Overcome Insurance Delays With Expert Legal Guidance
If you’ve been injured in a car crash, a car accident lawyer might be able to help you secure compensation. However, as you may have already discovered, getting compensation is rarely as simple as filing an insurance claim, having it approved, and receiving a check.
In many cases, an experienced personal injury attorney can help you overcome insurance delays. Your lawyer might be able to expedite the claims process, and if the insurer’s delays are significant enough to constitute bad faith practices, they also might be able to pursue legal action on your behalf. Here’s a closer look.
Why Are Insurance Delays So Common in Personal Injury Claims?
Insurance companies aren’t known for promptly paying car accident claims. It’s not unusual to encounter several delay tactics:
Repeatedly requesting additional (and seemingly unnecessary) information
Assigning a new adjuster to your claim so you have to re-explain the accident
Taking an inordinate amount of time to respond to you or your attorney
Deliberately dragging out negotiations
Offering unfairly low settlements
Insurers will often use these tactics in an effort to protect their profits. If they can get you to accept a lowball settlement, they can limit how much they have to pay. And the longer they can hold onto their funds, the more interest those funds can accrue.
How a Car Accident Lawyer May Help
Retaining a car accident attorney doesn’t guarantee that your insurer won’t delay your claim. However, insurance companies are more likely to be willing to negotiate if you have a lawyer. They know that a personal injury attorney will take your case to trial if they don’t receive a reasonable settlement offer, but someone with no legal representation is less likely to file a lawsuit.
Just having an attorney working with you can help you avoid delays, but lawyers also employ specific strategies like the following to combat unethical delay tactics.
Thorough Investigation
If the insurance company is presented with detailed, comprehensive evidence from the very start, it will be harder for it to justify asking for more information or offering to pay far less than the claim is worth.
When you work with a personal injury attorney, your lawyer will investigate the circumstances of your accident. This process is similar to a police investigation of a crime. Once your attorney has gathered ample evidence, they will likely file an insurance claim on your behalf.
Tenacious Negotiation
Most insurance companies aren’t going to just approve and pay a claim without a fight. Personal injury cases almost always involve considerable negotiation, and the better your lawyer’s negotiation skills, the more likely they are to secure a fair settlement.
Holding Insurers Accountable for Bad-Faith Tactics
If an insurance company’s delays are significant enough, your attorney may be able to file a bad-faith insurance lawsuit. An insurer who acts in bad faith is intentionally failing to fulfill its contractual obligations. In this case, that means it is not paying a legitimate claim that your insurance contract requires it to.
Do You Need an Attorney to Help With a Car Accident Claim?
There is no legal requirement to retain a lawyer before you file a car accident claim. However, it’s important to remember that insurance companies don’t prioritize helping injured people — their main goal is to protect their bottom line. The right personal injury lawyer can advocate for you and increase your chances of getting the compensation you deserve.
If you need to file an insurance claim or you’re dealing with undue delays on an existing claim, Schiff & Associates may be able to help. Give us a call or contact us online to schedule a free consultation today.