MAXIMIZE YOUR AUTO INJURY CLAIM: Part 1
Maximizing your injury claim just means getting a fair settlement. The auto liability insurance company is already working on ways to defeat or at least minimize your claim. Remember, insurance companies charge a lot of money for premiums from everybody. But they get to keep all the money that they do not pay out for claims. In order to do this, they will stop at nothing to cheat you out of every penny they can. They spend millions of dollars "training" their claims adjusters in the methods of beating you!
That means you have to be smart. People call lawyers everyday to say, "I just want a fair settlement. I'm not trying to get rich off of this insurance claim." If only insurance companies thought that way injury lawyers would be out of business. You can count on many things. The sun will come up in the morning. It will be hot in Texas in the summer. And insurance companies will always try to do the wrong thing.
One of the first things the insurance claims adjuster will try to do is to take a tape recorded statement from you. They'll tell you they must have the statement in order to process the claim. That's just a lie. Most claimants with lawyers never give a statement. The insurance adjuster has a list of "loaded" questions they want to ask to catch you off guard or to make you just say something that hurts your case later on. For example, they often will ask you immediately after a car wreck to provide a complete description of your injuries; or they will ask you to provide precise details about the wreck. As you'll see below, those questions may seem reasonable but they are really just a trap.
Insurance companies know that many times the symptoms of traumatic injuries do not appear for several days. But they will use your own words to deny compensation for any injury you failed to describe completely at that time. For example, hip and leg pain may be the result of a low back injury. Sometimes the low back is immediately painful but the hip or leg does not begin to hurt for days or even weeks. So when the claims adjuster asks for a list of injuries, the person with an injured back may have no idea their leg and/or hip will be in severe pain the next day.
With regard to giving a statement about the details of the wreck, most people are completely unprepared. For one thing, wrecks are often confusing. The insurance adjuster aims to take advantage of that fact. They will ask questions about time, speed and distance--such as, how far away from the intersection were you when your light turned green? How much time passed between the moment your light turned green and the actual crash? The truth is, you weren't using a stop watch. The amount of time that passes in these instances is usually less than two or three seconds. But most people will say "10 seconds" or "30 seconds" or "a minute or two." The insurance adjuster will use the answers to those questions to say you were speeding, or that you were at fault. End result--"claim denied."
The best way to maximize your injury claim is to start smart. Never give a recorded statement to the insurance company until you have consulted an experienced injury lawyer. Remember, a lawyer cannot un-do the harm you cause to your own case. Get legal advice first, and then decide whether you should allow the insurance company to question you about the wreck.
