What Insurance Adjusters Won’t Tell You

When you’re involved in a car crash, one of the first things that will happen is you’ll talk to your insurance company and an adjuster will be assigned. The same goes for the driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident. While the insurance adjusters you initially speak with should be helpful and caring, there are things insurance adjusters will not tell you when you’re involved in a Florida car accident.

#1 – Policy Limits: In most instances, the insurance company will not provide the policy limits for the person the other driver involved in the accident. This information is particularly important because you need to know the available coverage so you can help develop a strategy on how you want to try to get your case settled. That’s what any lawyer would do if the lawyer was working on your case.

In Florida there’s a statute that requires an insurance company to tell you this information, but an adjuster is not going to offer it up to you voluntarily. You’re going to have to either ask the question or have a lawyer ask the question for you.

#2 – What The Other Driver Said:  An insurance adjuster might not tell you what his own insured driver told them about how the accident happened. People often do the right thing and admit to causing an accident or they tell their insurance company they weren’t paying attention, texting, or whatever the case may be.

When that same adjuster is dealing with you, they are not going to share that information. The adjuster may take the position that it’s a not-at-fault accident, that their insured is questioning how the accident happened, or they may even infer the accident was your fault. Because of this, the adjuster probably isn’t going tell you what his own insured told him about the accident.

After all, the plaintiff or the injured person in a personal injury case has the burden of proof. The adjuster may put it back on you and say, why do you think we should pay any money on this case? You therefore need to be prepared to deal with this issue.

#3 – What Eyewitnesses Said: The third thing that they might not tell you is what any eyewitness might have said. They will keep this information to themselves while they do their investigation.

If they’re doing their job correctly, adjusters will investigate the claim right away and will reach out to eyewitnesses to find out the cause of the crash. The adjuster will talk to those people to get an idea about who caused the accident or how the accident happened. Although the adjuster shouldn’t lie about what others say happened, they might be silent about it and not tell you if there’s an eyewitness helpful to you.

The bottom line is that adjusters will try their best to limit their insured’s financial exposure as well as their company’s. They can often do this simply by not sharing all the information at hand.

If you have any questions about how to deal with an insurance adjuster after an accident or the information that an insurance company is obligated to tell you or not obligated to tell you, please give us a call. We’re happy to answer questions. Our number in Winter Park is 407-254-4901, or you can always reach our website at cullin-hemphill.com.