How Do I Deal With The Insurance Company On My Personal Injury Claim?

If you have been injured in a car wreck and it is not your fault, the other side may have insurance that covers your injuries and property damage. In addition, your own insurance provider may have coverage that will help pay those bills. But just because there is insurance does not mean you will be properly paid by the insurance company. So how should you deal with the insurance company in handling your claim? I recommend that you don’t, and I will explain why.

First, nobody likes to write a check to pay for your bills. You don’t like to pay out of pocket when it was not your fault. Your own insurance company does not like to pay those bills when another driver hit you. The other driver’s insurance company does not like to pay bills for you, since you are not their customer. The instinct of every person involved in the process is to not pay for your bills. And the insurance companies act accordingly. 

Second, insurance companies will not write you a check without doing some investigation. Among the first things any insurance company will do is ask you to provide a statement about the accident. They are looking for two things: a) any comment that can be used as an admission that you were not badly hurt or hurt at all and b) any inconsistency in your story compared to that of the other driver, witnesses, or investigating officer. Your communications with the insurance company are admissible in court, and they know it. If you speak to them and provide any comment such as these, they will use these to drive down the value of your case and pay you less money, or try to not pay you at all, which would leave you with bills you unfairly either have to pay, or risk harm to your credit if you fail to pay them. An attorney’s communication with the insurance company is not admissible, and the attorney is not going to give them information that harms your claim, which they can then use against you.

Third, the insurance companies are at an advantage when they deal with you directly, and they like to do so for that reason. Every year, often every month, insurance adjusters are provided frequent education on how the law favors them, or when it doesn’t. Many of them work on large campuses owned by the insurance company, dedicated to the insurance company, and in an environment designed to protect the insurance company. They may not have discretion to resolve your claims unless triggered to do so by certain representations about the facts or the law that you are not likely versed or trained enough to make. A personal injury lawyer trained to know the facts of the case and to know what the law is, knows how to trip these triggers and obtain maximum recovery for you under the insurance company’s own policy. Personally, I have spent years defending the insurance companies, trying cases for them in Oklahoma and Texas, and I can use that base of knowledge to overcome the obstacles they put in your way.

Finally, you’re simply more likely to recover more if you do not handle your own claim. People in your situation, harmed by another through no fault of their own, can do irreparable damage to their claim and recover nothing. You should not let that happen to you. In fact, you should recover everything the law says you can recover. We are here to help you do just that.

If you find yourself hurt in an accident that is not your fault, let us help you. Call Hopson Legal today at (405) 673-7560 or (405) 633-0195.