The Oklahoma Auto Accident Attorney & The Insurance Adjusters (Part 1)

As an Oklahoma Auto Accident Attorney, I know the expression well…

“A person who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

This sage advice is why smart auto accident attorneys refer cases which are beyond their own expertise. Yet many non-lawyers sometimes foolishly brave the perilous waters of accident and insurance law by failing to seek representation for damages and injuries after an accident. There is a common (but very incorrect) belief that by not hiring an attorney their recovery from an insurer will be higher. Deceived by the idea that they can “save” the cost of attorneys’ fees, they typically end up with a much lower settlement or result (and sometimes no result at all) due to the many vagaries and pitfalls of making and documenting a claim.
Often, slick insurance adjusters fuel and feed upon these concerns. Indeed, the major insurers instruct their adjusters to do everything possible to discourage injured parties from seeking the representation of an attorney and to quickly settle legitimate cases for a fraction of the amount that a qualified attorney could obtain. Moreover, adjusters sometimes pressure claimants to settle quickly (as soon as the day after the accident, when many of the symptoms or necessary treatment is not yet evident).
Oklahoma Accident Attorneys obtain significantly higher results by the insurance industry’s own account.

Insurers know, and tell their adjusters during training, that in the most common personal injury claims, “represented claims [when an injured person uses an attorney] settle for 2-3 times more than unrepresented claims [when a person deals directly with the insurer].” Allstate Unrepresented Adjuster Training Manual, July 1995.
Adjusters are trained to tell injured parties that:

• An injured person isn’t required to hire an attorney, that the company settles claims directly with many accident victims every year.
• People who settle their claims without an attorney generally settle their claims more quickly than those who hire an attorney.
• Attorneys typically take 33-1/3% of a recovery; however, if the injured person settles directly with the company he/she gets to keep the total settlement.
• An injured person can always hire an attorney, so there’s no reason to hire one from the outset.

What the adjusters don’t tell the claimants or injured parties is that:

• The insurance company desperately doesn’t want injured people to hire an attorney because an attorney will force the company to pay the full value of the claim, which is usually much higher than an unrepresented injured person would be willing to accept.
• A quick settlement takes advantage of a victim’s present need for cash. It is often done before the full nature and extent of the loss can be evaluated and appreciated. It’s much cheaper for the company to settle early, before a victim comprehends the full nature of the loss.
• Using the insurer’s own statistics, a represented victim whose settlement is two to three times larger than an unrepresented victim almost always obtains a larger recovery for himself, even after deducting attorneys fees.
• The longer an adjuster keeps a claimant from seeing an attorney, the more likely the adjuster will build rapport and engage the victim’s sense of trust by appearing to act as an advocate (e.g., “I’m doing everything I can with the company to get you the recovery that you and I both know you deserve.”) while reducing the victim’s expectations of settlement by gently pointing out all the negatives of the claim. The longer a victim puts off seeing a lawyer, the more likely it is that the victim won’t see an attorney.

Allstate Unrepresented Adjuster Training Manual, July 1995.

So what’s your story?

Do you have questions about whether or not they should contact an auto accident attorney?

For instant advice please call the Oklahoma auto accident attorney Dorian Romano at 918-409-7711

(Read Part Two: How Insurance Adjusters Prey Upon the Injured)