As an experienced accident injury attorney I know that in their never-ending quest to maximize their profits, auto insurance companies experiment with various, at times questionable, tactics to deprive accident victims from payment for their injuries and property damage. Some insurers even try to change the laws of some of the states.
I Like Your Sheep Outfit, Mr. Wolf: What Your Auto Insurance Company May Be Pulling on You.
We buy auto insurance because it is the law, because we want to protect ourselves if we or our loved ones cause a crash, and to provide compensation for the injured in those crashes. With our auto insurance we buy peace of mind and expect to be covered and kept out of a lawsuit. We expect those we accidentally injure will get compensation for their harm. When we have a claim on our own policy, we expect our auto insurance company will treat us fairly reasonably. We have paid them a lot of hard-earned money, after all.
Auto insurance companies are big and obscenely profitable, as any Google search shows. They are all about making and keeping money. Naturally they like premium payments and hate paying claims. Consequently, most states also have a government agency to oversee and regulate insurance companies to try to make sure the insurance companies do what they promise to do and not chose profits over people.
Here’s the latest ploy one major auto insurance company is trying out in Arizona and several other states:
- using Medicare rates for a crash victim’s medical bills, rather than the actual medical bill amount charged by the hospital or a victim’s doctors;
- leading to insultingly low settlement offers based on the lower Medicare rates;
- thus forcing crash victims to sue;
- as this insurance company looks for the “perfect” test case to appeal up through the courts to try to change state law to limit a victim’s compensation.
What that means is, if you are insured by this company and you cause an accident, you are more likely to get sued because your company’s settlement offer will leave the victim no choice. It also means if you have a claim against this company, you will probably have to sue to get the compensation you deserve. Yes, that means you would be an involuntary pawn in an insurer’s greedy chess game.
Fighting any insurance company is not easy and even harder when an insurance company wants you to sue their insured. Not every accident injury law firm is willing to fight, and some would rather settle for the “best” offer and stay away from a courtroom. That is not what we do to help our clients – when all other options have been tried, we will go to court to seek compensation for what our clients have suffered or lost. Call us today at (480) 833-1113, we are experienced accident injury attorneys ready to help.
Attorney Profile:Kevin Chapman, Personal Injury Attorney
Phone: (480) 833-1113
Main Areas of Law:
Personal Injury
Blog: Kevin’s Other Articles
