If you were involved in a car accident and need compensation, you will have to deal with your insurance company and likely the other driver. When you file a claim for a car accident, an insurance adjuster will be put in charge of your case. It is important to know an insurance adjuster’s responsibilities so you know what to expect and how to ensure you get the right amount of money for your losses.
Different Types of Adjusters
Insurance adjusters are not the only categories of adjusters. Independent and public adjusters comprise the remaining two categories. In a traffic accident, it is unlikely that you will encounter either type. This is partly the case because Insurance companies frequently hire an independent adjuster for large claims, such as those resulting from natural disasters. As for public adjusters, they usually handle homeowner’s insurance claims rather than personal injury. In those incidents, they work on behalf of the claimant rather than the insurance company.
What an Insurance Adjuster Does
Adjusters are trained to investigate incidents, assess liability, calculate claim amounts, and negotiate settlements. In the case of a car accident, your claim will likely be assigned to an in-house adjuster. What this means is that the individual will be an employee of the insurance provider. Their salaries and bonuses presumably depend on how well they accomplish their duties, including preventing substantial losses to the organization.
The insurance adjuster will then interview both the claimant and the other driver. If witnesses were present, they might also request to interrogate them. In addition to conducting interviews, the adjuster will collect police reports, accident reports, medical records, damage photographs, and other pertinent data, such as information regarding the accident scene and the vehicles' property damage. The evidence they gather will assist them in determining responsibility for who is at fault. Once this is done, the insurance adjuster has to calculate the compensation due from the damages. They may visually assess the car or get a quote from an authorized repair facility to ascertain this information.
How Insurance Adjusters Value Claims
To assess the value of a claim, the insurance adjuster will consider various criteria, such as medical expenses, pain and suffering, and any other harm accrued from the accident. The insurance adjuster will also consider the claimant's policy limit and the strength of their case in addition to the amount of losses. If there is sufficient proof, the insurer is more likely to offer a settlement regardless of the strength of the claimant's case.
If your insurance adjuster does not offer you a fair settlement, your attorney can educate you on your legal alternatives and the following actions.
Maximize Your Compensation with Premier Public Adjusting
Remember that the adjuster who works on your claim is probably an insurance company employee. In light of this, they will consider their company's bottom line. Therefore, they may employ strategies to attempt to diminish the value of your claim. For example, how you answer questions like "How are you feeling?" can hold significant weight towards the outcome of your compensation. You may respond that you are feeling OK out of habit, but they may record that response and later claim that you were not suffering from the injuries or pain you claimed from your initial submitted claim.
Here at Premier Public Adjusting, our adjusters never use tactics to benefit an insurance company. Our experts are incentivized to maximize your compensation because if you win, we win.
Contact Us today for more information. 704-736-3683