Why Do Car Insurance Companies Drag Out Car Insurance Claims?

Posted on behalf of Pfeifer Morgan & Stesiak

on April 9, 2019

. Updated on March 23, 2022

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InsurerCar insurance companies are not working to serve your best interests. That is why accident victims often find insurance companies using a variety of tricks to avoid paying compensation or to try to get you to accept a lowball offer.

One of the tricks they often use is delaying the claims process. Below, learn more about why this happens and what the insurance company’s goal is. If you confront any of these problems, contact a skilled South Bend personal injury attorney from Pfeifer, Morgan & Stesiak for help.

Delays Put Pressure on Accident Victims

The average car accident victim may not have enough savings to deal with the financial setbacks caused by the accident. This puts the insurance company in a more powerful position to delay claims because it may try to take advantage of your financially precarious position.

You may be experiencing mounting medical bills and may not be able to return to work because of your injury. This puts pressure on you and the insurance company knows it. It may delay providing you a fair settlement so that you get desperate and are willing to accept a much smaller settlement, even though your claim is worth a lot more. The insurance company bets on you not taking the extra time to fight over this unfair amount of compensation.

Our attorneys can work closely with you and determine the fair value of your claim and fight against delaying tactics used by the insurance company.

The Statute of Limitations May Run Out

Another reason why insurance companies may delay the payment of a settlement is to try to make the statute of limitations run out. The statute of limitations is the time limit by which you must file a lawsuit in order to preserve your right to seek compensation. If this time limit passes, you will be legally barred from bringing a lawsuit.

In Indiana, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the accident. If the insurance company can drag out the claims process until after this point, you may be unable to obtain any compensation.

Types of Delaying Tactics

There are a variety of ways that experienced insurance adjusters may try to delay your claim, including the following:

  • Stringing you along – The insurance adjuster may act like your friend by expressing personal concern for you and your situation. Insurance adjusters may make promises to pay for future medical expenses or to look into your claim. They may say that they are still investigating your claim. All of these actions are designed to delay the processing of your claim and payment of your settlement.
  • Requesting unnecessary documentation – Another delaying tactic is for insurance adjusters to request documentation that is not necessary to process your claim. They may ask you to sign medical authorization releases and then try to get medical information from every medical provider you have ever seen to try to uncover information to give them a basis to deny your claim. They may do the same thing by asking for your entire employment history. These tactics try to identify prior injuries or other reasons that can allow them to deny the claim.
  • Not providing accurate information about policy benefits – The insurance company may misrepresent insurance policy benefits by not providing accurate information regarding the full overage amounts. In other situations, they may not provide explanations for why they are delaying the claim.

Contact an Experienced Attorney for Help

If you were injured in a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have the right to pursue compensation for the full extent of your injuries. You do not have to go head-to-head with the insurance company by yourself. By aligning yourself with an experienced personal injury law, you can benefit from experience and insight regarding how insurance companies work.

The experienced attorneys at Pfeifer, Morgan & Stesiak know how insurance adjusters act and can anticipate these delay tactics. Help make it a fair fight by retaining the legal services of our experienced personal injury law firm.

Call us today for your free consultation at (844) 678-1800.

Pfeifer, Morgan & Stesiak

Serious Attorneys for Serious Cases