Personal injury claimants have an incentive to settle as quickly as possible. When your medical bills and lost wages are increasing with each passing day, your family’s financial security is at stake. Unfortunately, insurance adjusters know how to use this desperation to protect their profits. Don’t fall for these common manipulative tactics during the claims process. 

Bypassing Negotiations

Most people who get hurt in preventable accidents have never filed a personal injury claim before and are therefore unfamiliar with the proceedings. For example, they may not know they have the right to negotiate for a fair payout—and the insurance adjuster is certainly not going to tell them. Instead, the adjuster might call the claimant and state that the company will send a check to cover property damage and a few thousand dollars in medical expenses. They will likely throw in several hundred dollars for pain and suffering, as well. This might seem like a fair deal, but by accepting it, claimants waive their right to pursue additional compensation should their damages exceed the settlement amount. 

Settling Immediately

It’s virtually impossible to predict the total value of a claim in the days, or even weeks, following an accident. In fact, there is no way to know how much you have incurred in damages until reaching maximum medical improvement, which could take months. However, when you’re forced to miss work and face mounting medical bills, receiving a check now as opposed to later will undoubtedly relieve a considerable amount of stress—until the money runs out. Sadly, insurance adjusters know this, and they are not above using a claimant’s desperation to settle long before he or she has reached the maximum medical improvement and knows the true value of the claim. 

If you were hurt because of someone else’s negligence, turn to the strategic personal injury team at Bellotti Law Group, PC. in the Greater Boston area. They know how to secure sizable payouts on behalf of their clients. Attorney Peter Bellotti has been helping accident victims pursue every dollar they deserve for more than 15 years. To schedule your free consultation, call (617) 778-1000 or visit the firm’s website to read more about their personal injury experience.