How to deal with Insurance adjusters and settle your own claim

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By Hector Quiroga
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deal with Insurance adjusters and settle your own claim

One of my readers wrote me asking for five tips on how to deal with insurance adjusters effectively.
He knew that I was an adjuster for several years before going to law school and wanted met to give him the top five strategies adjusters use when dealing with non represented claimants.
I gave him the top five and I told him that these tips can be applied to accident fault, total loss, and/or bodily injury claim settlements.
Here are the top five steps to keep on mind:

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Time
Patience
Be in a good mood
A telephone with a mute button

Step 1

How to deal with adjusters

Be aware of the musical chairs game

A very common technique used against the unsuspecting insured.

Adjusters love to "change," "reassign" or "exchange" claims among them.
Many times the adjuster's supervisor steps in and re assigns the claim with no explanation to you. This makes you renegotiate already settled points if they are not in writing.

Also, dealing with different adjusters helps the insurance company isolate different issues. For example, one adjuster will settle the total loss, and another will settle fault, and a third one will settle the injury. This way, insurance adjusters can "throw" the ball among them, and they do not have to give you a straight answer.

They can tell you "Well sir, I think the answer is A, but you need to talk to the x adjuster about that, and he is out of the office for a week."

You cannot really prevent this situation as they will reassign claims without notice to you, but the best thing you can do is to put everything they settle or tell you on writing.

If they tell you that they will pay for your rental car, send them a letter telling them you understand they will pay for your rental car.

This way, when the claim is reassigned, you can point to your correspondence and show that the insurance company agreed to something (pay your rental car) and they have to live up to their promise.
Step 2

Think Money! Not Things

Do not let them change the shape of the money.

"I am very sorry that you had a headache and lower back pain for more than two weeks. That is certainly a shame. We only can give you, at the very most "$2,500" which can pay for a trip to Mexico for two. Why don't you treat yourself and take your wife in a nice Caribbean cruise?"
This is very powerful. Adjusters do this every day and many people start thinking in terms of trips and electronics.
If the adjuster is settling a younger person, the offer would be $250 for an IPod, a Nintendo Wii, or A Play Station 3.
This "helps" the injured party "spend the money in their heads," and makes them want to settle. Remember, you are settling for pain, fault, or the total loss of your car. You want money, not IPods, Cruises, Laptops, or Video games.

Think on terms of real dollars!
Step 3

Look at the time

Look at the time of the day.

Adjusters want to call you when it is inconvenient for you. Yeah, they want time to be able to explain their position, but not give you much time to rebut.
They probably will hate me for revealing one of the most rude insurance adjuster secrets. They will call you at 7:30 A.M. when you are about to go to work. They want to put pressure on you so you settle right there and then. It "helps" you want to get rid of them.
You can turn this one around. Call the adjuster just before their lunch hour or before they leave for a three day weekend.
They want to get out of the office and go home; you can get a better offer if the adjuster wants to go see his/her family. You can use tip 2 against them also. Tell them right before the weekend to relax to picture themselves with one less claim to worry about when they come back to the office.
Step 4

Calendar

Be aware of the time of the year.

Every one seems to be broke right before or after a holiday, especially if it is Christmas. Even if you are not a Christian, it just seems that the retail industry is able to sucker all of us into spending more than we have.

Consequently, most people are looking for money before or after a holiday. Insurance companies push adjusters (I was one of them) to be more aggressive around holiday seasons.

Think about it. You need money for the kids' toys? So Why not give in and settle for $1,000? Adjusters are savvy and this is a great time for them. Where I used to work, December and January were the best times to settle claims. Our success rate increased by 70%!
Step 5

Be quiet

Be quiet! Silence is the name of the game.

I was trained to give an offer and hit the mute button! The rule was that we could not emit a sound after we put an offer on the table. This often worked. Why?

You want to make one offer, not two, especially one after the other or in the same conversation. If my offer was $10,000 then I wanted to hear a response. I did not want to say $10,000 but if you settle today $11,000.

This would be considered bidding against oneself. Insurance adjusters will never (unless the adjuster is not trained correctly) give you two different offers in the same conversation.

They will give you an offer and wait to see what you say. Use this against the insurance company. Counter offer and hit the mute button!

Comments

autoclaim said

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on 12/24/2009 The ultimate consumer gets burned in either situation as the cost gets past to the person paying insurance every month.

I believe Abraham Lincoln’s life should teach us something here. You don’t have to be a “law student” to achieve great things (i.e. represent yourself, others, or even become a U.S President). We can learn our rights and defend them by study (not necessarily formal study).

Why can’t consumers learn their rights and deal with their broken tail lights and their pain and suffering? I believe that the rule of thumb should just the opposite of your statement.

Good Luck
Hector Quiroga, J.D.

on 12/24/2009 Will they be happier? We will not know for sure because there is not actual data showing that this specific claim, with this specific facts, with this specific medical treatment, in this specific county would have settle for X, but since there was no attorney (and directly relating that award to the actual attorney) it settled for Y.

Educated consumers can settle most car accidents. If they are dealing with severe and permanent injuries, they need a lawyer. However, for fender benders, they can educate themselves and settle. (Just like claim adjusters, who BTW they are NOT attorneys).

Having attorneys deal with every car accident and every small claim will only lead to everyone paying more for insurance (it’s bad enough already). The ultimate consumer gets burned in either situation as the cost gets past to the person paying insurance every month.

I believe Abraham Lincoln’s li...

on 12/24/2009 Hello Alkazah,

Thank you for your comment (I believe it's incomplete - so I will answer here). Yeah, Abraham Lincoln said that, the funny thing is that he never went to law school, just like most consumers.

As an attorney, I would like people to come and give me their business. However, there are thousands (if not millions) of claims that consumer must be able to handle on their own (simple car accidents).

Consumers cannot see your tie, I cannot see your tie, but I bet it's not a cheap one. Why not? Because lawyers are expensive so they can buy nice ties yours.

I think it's extremely condescending to assume that because you represent yourself, you are a fool. An educated consumer can negotiate and enter into certain transactions without the need of an attorney, and in fact, probably save anywhere from 33 to 40% attorney's fee.

Will they be happier? We will not know for sur...

alkazah said

on 12/24/2009 Hector: The rule of thumb, as Abraham Lincoln said, is anyone that represents himself has a fool for a client. Industry studies show that a person will end up with more money after paying a lawyer than they will get without one. Allstate use to send out letters asking why pay a lawyer when you can settle the case yourself. Guess why? They would rather deal with an inexperienced, ill informed claimant than deal with an experienced lawyer. I have had people call me on the phone right after they have been injured and ask me what their case is worth to which I reply, how do you like the tie I'm wearing. They respond I don't know I can't see it. The same is true of an experienced attorney in that they can't determine the value until the client has reached maximum medical improvement. In other words, you can never settle a claim until you have been discharged from a doctor's care. But clai...