Dealing with insurance adjusters can be quite tricky, but an experienced St. Louis car accident attorney can help.
A car accident can cause severe injuries that might require weeks or even months of expensive treatment, therapy, and lost wages. Fortunately, according to the law in Missouri, the responsible party is responsible for paying for your pain, suffering, and property damage. They usually do it through their insurance company, which means that discussing and negotiating the terms of your claim will be with an insurance adjuster.
Dealing with insurance adjusters can be quite tricky, but an experienced St. Louis car accident attorney can help.
What Is an Insurance Claim Adjuster?
An insurance claim adjuster is employed by the insurance company to investigate the incidents and adjust the claim to the company’s advantage, backing up the settlement with strong evidence.
In other words, they are insurance company employers who are trying to lower the insurance claim. They often do this by trying to minimize the severity of your claim.
How Can an Insurance Adjuster Affect Your Insurance Claim?
In the aftermath of a car accident, adjusters might take advantage of the fact that evidence is perishable. Witness accounts, hard evidence, and even your own recollection of the events will be deteriorated as time passes by. An insurance adjuster will highlight the lack of evidence when you won’t be able to provide clear reports of your claims. Your lawyer will make sure you collect all the necessary evidence to support your claim.
A common way of minimizing costs for the insurance company is using your own words against you. Insurance adjusters are very aware of what might compromise your claim and they will try to put your words in a light that doesn’t advantage you. So, even when you think you are “off the record” or safe on your social media account that you only share with friends, remember that an insurance adjuster will watch out for interpretable statements and bring them in front of the court if they make your claim seem bigger than it should be.
For example, if your claim contains a “pain and suffering” factor, and you post pictures of you partying or even smiling on your Facebook account, the insurance adjuster can use this information to prove that your pain and suffering is really not that big. Your St. Louis auto accident lawyer will instruct you about what, when and where to discuss your case, and they will protect you from “traps” and interpretable statements.
Just like a lawyer is trained to defend their client’s case with the best “weapons” – updated knowledge about how laws are applied, insurance adjusters are trained to negotiate, interpret evidence, and collect proof that your claim shouldn’t be that big, or not be paid at all. Furthermore, the insurance company has their own lawyers to fight your claim, so going into this by yourself will be stressful and likely end up in a smaller settlement.
There are plenty of reasons to seek legal advice when you are the victim of a car accident. If you have been injured in an accident, give us a call 24/7 at (314) 361-4242 for a FREE case evaluation with an experienced car accident lawyer.