The accident victim that has filed a personal injury claim might not realize the extent to which the insurance industry plays a role in each claimant’s quest for fair compensation.
Consider the first actions of the drivers that have been involved in a car accident
Those same drivers share their contact information, as well as the name of their insurance company and their policy number. Make note of the first question that must be asked and answered, after someone has been injured in any type of accident: Does the responsible party have liability insurance?
If the responsible party did not purchase insurance coverage, then the victim needs to ask a different question: Can my own insurance help me to get a settlement? If not, then could I use money from my health insurance?
The facts of the case determine the size of the insurer’s offer
When a victim’s injury could be viewed as minor, then the insurance adjuster is apt to make a low opening offer. What is the size of the defendant’s liability insurance? Defendants that paid for only minimal coverage should expect the insurance company to willingly accept a settlement’s terms. Unfortunately, those same terms would not grant the defendant a large sum of money.
On the other hand, if a defendant has paid for a generous amount of liability coverage, then the insurance adjuster has lots of funds to play with. That fact tends to increase the amount of time that the victim needs to wait, before obtaining the settlement funds, as per Personal Injury Lawyer in Cambridge.
Picture a situation where a driver with excellent liability coverage hit the rear of a car in which the motorist had a pre-existing condition. How would the insurance company handle that sort of situation? As mentioned above, the adjuster would have lots of funds to deal with.
Still, the adjuster would want to save as much money as possible for the insurer. Consequently, it would become the adjuster’s job to highlight the issue of the victim’s pre-existing condition. That could mean suggesting that the absence of some action on the victim’s part made that same individual partly responsible for the accident. That approach should lower the size of any settlement figure. At the same time, it would lengthen the time that the claimant/victim would need to wait, before being compensated for any injuries.
Yes, it is true that insurance companies usually like to settle a dispute as quickly as possible. Still, an exception must be made in the above situation. The surplus of funds that has been put at the adjuster’s disposal reduces the adjuster’s normal desire for speed. The adjuster uses the extra amount of time to intimidate the claimant with the pre-existing injury.
