claim longer, and if your insurance company is using delaying tactics, you can combat them. With a good law firm and Provident backing you, you will be able to reach a fair settlement for your accident claim. Contact us today at (800) 908-6860 or apply online today!