Short answer: Statistically you will receive more money for your auto accident with an attorney than without one. No insurance company represents the best interests of auto accident victims who were not at fault, they are only required to defend at-fault drivers in an auto accident.
Statistically, you will receive more for your auto accident case if you hire an attorney.
- A 2004 Insurance Research Council Study found that injured people who retain a personal injury attorney recover 350%, or 3.5 times, more than those who represent themselves.
- Every insurance adjuster, i.e. the representative of an insurance company handling your claim, is under strict guidelines to protect their company’s bottom line profits. Simply put, it is their job to get you to settle for as little money as possible. Many insurance companies will audit or review their adjusters’ files at the end of the year, and use their level of payouts as a basis for bonuses and/or retention. These goals are widespread and permeate each level of the insurance industry. Because of this, insurance adjusters will likely try to do what they can to prevent your hiring an attorney.
- In 1995, Allstate’s claim adjusters training manual heavily emphasized to their adjusters that convincing claimants to not hire an attorney was crucial to their “improvement” of reducing the severity of claims – which is another way of stating “pay you less.” If you don’t, you will be the only one at the table without representation.
- As stated above, the at-fault driver will have an attorney provided for them by their insurance company, and an adjuster will represent the insurance company. If you do not hire an attorney to represent your interests, you will be the only one in the claim to not have representation. The at-fault driver’s attorney, insurance company and adjuster all handle these claims and suits for a living; are very likely far more experienced than you are in handling these types of claims; and, both will be trying to get you to settle for as little as they possibly can. The auto insurance company does not represent your best interests.
- As evidenced by that same 1995 Allstate claim adjusters training manual, it is the goal of the insurance company to devalue your claim to maximize their corporate profits. Insurance companies are likely to follow their old standbys: Delay, Deny and Defend. This comes after McKinsey, one of the world’s largest consulting companies, gave a massive presentation to Allstate, in which it was plainly stated: “Improving Allstate’s casualty economics will have a negative economic impact on some medical providers, plaintiff attorneys, and claims. . . Allstate gains – others must lose.”
- This approach is not taken by Allstate alone, Allstate’s rise in profits from devaluing claims – where its earnings doubled from the 1990s to $4.6 billion in 2007 – The Insurance Company doesn’t just fight the big claims.
- Insurance companies make a fortune off of devaluing smaller claims, since “sav[ing] a few dollars on a huge number of claims [is] worth more than saving a lot of dollars on a very small number of claims” according to Jay Feinman, a professor at Rutgers University School of Law.
An experienced personal injury firm will help you in your fight for recovery since they’ll force the insurance companies to pay fair settlements or consider incurring the costs of litigation. Daniels Law Firm does not recover anything unless we win; and, if we help you recover more, you get more. If you allow us to help you in your fight, we can deal with the insurance companies while you focus on making a full recovery.