When you sustain a serious injury or accrue property damage in a car wreck, you may turn to your insurance company to cover related expenses. However, before you accept your insurance company’s first offer, you may want to ask yourself whether your insurer is trying to pay out as little as possible in response to your claim.
Per the National Law Review, insurance companies may make any number of efforts to try to minimize how much they have to pay you after a car crash. Your insurer may also bank on you wanting money right away, which may make you more inclined to accept a lowball offer. Before you do so, recognize that auto insurance companies may use the following three strategies to reduce how much they have to pay you.
1. They may question your right to a claim
Often, the first step an auto insurer takes to try to avoid a payout is to question whether your claim has merit. They may argue that it was you, and not the other party, who was negligent. Even if your insurer does not assert that the crash was completely your fault, it may argue that you were at least partly to blame.
2. They may question the extent of your injuries
Another common tactic used by auto insurers is to question whether the injuries you suffered in a crash are as bad as you say they are.
3. They may argue that you had pre-existing injuries
A third tactic auto insurers may use to make a lowball offer is to argue that your injuries were the result of something that happened to you before the crash.
Keep in mind that your insurer may pressure you to accept its first offer before you know the full extent of your medical treatment, lost wages and so on.