If you’re hurt or your vehicle is damaged in an auto accident, you should receive help from a reasonable claims adjuster who will understand and investigate your accident, and bring your claim to a fair and swift resolution.
After all, this is why you spend hard-earned money on insurance.
But even though regulations require insurance companies to fully investigate all claims in a timely manner, in reality insurance companies can –and do– cause needless hassle and delay without consequence.
This isn’t speculation. A former Allstate agent says the company’s strategy is to make claims “so expensive and so time-consuming that lawyers would start refusing to help clients.”
So, rather than actually processing insurance claims the way they are supposed to, insurers are using a computer program that calculates and spits out purposefully undervalued offers to their insured.
If you take that low offer, your claim will be processed rapidly and with a minimum of hassle. If you question their offer or fight for your lawful coverage, your claim will be delayed – and you might be forced into a lawsuit to fight for your rightful benefits. Former Allstate employees refer to this as the “three Ds”: deny, delay, and defend.
In other words, their goal is to deny your claim, create unnecessary delay until you are forced to take a low offer or get a lawyer, then put up a defense against your case.
This strategy systematically places insurance company profits above obligations to policyholders, and puts all claimants in a no-win situation.
Would you rather accept their low offer and lose money on your claim, or have to file an expensive lawsuit?
The Huffington Post has an excellent report on insurance company tactics – Insurance Claim Delays Deliver Massive Profits To Industry By Shorting Customers.
The title pretty much says it all.
