Do you take you Syracuse or Central New York injury claim seriously? Do you want the insurance company to take it seriously, too? Well, I’ve got some news for you: The sure-fire way to guaranty that the insurance company will NOT take your injury seriously is to represent yourself.
You are not the only injured person the insurance company is dealing with. Other people with injuries, very similar like yours, have retained attorneys to advocate their claims with that same insurance company. All those other people seem to be taking their injury seriously. They are taking their injuries so seriously that they have hired an attorney. They are showing the insurance company that they are prepared to go to court if the insurance company does not take their injuries seriously.
True, you can talk to that insurance adjuster yourself when she calls. She might even seem nice on the phone, might promise to treat you fairly. Believe me, she won’t. Not without an attorney. Why? Here’s why, and try to remember it, as it is the most important part of this blog — INSURANCE COMPANIES MAKE THEIR PROFIT BY PAYING AS LITTLE AS THEY CAN ON YOUR CLAIM.
When the adjuster, who works for a faceless money-counting company, sees that you are handling your claim yourself, without an attorney, what is going on in her head? I’ll tell you what: “Oh, good, another injured guy without an attorney — if I seem very caring and am nice to him, I can probably settle his claim for pennies on a dollar and make my boss happy”.
Perhaps I have badmouthed insurance adjusters too much here. That is not my intent. Insurance adjusters can be good people. They are trying to make a living, trying to feed their families. But to keep their job, to get praised by their supervisors, to “make it” in their world, they need to settle cases on the cheap. The adjuster working on your case might even get a promotion or a raise for doing such a good job at selling you short.
Even if you and the adjuster really “hit it off”, and he or she really does want to help you because of some “bond” you have developed on the phone, the adjuster has a supervisor, a claims examiner, a regional manager, and a corporate office that looks at only one thing — the bottom line.
To an insurance company you are nothing but an injured person without an attorney, which is by far the best kind of injured person in their book.
Take your injury seriously. Show the insurance company that you take your injury seriously and want it dealt with seriously. Hire a competent personal injury lawyer. Seriously.