Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog
In school, you’re not taught what to do after a serious car accident. There is no course or classroom lesson. This is something which people will learn from friends, family members, lawyers, reading, or through life experience.
While car accidents happen everyday, the same people aren’t involved in car accidents everyday. They are the exception, and not the norm for individuals. But, the opposite is true for insurance companies. They handle hundreds of calls a day, and thousands of cases each year across the country. Handling car insurance cases is part of their business model. They are familiar with the ins, and outs, and what has to get done in order to process a claim and see it through.
Our personal injury lawyers have seen that people want advice in their time of need right after a car accident. They don’t know where to turn, what to do, or who to trust. Innocent accident victims are shaken up, and in a vulnerable state. They want to trust their insurance company to given them advice, and to point them in the right direction. But, the insurer has their best interests in mind, and not yours. They will try to set up the claim in such a way as to best limit their exposure in an effort to maximize their profits. So, injured accident victims need to beware, and take everything which the insurance company says with a grain of salt (or a large mound of it). The relationship between injured accident victim and insurance adjuster can get off on the right foot, but can quickly sour thereafter. A few denials here and there. An assessment with an “independent” specialist to justify a denied treatment plan. Things can get messy really quickly. Here are some quick tips on things to avoid with your insurance company following a serious car accident:
The Insurance Company will recommend a Rehab Clinic for you to see after your car accident. Strange that an insurer will recommend a clinic (or 2) after a car accident. You have to ask yourself why the insurer is recommending that specific clinic. Think about that long and hard. Is this clinic really that magical? Or, perhaps they are very familiar to getting referrals from that particular insurance company. In any event, the accident victim (you) are allowed to select any clinic of your choosing for your wellness and rehabilitation. You go where you want. You are NOT required to go for treatment where the insurance company tells you to go. There is likely a reason which works against your interests which is why the insurer wants you to attend at a clinic which they have recommended from their preferred list of vendors.
The Insurance Company will arrange for some sort of rehab professional to attend at your home, or hospital to visit you. This visit will happen very quickly. While this sounds like a great idea, you should not let this visit happen. See tip above. Why are you letting the expert who has been hand selected by the insurance company into your home? Would you do that in any other situation? You have to question why the insurer is selecting that specific therapist, from that specific company to see you; so quickly. There is no rush for the visit in the first place. What the insurer often doesn’t tell you is that you have the power to select the rehab professional of your choosing and the funding will be paid for by the insurance company should they deem the treatment plan to be reasonable and necessary.
There will be up the 3 adjusters from the insurance company who you have the potential to deal with. This is very confusing for most people. There will be a property damage adjuster (for the value of the damaged vehicle); an accident benefit adjuster (for the accident benefit claim) along with a tort adjuster (for the tort claim). That makes three different insurance adjusters for just one car accident. Go figure. Who ever said that personal injury cases aren’t confusing. When you need three insurance adjusters for a single car accident, you know that things are about to get messy.
There will be a lot of forms for you to sign. Don’t sign them without a lawyer. You want to know what you’re signing, and why you’re signing it. One of the forms which the insurer will ask that you sign without a personal injury lawyer is a Permission To Disclose Personal Information Form. Often times, these forms are completely blank, so the insurer is just asking for your permission to access your personal information, but you don’t know what information they will be accessing, and over what period of time. Would you sign 0ff on a blanket request for all of your personal health records and financial records to an insurance company dating back 30 years?
A Representative from the Insurance Company will want to meet with you, or take a statement from you. Don’t do this without a personal injury lawyer. The next thing you know, is that you’ve signed the wrong form, or said the wrong thing; and now your case is getting off on completely the wrong foot making it very difficult to fix. Sometimes these statements are recorded. Sometimes they are signed or sworn. That means that what you say during these statements can, and will be held against you as the case moves forwards. These statements can be used down the line by the insurance company lawyers to impeach you, to undermine your credibility, or to establish that you aren’t truthful or honest. What’s contained in these statements is very important and it’s important that the information is accurate and does not hurt your claim moving forward. Sometimes cases will turn on the smallest detail which can be misinterpreted because of what was contained in a statement was not accurate, or recorded properly. Perhaps it was a simple communication error. Or, perhaps it was because the person who was recording the statement failed to properly account for the information which was conveyed.
