If you understand and recognize these excuses, you can avoid or combat them.
The insurance adjuster's job is to save their company money, first and foremost. They are trained to use excuses to justify paying you less on accident claims. Here are five common excuses, and suggestions on preventing or avoiding the excuses.
1. There is a long gap in time without medical treatment.
Solution: This is obvious, but I am amazed at how many people let this happen. If you have symptoms or pain, you should not wait. You need to follow up with your doctor. This is the best thing for you medically, but also prevents the insurance company from offering you less because they will argue, there is no medical documentation of your ongoing symptoms/pain. (They only go by what's in the medical records and what can be documented).
2. There wasn't much damage to your car, so how could you have been hurt in the car accident.
Solution: This is tougher because you can't prevent or change this. You could argue and cite to various studies discussing the fact that even low speed impacts can cause serious injuries. But, doing so just highlights the minor impact and plays into their hand. Instead, you should focus on things you can control. For example, line up "before/after" witnesses - who can attest to changes in you physically after the accident compared to before.
3. This is just a "soft tissue" injury (meaning strain/sprain, muscular as opposed to fractures or torn ligaments or joints).
Solution: First, you or someone for you should take photos of any visible injuries. The insurance company will have difficulty arguing against a photo. Second, this is another reason to consider getting before/after witnesses to show how much more you went through and the affect on your daily life.
4. You are a malingerer/exaggerating.
Solution: Don't exaggerate or overstate your symptoms! Doctors can detect this often and if they put that into your medical records, it is a big red flag to the insurance company. Second, this is where photos and witnesses come in. Again. Those are both key ways to document your claim.
