Auto Insurance Companies Strategy to Limit Car Accident Injury Compensation – Deny, Delay, Defend

July 17, 2012

Brooksville, Florida – Auto insurance companies like Allstate and State Farm have adopted a tough take-it-or-leave-it strategy when dealing with paying for medical bills and lost wages as the result of a car accident.

According to CNN, the result has significantly increased the profits for insurance companies and left the accident injury victims with little, if anything at all.

An 18-month investigation into minor-impact soft-tissue injury crashes around the country revealed the mantra that insurance companies have set up in order to limit the amount of money they will have to pay to injury victims of run-of-the-mill car collisions : deny, delay and defend.

Insurance companies, including Allstate and State Farm seek to limit their payouts by applying the three D’s — denying a claim, delaying settlement of the claim and defending against the claim in court.

Take, for example, one of the subjects of the CNN piece: A New Mexico woman who suffered neck and back injuries when she was sideswiped by a driver insured by Allstate Insurance, the second largest auto insurer in the United States. After three years, the company finally offered her $15,000, a little over half of what she needed to cover lost wages and medical bills. While Allstate’s $15,000 “take it or leave it” offer would only cover a fraction of the total damages that the woman sustained in the collision, the offer was made in order to get rid of the woman’s injury claim as cheaply as possible. With no choice left but to go to court, the woman was eventually awarded $167,000 plus interest.

However, as the article goes on to show, some accident victims are not so lucky. In fact, CNN found that if you are injured in a minor car accident, insurance companies will likely challenge medical claims, offer low settlements, drag out court cases for years and try to convince jurors and the public that it was all an attempt to fight the growing fraud epidemic in the car insurance business. However, documents examined by CNN reveal the actual motive behind these hardball schemes is profit. Both Allstate and State Farm have gone to great lengths to keep these documents under wraps.

If you have been injured in an auto accident in Spring Hill, Brooksville or anywhere in Hernando County, you need to speak to the Hernando Injury Lawyers at Whittel & Melton so that you can fully understand your rights. Unfortunately, most insurance companies refuse to provide accident injury victims with the fair compensation they deserve. Because of this, our Hernando County Injury Lawyers prepare every personal injury case, large or small, as though we are certain it will go to trial.

It is important to be aware that most settlements come with a form that releases the negligent party of any additional responsibility. Should you develop serious medical problems related to the accident after accepting an offer, you will most likely not be able to demand more money. Before accepting a settlement offer, talk to the Hernando County Injury Lawyers at Whittel & Melton.

If you have sustained any type of injury in an auto accident in Hernando County, contact the Hernando Accident Injury Attorneys at Whittel & Melton online or call 352-666-2121.