What To Do If the Insurance Adjuster Distorts Your Words After a Car Crash
In a personal injury case, the rule number one every injured victim should remember is: the insurance companies are not on your side. They are for-profit entities that will pursue every possibility to limit your financial recovery.
What you say to an insurance adjuster following your car crash in Mississippi can be used to reduce or deny your rightful compensation amount. It’s easy to say things that can be distorted when you are in physical pain, emotional distress, or have financial anxiety. Insurance adjusters are trained to exploit your worries and manipulate you into sharing the blame for your own accident.
Let an experienced car accident attorney handle all the communication and negotiations with the insurance company so that you can focus on your recovery while the attorney works hard to fight for your rights.
Dealing With the Insurance Company Following a Car Accident in Mississippi
Insurance adjusters will present themselves before you as an objective party looking for the hard details and facts related to your accident and injury. They may lead you to believe that the sole purpose of the interview is to get a fair accounting of what you are owed by the insurance company. You should note that this may not be true.
Insurance adjusters work in the best interests of their clients, which is the at-fault driver that caused your injuries. There will always be a certain degree of bias against you in their intent and actions. In fact, there have been cases where insurance adjusters have gone as far as to employ bad-faith insurance tactics.
They do all this to reduce the potential payout made by the insurance company. Your words may be misconstrued and used against you, which makes it important that you seek legal assistance whenever discussing a claim with the insurance company. There are many ways of delegitimizing a claim.
The insurance adjuster may distort your words to prove that:
- You share full or partial liability in the car accident.
- You admit to being at fault for the accident.
- Your account of the facts is inconsistent or false.
It is easy for insurance companies to delay the claims process to frustrate a claimant into making a mistake or accepting a lowball offer. The insurance adjuster will leap on these mistakes to hurt your ability to receive fair compensation for your injury and damages.
Saying Too Much to an Adjuster Can Hurt Your Claim
Mississippi requires every car owner to insure their vehicle and have liability coverage of 25/50/25. This means that every car owner needs to have liability insurance of at least $25,000 per person for physical injury, $50,000 per accident for physical injury, and $25,000 for property damage. This is to ensure that people don’t have to pay out of pocket for medical bills and repairs after getting into an accident because of the fault of another.
You may think the insurance adjuster and the other driver will be sympathetic to your story and plight. Unfortunately, instead of helping you the insurance company is only looking for ways to reduce the payout. There are several mistakes that car crash victims make when speaking with adjusters.
These are a few of them:
- You may apologize for the accident, which will be used by the insurance adjuster as an admission of fault, guilt, or your own negligence.
- The insurance adjuster may ask you leading questions to make you speculate about the car crash. This may be used to show that you are more at fault than you really were.
- You may provide the insurance adjuster with inaccurate information unknowingly.
Even if you are clearly the victim, it is important to understand that insurance adjusters are trained negotiators. They want you to accept the lowest possible compensation amount. They often use the words of a claimant against them. They may even coerce you into providing a recorded statement when you are least prepared.
Steps to Take if You Have Made a Self-Damaging Statement
If you or someone you love was injured in a car crash and has said something that is being misused by the insurance adjuster, the best course of action to take is to consult with a seasoned car accident attorney in Mississippi. While you should hire an attorney immediately after any personal injury, it is never too late to seek legal help.
Your attorney will take over future communications with the insurance company on your behalf. They will also advise and guide you on what to say if you are required to make a statement for the insurance company or their attorneys.
Remember that the insurers are not your friend. They are interested in limiting the payout to claimants like you. On the other hand, your attorney is on your side and will take all possible steps to maximize the compensation amount and get you the justice you deserve.
In fact, insurance companies are known to take claims backed by legal counsel far more seriously than those that a car crash victim handles by themselves. They are likely to offer more money to you when you are represented by a reputable law firm.
Choose Our Trusted Car Accident Attorneys for Strong Legal Advice and Support. Call Now.
If you or someone you love was injured in a car accident, you should consult with the experienced attorneys at the Gardner Law Firm. Our attorneys have helped numerous clients get the compensation and justice they deserve.
Don’t allow an insurance adjuster’s interpretation of reality and your words to affect your settlement amount. Gardner Law Firm knows how to deal with dominating or manipulative insurance adjusters by aggressively advocating for the rights of the injured victims.
To set up your complimentary consultation with our legal team, call us at 228-436-6555 or reach us online.
