After a crash, fighting for your rights with the negligent driver's insurance company adds just one more level of complications to an already stressful experience. Unfortunately, the insurer may not treat you fairly and do everything it can to dispute your claim—even if you did nothing to cause the collision.
You must be extremely careful what you say to an insurance adjuster so as not to give them ammunition to raise roadblocks when you file your claim for injury compensation. Our experienced Washington car accident lawyer at Max Meyers Law is fully prepared to advocate for your rights. He’ll take over dealing with the insurance company so you’re not taken advantage of or mistakenly say something that weakens your case. Here are just a few reasons why it’s best to let our team handle insurance company communications and negotiations regarding your claim.
Why Is an Adjuster Contacting You About Your Car Accident Claim?
Even though you’re in the early stages of injury recovery, don’t be surprised if an insurance adjuster contacts you.
However, you’ll be better prepared to handle the situation if you understand their motives for calling you so quickly, which often include:
- Investigating your claim. Insurers are required to investigate claims, so one major reason why the adjuster is reaching out is to discuss how the car accident happened and how you were injured so they can negotiate a settlement with you.
- Taking a recorded statement. However, keep in mind that you’re not required to provide a recorded statement to follow through on your compensation claim, so politely refuse this request. Adjusters are often trained to ask confusing questions, and some of your responses might mistakenly give them grounds to say that you were partially to blame for the crash or that your injuries aren’t as serious as you claim.
- Get damaging information about you. An adjuster may also try to get you to make inconsistent statements, admissions of fault, and statements about your activities. Why do they want this information? To save the insurer money, they hope to use it to reduce your amount of compensation or even deny your claim.
- Offer a quick settlement. The insurance company might want to rush processing your claim if its value is high. Don’t accept any offer without first consulting our legal team—it’s likely for much less damages than you’re entitled to under Washington law.
Follow These 7 Steps If the Insurance Company Contacts You
To fully protect your rights, you must remember that an adjuster isn’t looking out for your best interests, no matter how friendly they seem. Their goal is to save the company money, not negotiate a fair settlement with you. Here are our top tips on how to best handle communications with them:
- Remain polite. It won’t help negotiations to become frustrated or argumentative with the adjuster. You could also say something you regret if you lose your temper.
- Obtain contact information. Get the insurance adjuster's name, phone number, email, and your claim number. Your car accident attorney will need this information for future communications.
- Limit what you say. Don’t discuss the details of how the car accident occurred except for the basics of the date, time, and place where it happened. You should also avoid talking about your injuries because you have no idea how serious they are and the treatments you may need yet.
- Don't agree to a recorded statement. As mentioned above, you’re under no legal obligation to provide this.
- Don't sign a medical release. An adjuster may also ask you to sign a medical release. Say no to this request as well. Insurance company medical releases often allow full access to all your medical records—not just those related to the injuries you suffered in the accident. An insurer doesn’t need your entire medical history to negotiate your losses, and might find information it can use to limit how much they pay you.
- Don't settle your claim. Never agree to a compensation amount without first consulting with our car accident lawyer. You have no way of knowing if the offer is fair. Attorney Max Meyers uses his decades of experience helping car accident victims to determine the full amount of your economic and non-economic damages to pursue the proper value of your car crash settlement.
- Refer the adjuster to your attorney. So, keep the call short by politely informing the insurance adjuster that you’re not going to discuss your claim with them and that you’ll have your car accident lawyer contact them.
Benefits of Letting Max Meyers Law Negotiate Your Washington Car Accident Insurance Settlement
We get to work for you right away by taking the following actions:
- Collect evidence. Our legal team gathers and preserves the evidence you need to prove all the elements of your car accident case. Some proof—like the black box data from the negligent driver’s vehicle, eyewitness statements, and business surveillance video footage—could be lost if not obtained quickly.
- Communicate with the insurer. Once an adjuster knows you have a legal team handling all aspects of your claim, your physical, emotional, and financial recovery becomes much easier.
- Meet important deadlines. Our legal team also ensures that your case is filed within the three-year statute of limitations to sue the driver under RCW 4.16.080. Additionally, if we must litigate your case, we’ll take care of meeting the stipulations set by the court.
- Negotiate your settlement. Max fights hard to achieve rightful compensation for you—and he won’t back down if the insurance company refuses to treat you fairly. Read our client's testimonials to learn how we have helped car accident victims like you.
