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Jim Sellers, Attorney At Law

40+ Years of experience in Personal Injury Law in both Washington and Oregon

insurance is not about service

Insurance is only about money. You will better understand problems that you might be experiencing with insurance adjusters and claims representatives if you can accept that insurance is only about money. Despite the insurance company advertising that appears on TV and in magazines, insurance is not about service.

People sometimes naively assume that insurance is sold to pay for personal injury claims; that if there is a loss or personal injury claim it will be covered. It’s only right isn’t it? Wrong. Insurance is not sold by insurance companies to cover personal injury claims. Insurance is sold by insurance companies to make insurance companies’ profit. The less money that an insurer is required to pay out in losses and personal injury claims, the more money that an insurance company makes in profit.

In the business of adjusting claims, there is absolutely no incentive to pay out money to cover policyholder losses and personal injury claims other than to reduce the risk that the injured person will recover more if the insurance company doesn’t settle.

There is very little incentive to provide good service in adjusting claims. There is every incentive for insurers to lie, cheat and steal if they can get away with it. Not that any insurers do that. However, some may do whatever they can to minimize what is paid, even if it isn’t enough to fully compensate the claim.

As a person who has experienced a loss, you may encounter delays; being put off by an adjuster; and totally illogical explanations for denials of payment of claims or benefits. You may be told that you are at fault when you know that your injuries were caused by the insurance company’s insured.

This will make sense if you understand from the beginning that insurers have little economic incentive to provide good service in adjusting claims, by being easy to contact, by paying claims promptly, by agreeing to cover a loss, or by offering logical and understandable explanations for delays in, or denials of, payment. Adjusters will almost never pay anything more than what they have to pay on a loss or a claim. Almost without exception, they will try and pay less than what they will ultimately agree to pay if forced to do so.

Knowledge is power. Claims adjusters usually know a great deal more about settling claims than policyholders and claimants. They use that knowledge to the insurance company’s advantage. Adjusting claims is what they do for a living day-in and day-out. In negotiating, there are attempts to win through intimidation. An adjuster may come across very friendly when making an inadequate offer to pay a claim, which can be intimidating to policyholders and claimants who are not used to claims negotiating.

The same adjuster may get cold and indifferent, or turn nasty, if being nice isn’t going to work. This can be even more intimating to someone who isn’t familiar with insurance adjusting. The truth is that the more frustrated that some policy holders or claimants become, the more likely it is that they will just give up and go away, with a commensurate savings to the insurance company in resolving the claim.

Insurance adjusters will invariably try to discourage claimants from contacting an attorney. However, you will probably do better if you consult with a reputable attorney who has a substantial amount of experience handling personal injury or insurance claims.

Representation on these matters are normally provided by a contingent fee, which means that the fee is usually paid as a percentage of the recovery when the claimant gets paid; if there is no recovery, there is no fee.

Most experienced personal injury attorneys will talk to you at no charge to see if your case is worth your time and theirs for you to receive legal services.

If you want to talk to me about the feasibility of your claim free of charge, feel free to call or make an appointment. You don’t even have to reach me personally to set up a time. Just call my office. There is no obligation after the first appointment unless you retain my services and we sign a written fee agreement. This is not unusual. Most experienced personal injury attorneys do the same thing.

Perhaps you have choices that you might not have otherwise considered. Feel free to call for an appointment or a phone conference at no charge.

call me at (503) 686-5131 or Contact me by email.

Some insurance companies that represent the part at-fault will contact a victim of a personal injury and coerce them into settling their claim immediately, sometimes with false statements and being persuasive that they refuse to pay for your medical expenses or other compensation that you may have the right to claim as a result of your accident. Contact us for all your questions, and we will be happy to speak with you on the phone and give you a no obligation consultation regarding your personal injury accident.

Victims who have suffered a catastrophic injury as a result of an auto accident, drunk driver accident, or other personal injury accident deserves an experienced Washington/Oregon personal injury attorney to represent their claim and protect their rights to all the compensation for damages caused, including lost wages, pain and suffering, and medical expenses.

If your are based in washington or oregon and are a victim of an accident, call me at (503) 686-5131 for a free no-obligation consutlation.