Insurance Adjuster
Besides your personal injury lawyer, the most important person who will likely be involved in your claim is the insurance adjuster. It’s crucial to understand the role the insurance adjuster plays and how they can affect your personal injury claim.
An experienced attorney can handle insurance adjusters to help you protect your legal rights.
What Is an Insurance Adjuster?
Insurance adjusters play a critical role in how personal injury claims are resolved. Insurance adjusters may handle claims filed by their own policyholders, such as if they file a claim with their collision insurance after a car accident.
Adjusters can also handle claims filed by third parties who were injured due to the negligence of an insured, such as someone who files a claim with a homeowner’s insurance company after a slip and fall accident.
What Does an Insurance Adjuster Do?
While their specific job duties may vary based on their employer, they all typically have a few responsibilities in common.
Review Insurance Policies
Insurance adjusters receive information about a claim and look into whether an applicable insurance policy covered the responsible party for the loss at the time the loss occurred. For example, if someone were hit by a negligent driver and notified the insurance company of the accident, the adjuster would investigate whether the negligent driver had liability insurance in effect at the time of the accident.
The insurance adjuster also reviews the specific language of the policy, such as the type of insurance coverage provided and whether there are any exclusions that apply under the circumstances, such as if the accident was caused by someone specifically excluded from the policy.
Investigate the Claim
The insurance adjuster typically completes an investigation to determine how the accident occurred and the extent of the damage.
This may involve:
- Reviewing accident reports
- Interviewing witnesses
- Taking pictures of the damaged vehicles or property
- Inspecting the damaged property on site
- Reviewing any available video evidence
Then, the adjuster uses this compiled information to reach a conclusion regarding liability and estimate the financial costs associated with the claim.
Make Determinations on Liability and Claim Value
The insurance adjuster uses the information gathered from their investigation to determine whether the insured is responsible for the accident, whether the claim should be approved, and how much money to offer to resolve the claim.
If the insurance company did not investigate or if they issued a blanket denial, this can be an indication of bad faith and may be grounds to take legal action against the insurance company.
Negotiate Settlement Agreements
The insurance adjuster may offer a certain amount of money to resolve the claim. Your personal injury lawyer may insist the claim is more valuable. The two may continue negotiating until they reach a final number and settle the matter, or the attorney may advise filing a lawsuit in court.
Who Does the Insurance Adjuster Work for?
While there are public adjusters in some states that provide an independent evaluation of a claim, most insurance adjusters work for private insurance companies. Insurance companies are for-profit entities whose business relies on receiving more money in premiums than they pay out in claims.
Insurance adjusters are often trained to deny, delay, and devalue claims as much as possible to protect the insurance company’s profit margins.
Understanding this role is essential to protecting yourself against them while you have a pending claim.
Tips for Dealing with Insurance Adjusters
Here are some guidelines to follow when dealing with insurance adjusters:
- The insurance adjuster is not your friend: Remember this key point when dealing with them. They are trained to seem sympathetic and caring, but this is often a ruse to try to lull you into complacency.
- Be careful what you say: Insurance adjusters can take the most innocent statement, like “I’m fine” at the beginning of a conversation, and try to twist it to mean that you were not injured in the accident.
- Avoid guessing: If the insurance adjuster asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to, it’s fine to say that. Avoid guessing. The insurance adjuster could come back later to show with independent evidence that your statement was not accurate and make it look like you were lying.
- Don’t agree to a recorded statement: You’re under no obligation to provide a recorded statement to someone else’s insurance company. These statements are almost always used against the claimant.
- Don’t sign anything: Avoid signing medical release forms, settlement agreements, or any other documentation from the insurance company without having a lawyer review it.
Remember, you don’t have to deal directly with an insurance adjuster. Your personal injury attorney can handle communications with the insurance company, prepare your legal claims, and help you negotiate for fair compensation.
Call a Denver Personal Injury Lawyer from Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers Today for Help Dealing with Insurance Adjusters
Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers has extensive experience dealing with insurance adjusters. We can safeguard your rights throughout the claims process.
Contact us today at (720) 613-9706 for a free case review with a Denver personal injury attorney.
