California Personal Injury Lawyers

How do insurance adjusters work on car accidents?

The investigator or adjuster from the other side's insurance company may be very pleasant, appear to be concerned, and even try to be your friend. Beware. The adjuster's job is to protect the insurance company, that is, to not pay you at all or to pay you as little as possible.

Do not fall for manipulative tactics. ("I know you’re hurting, but you don’t want to make a big deal about this, and bother your friends and neighbors, do you?")

The adjuster may try to minimize the nature and extent of the pain or the impact of any permanent injury. ("You can still play piano, can't you?") While that may outrage you, other tactics are more subtle.

The adjuster may persuade you to accept full or partial responsibility for the accident when it was not your fault ("I guess you should have paid more attention…") or get you to believe it was just one of those things ("If you took the dog for a walk earlier…."), or tell you how difficult it will be to recover ("If I were you I’d accept this. You’ll never get more. The courts have a seven year back-up and you’ll never be able to hire a good lawyer, they are so expensive…."). Hogwash.

An experienced car accident attorney can help you avoid these classic traps.