- October 15, 2020
- Car Accidents
There have been over six million total car crashes in 2018. When you are injured or suffer property damage in a car accident, you typically file a car accident insurance claim with an insurance company. This may be your own insurer or the insurer of the other at-fault driver. In either case, the insurance company is very unlikely to simply accept your claim and pay out. Instead, the company will raise various objections, find faults with your version of the accident and try its best to pay you as little as possible.
This is why you must be prepared to face the objections raised by the insurance company. Here are some of the common reasons an insurer may cite to turn down your car accident insurance claim or trim down the amount you have demanded. By being aware of these reasons in advance, you can brace yourself to defend your claim better.
Delayed Medical Treatment
When you are in a car crash, it is critically important that you get medical treatment right after the crash. Some injuries are obvious while others like internal injuries may take some time to transpire. This is why you should never refuse medical treatment at the scene of the crash. If you do, an insurer can argue later that you had no crash-related injuries and that the injuries you cite were caused by another incident. To avoid this, you must also undergo a more detailed medical diagnosis after you leave the crash scene.
Pre-Existing Medical Condition
This is a common reason cited by the insurance companies to turn down car accident insurance claims. If you sustain injuries in a crash which can be related to a pre-existing medical condition that you had before the crash as well, an insurer may raise this objection. However, it is quite possible to counter this argument. Even if you previously had a medical condition which was made worsened by the crash, you can still seek a fair compensation for the worsening of the injury. You will need expert legal help in such a case though.
Negligence of the Claimant
An insurer can also object to your car crash claim on the grounds that your negligence caused the crash or contributed to it. In general, if you could have avoided the accident but didn’t, the insurer can cite your negligence to simply reject your claim. Common scenarios of negligence include being drunk at the time of crash, not wearing a seat belt, or letting another person drive you car.
Delayed Filing of Car Accident Insurance Claim
As a general rule of thumb, you must inform your insurance company about a crash as soon as possible after it happens. This gives the insurer time to investigate the accident at the earliest before much of the relevant evidence becomes lost. If you make delays in reporting the crash, the insurance company can argue that you deliberately waited until evidence was destroyed. A similar argument can be used to reject your claim if you make delays in seeking medical treatment after a crash. The more you delay, the more an insurer is likely to claim that you made up your injuries.
Lack of Medical Evidence
When you seek compensation for a crash-related injury, your medical records must indicate that you have an injury or pain directly caused by the crash. If you were in a crash but you weren’t hurt enough to experience any injury or pain, you are not likely to receive any compensation. The insurer will simply cite your lack of injury or pain as the fact that you suffered no loss in the accident.
Insurer Bad Faith
Sometimes, an insurance company will simply not want to pay up, no matter how real, genuine and well-supported your claim is. This is an indication of the company’s bad faith. When this is the case, you will need strong legal help on your side to persuade the company to settle or take the case to a trial.
Hiring a Lawyer to Deal with Car Accident Insurance Claims
When trying to settle a car accident claim, you have to face an insurance company, its agents and its attorneys. On your own, it can become very hard to defend your claim and get a fair amount of compensatory damages. You may end up receiving a very small amount if you go at the claim without legal help.
This is where we come in. Here at ASB Law Firm, we help car crash victims recover the compensation they deserve in the briefest time possible. We help you prepare a solid claim, avoid common mistakes and address typical objections in advance. This shows the insurer that you have good legal help on your side, so the insurer is unlikely to play any tricks. Contact us today for a FREE consultation with our attorneys and get the ball rolling on your car crash claim.
