When you’re in a serious accident, your whole life turns upside down. You suffer injuries that make it impossible to continue your normal routine. You can’t work. You can’t even enjoy the things you used to enjoy. Then the insurance company shows up, and at first you think this is your saving grace. They’ll pay for your medical bills, your pain and suffering and the overall cost of your injuries.
Then they offer you a horribly low settlement and begin to make threats and excuses about why your injury isn’t worth what you think it is, and everything comes to a crashing halt. What can you do? You know you deserve more. Learn about the tactics insurance companies will use to try and cheat you out of your settlement, and how a San Francisco personal injury lawyer can help.
Insurance Companies and Non-Payment
Insurance companies will try to present themselves as a caring ally in your struggle, but that’s an illusion. The truth is, the insurance company has one goal, and that’s to figure out a way to get out of paying your claim. They’ll use any tactics they can come up with, but there are five tactics that are the most common.
Your Caring Ally
The first tactic most insurance companies will take is to present themselves as a friend and ally. They’ll make a friendly call and try to get you to make recorded statements to expedite your settlement. Don’t even answer basic questions during this call; even if they ask how you are and you say, “fine,” they’ll use it against you later.
A Lowball Offer
They’ll usually follow up the friendly call with a lowball offer. This is an effort to close out the case quickly and get rid of you. You’ll likely be hurting for money and tempted to just take it and be done. Don’t do this! If you accept this offer, you’ll lose the right to the true settlement to which you’re entitled.
Hiding the Evidence
As much as we like to think everyone is straightforward and honest, it’s unfortunately not true when it comes to legal cases. An insurance company will go to great lengths to avoid you getting hold of the records that support your case. They’ll doctor logs, tamper with computers, claim lost data and any other way they can think of to keep the evidence out of your hand.
Delaying the Case
The longer your case gets delayed, the harder things are going to get, and the more likely you’ll be to just accept the low offer the insurance company tenders. At least, that’s their point of view. Eventually, they think they’ll break you down.
Bullying and Threats
If all of the above fail, they’ll resort to threats and bullying. They might accuse you of being responsible for the accident. They’ll tell you if you go to court you won’t see a dime. They’ll say you’re not that badly hurt, or not hurt at all. These are empty threats.
Call a San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer
The solution to dealing with these non-payment tactics is to go on the offensive. As soon as the insurance company calls you, tell them that they have to speak with your attorney. Then, call Gruber Law Group for help. If you’re facing insurance company threats, give us a call for a free consult on your case today.