After a car accident, you assume that your car insurance company will be there to help you through the claims process. After all, you always paid your premiums without fail and never had any previous incidents. Unfortunately, you will quickly learn that the primary concern of your auto insurer is to protect their bottom line.
Despite all of the catchy radio jingles and overly friendly sales representatives, after an accident is when most customers find out just how worthwhile their insurance company actually is. You will likely recognize a few manipulative tactics like delaying your claim or denying a benefit over misconstrued information you provided, but these denial strategies are just the tip of the iceberg. To avoid jeopardizing your claim and potentially losing your rightfully due car accident compensation, you must consult with a knowledgeable Florida personal injury attorney as soon as possible after suffering a collision, regardless of fault.
There are many ways that car insurance companies deprive accident victims of much-needed compensation. Generally, these tactics fall under three main categories: denials, delays, and refusing to negotiate.
Claim denials are the top strategy used by insurance companies to not only push you to the edge of desperation but also delay a payout by forcing you to file a new claim over and over. Administrative denials are commonplace because they focus on confusing technical errors. An adjuster may claim paperwork never arrived or missed an alleged deadline. These companies may even tell claimants that the paperwork submitted is not correctly filled out and force you to start the process all over again in hopes that Florida personal injury claim deadlines get missed.
Using a denial as a way to manipulate you into giving up pursuit of a claim or to deflect partial fault onto you under Florida comparative fault laws has proven effective for insurance companies time and again. This makes consulting with an aggressive Orlando car accident attorney critical to your injury case.
Another strategy insurance companies use to deny a claim involves extended delays in responding to your claim. There are several ways an insurer can pull this tactic off. By switching agents on you or supposedly making a mistake with your contact information, putting you through purposeful waiting games wears down your resolve to hold out for fair compensation.
These big corporations are profitable and need to save money on every claim they payout, which means they have to push devastated injury victims to their breaking point so that they accept a low offer or give up. Worse, the attorneys working for these carriers purposefully don’t inform accident sufferers that Florida has a statute of limitations for filing a personal injury claim starting on the day the accident occurred, costing many their right to recovery.
Easily the most frustrating tactic that a car insurance company will use is refusing to negotiate. Oftentimes, these companies send settlement offers that do not provide comprehensive compensation for the following costs associated with a car accident:
By refusing to negotiate, they know the delay of compensation will put you and your family into tougher financial circumstances, forcing you to accept their meager offering. They count on you not trusting a car accident attorney to represent you because of the many misconceptions that surround the costs of hiring such an expert.
The reality is that attorneys who represent car accident victims rarely require any money upfront and do not get compensated until you win your case. Further, the State of Florida limits how much an attorney can receive from a car accident settlement. Taking these factors into account, consider that an attorney will always be able to negotiate for a higher amount than you would have received on your own, and their fee will not be enough to take up that difference.
The surest way to prevent an insurance company from denying your claim to hire an experienced Orlando car accident attorney to represent your case. By removing yourself from the negotiation table and having an experienced lawyer confront these greedy corporations in your place, the chances for you to receive fair injury compensation increase significantly.
The Umansky Law Firm is here to represent your injury claim and help you get the compensation you need to recover. As a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, we dedicate our more than 100 years of car accident case experience to work for you. We won’t stop until the negligent party that’s impacted your life is held responsible. Start a free case evaluation today by contacting us online or calling our office to learn more.
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