How to scare insurance adjuster and beat them

This publication exposes how to scare insurance adjuster to get a fair claim settlement offer because after an accident the insurance companies can be cunning. They want you in their pocket so that they tell your story how they want it to lower payouts.

To scare an insurance adjuster, be aware that they are a business and have an attorney by your side. Avoid their tactic questions, especially those requiring what you could have done to prevent the accident. Keep your cool during negotiations and do not allow the adjuster to say your story the way they want it.

The average insurance adjuster is a highly trained negotiator, they can make you feel guilty. One of their tricks is challenging you to take them to court. The adjuster pretends they do not care about court proceedings. You will also find them playing the “that’s my final offer” or “take it or leave it” card.

Also, do not fall for the algorithms and data analyses their statisticians use to deem their proposals ‘reasonable’ and ‘fair’. These are merely to put you off guard to enrich their pocket.

Tactics an insurance adjuster may use to minimize their cost

The adjuster’s task is to inspect and evaluate damages after an accident. However, they do not work in your best interest. An insurance company gets the adjuster to try to minimize their costs, so they will try to offer the possible lowest payout.

The insurance claims adjuster will try to hold the accident against you, and in extreme cases, accuse you of insurance fraud.

Below are common techniques claims adjusters may use to evaluate accidents for the most profit:

• Medical record request. The adjuster can request your medical records but you do not have to present them. If an insurance claims adjuster gains access to your medical past and current medical records, they may attempt to blame the injury on any unrelated pre-existing health condition from your records.
• Medical examination. Adjusters can resort to working with your doctor. They may ask your doctor close-ended questions during an interview to downplay your injuries. If your doctor discusses your health condition in detail, the adjuster may stand no chance. In some cases, your insurance company may additionally conduct an independent medical examination using any doctor. Ensure to talk with your personal injury attorney in this event.
• Field interviews. In the early stages of a personal injury case, an insurance adjuster asks close-ended questions that prevent you from elaborating. This is a tactic that lets the adjuster say your story is flawed so that it lowers your insurance claim.
• Delay tactics. The insurance claims adjuster can use delay tactics such as not answering your calls in an attempt to get you to give up. They can also claim you took too long to scare you to think you are outside the statute of limitations time. The exact statute of limitations time depends on your state and type of claim, which ranges from 1-10 years. You may hire an attorney if the insurance company delays.

Read also: getting a cop in trouble may be easier than you think

How to scare insurance adjuster

You can scare an insurance claims adjuster in the following ways:

1. Look at your insurer as a business

Do not rely on the insurance company or claims adjuster, insurance companies are a typical business. The insurance company makes more money when the adjuster is able to offer to pay less for your damages.

It is the insurance adjuster’s job to negotiate to offer you as little as they possibly can. Do not get carried by the adjuster’s pleasantries and sympathy. You do not sign their paychecks, so their loyalty is with the insurance company.

Adjusters are professionally trained to be excellent negotiators. They can explore the psychological aspects of negotiations in most cases to reduce your claims.

The insurance company, on the other hand, uses auditing systems to track their adjusters’ performance such as payouts to claimants. This becomes the actionable data they use to make changes in claimants’ files for more profit.

At times, an adjuster’s pay is determined by set criteria the company devises as “best practices” for payouts.

2. Avoid being specific on the first call

You can scare insurance an adjuster by being careful when answering phone calls from them immediately after the accident. Sometimes, excuses may be necessary for not answering their calls, but base the excuse on the accident.

When an adjuster calls, they may request a recorded statement, which you should decline. The adjuster can hold a flawed statement against you. They typically replay the recorded statements until they find information to use against you.

Accidents are generally traumatic, so you need time to process and recover. The insurance claims adjuster will attempt to leverage this weakness by contacting you not long after the accident, knowing you might tell a flawed story.

When you answer your insurance company’s phone call, politely refuse to discuss the facts but you can share basic information like the location, date of the accident, and properties involved. Inform the claims adjuster that the investigation is still underway, so you cannot be too specific or conversational.

3. Do not answer questions asking what you could have done

Have in mind that the claims adjuster works for the insurance company of the at-fault party, so they are after reducing your settlement amount. An adjuster will try to trick you to admit liability to reduce the claims.

It scares an adjuster when you avoid answering questions that ask if there is anything you could have done to prevent the accident. They will have nothing in this aspect to use to blame you.

Fortunately, you can fight this nature of question by directing the insurance claims adjuster to your attorney.

Spare some time to advisably watch attorney Justin Ziegler’s list of questions your insurance adjuster will ask to protect their fears:

4. Do not publish detailed incidents on your social pages

An insurance adjuster may monitor your social media accounts for any reports linking to the accident. When there are no reports of the incident on your social timelines, the adjuster exits them.

The insurance adjuster can use your written, image, or video posts to claim that nothing happened to you at the time of the accident.

Note that you can be monitored even from in front of your home. In extreme cases, an insurance company may hire a private investigator to find out if you are defrauding them.

5. Keep your cool during negotiations

An adjuster can try to trick you into annoyance but your ability to keep your cool scares them. Their claims may get you angry but remember that it is only an off-putting tactic to outsmart you.

When you get angry with an insurance claims adjuster, they can lower or deny your payouts out of spite. Avoid any confrontation by not talking with them.

6. Have an attorney by your side

The best way to scare an insurance adjuster is to have an attorney to fight for you, do not settle for less. An attorney with experience understands an adjuster’s tactics as well as the insurance claim process.

Your insurance adjuster can claim that a lawyer will not do anything more for you other than drag the case. The claims adjuster simply does not want you to hire a lawyer because it scares insincerity out of them.

An adjuster knows that with a lawyer, the company may potentially pay you more money. They are aware that the lawyer knows information that can help you. As such, the average insurance company sees a lawyer as greedy and an ambulance chaser to keep you from getting legal advice.

An insurance company dislikes uncertainty, so they do not want to case to get to the front of a jury. And by nature, a jury is an ‘uncertainty’. Your attorney will go to court in a heartbeat if they think it can help you get the best compensation.

7. Know the value of your property

In auto claims, for example, the insurance adjuster determines the cost of repairing your motor vehicle. Thus, knowing the value of your property scares the insurance adjuster, they do not like to negotiate with knowledgeable people.

The first offer from the insurance company may be extremely low, you must not accept this initial offer.

Depending on the claims you are negotiating, there are factors to keep in mind. Suppose you are negotiating an auto loan. You want to consider factors such as:

• The true value of your automobile.
• Fair settlement for damages to your automobile or any affected property.
• Medical bills (for the accident and for potential long-term medical expenses).
• The pain and traumatic experience.
• Wages or income lost due to your injuries.

Contact a professional to reveal the factors to determine the absolute bare minimum to accept in the settlement agreement. In the case of cash settlement, follow this extensive guide to negotiate for fair compensation.

Final thoughts

Above are the key tips to scare insurance adjusters for the most payout. Have in mind that the insurance adjuster is only interested in pointing out all the potential negatives that can reduce your payout. They can even use a pre-existing condition that has no bearing on your new injury to try to outsmart you.

With an attorney, the insurance adjuster gives everything you may deserve after reviewing your case.