Insurance Policyholders Beware
Source: Ventura County Star

When dealing with any insurance company, for any reason, the first and most important thing everyone must remember is that insurance adjusters are not your friends. Insurance adjusters work for the insurance company, and are completely focused on paying their policyholders as little as possible on their claims, if anything. The adjuster may be very nice. The adjuster may even appear to be sympathetic. Do not be fooled. It is the insurance adjuster’s job to find a reason NOT to pay their policyholder’s claim, or to pay as little as possible.

Insurance investigators and adjusters are professional negotiators. Most of them are purposely trained to intimidate, hassle and use psychological techniques in order to get policyholders to settle their claims for far less than they are worth. The primary goal of an adjuster is to settle a victim’s claim quickly and BEFORE he or she has an opportunity to determine the exact nature, extent and value of their claim/damage.

Adjusters often have prepackaged speeches they deliver to policyholders to discourage them from making a claim or hiring an attorney to represent them in the process. The adjuster will often attempt to dissuade the policyholder from contacting an attorney by making exaggerated and otherwise improper statements about the burdensome nature of the legal process. What the adjuster is generally attempting to do in these early contacts with the policyholder is to obtain a recorded statement from them while the policyholder is confused as to the nature and extent of his or her claim, and before the policyholder realizes he or she needs an attorney to protect their rights.

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