How Settle Your Claim with Insurance Adjusters

How Settle Your Claim with Insurance Adjusters

These top five tips were collated to help you deal with your insurance adjusters. These can be applied to total loss claims, accident fault claims, and bodily injury claims settlements. Basically, let us understand how adjusters and the insurance company work and be wary of the tricks they could pull to let you accept a lower offer.

Revealing the tips:

1. Beware of the musical chairs game that insurance companies play. This is a common technique they use against the unsuspecting insured. Trained adjusters love to exchange, reassign, or change claims among themselves. There will be times when the supervisor steps in and reassigns the claim to another adjuster with no explanation at all. This would leave you to renegotiate the claim from the start, such as already settled points if they are not in writing yet.

At often times, insurance companies assign different adjusters to isolate different issues. One adjuster will settle fault, another will settle the injury and a third one will settle the total loss. Insurance adjusters can throw the ball among themselves this way without giving you straight answers. They can say the answer of a question is with adjuster B but he is out of town for the week.

We cannot prevent this technique from happening, however, the best thing you can do is put every detail they have settled in writing. If an adjuster says they will pay for your rental car, you can send them a letter telling them you understand they are paying for your rental car. Having written correspondences will make them live up to their promise.

Well like an old cliché do not let them change the shape of the money. Sweet talks like being sorry for you having a headache with lower back pains for a week or more can sometimes win your sympathy. After that they can reveal their lowball offer which can only be enough for a trip for two to Mexico. All the while you want to take your wife on a nice Caribbean cruise.

Adjusters are well trained and given the latest alternatives to catch the attention of an unsuspecting insured. Doing this every day many people are now thinking in terms of trips and even electronics. The younger generation is enticed with offers such as a Play Station 4, $250 for an IPod, or a Nintendo Wii. Somehow, insurance companies believe this helps the injured party spend the money in their heads and makes settlement.

Firmly remember that you are settling insurance claim for fault, pain, or the total loss of your property. Think in terms of dollars and not of cruises and gadgets.
2. Another trick is on the time of day. While it is cordial for adjusters to call you on your convenient time to explain their position, they will choose a time when you don’t have enough to rebut issues. Some come at 7:30 a.m., when you are about to leave for work. This trick is used to put pressure on you to settle right away. Naturally, you would want to get rid of them immediately.

You can also use this trick on them. Call the adjuster just before they leave for a 3 day weekend or just before the lunch hour. Normally, they want to go home to their families too. Using the upper hand, tell them you want to settle before the weekend which is one less claim to worry about when they return to their office.

3. The time of the year is important to adjusters. Most people need money during holidays. Insurance companies push adjusters to be aggressive during holiday seasons.

Adjusters are very knowledgeable and give you several temptations to settle a claim for your holiday season’s needs. You can resist the temptation to spend their offer on Christmas toys and keep your eye on the bigger claim.

4. Silence can be the name of the game. Adjusters are trained to set an offer and then hit the mute button. They won’t make a sound after an offer is placed on the table. This trick frequently works for them.

Adjusters work with one offer alone and not two or more in the same conversation. They would not say $10,000, but settling today would be $11,000. This is bidding against oneself. Unless having the lack of training, insurance adjusters will never give you two different proposals in the same conversation.

You can also use this trick against the insurance company. Make your counter offer and hit the mute button. Insurance adjusters will be aware that you are playing the trick on them.