- I'm going to tell you nine questions
that insurance adjusters do not want you
to ask in personal injury claims, slip and falls,
car accidents, and much more.
You'll see how asking these questions
may get you a larger settlement in a shorter amount of time,
and we're starting right now.
The first question that adjusters don't want you
to ask is what is your average claim payout?
Adjusters and insurance companies are tracked
by their average loss payouts,
that's the average amount they're paying out per claim.
In a car accident injury case,
Geico was sued for bad faith
and claims documents were revealed that shows
that Geico is ranking their insurance adjusters
in different percentiles.
Now, Geico adjusters in the third
and fourth percentile were paying out the most
on average per claim.
And claim documents showed that for these adjusters
that were paying out in the upper 50% of claims,
their supervisor was ordered to suspend
to stop their settlement authority
until there was improvement noted.
The adjusters that were paying out in the top 50% of claims
that Geico then have to ask their supervisors for authority.
Adjusters don't wanna have to ask their supervisors
for authority because it takes extra time
and then they can't settle claims as fast.
I've had adjusters tell me that they're not ranked
based on how much they pay,
they're ranked based on how soon they reach out
to the injured party after the accident
and other things like that.
The bottom line is
that some adjusters are better negotiators than others,
and yes, they are ranked in different percentages
in the insurance company that they work for.
The second question adjusters don't want you to ask is,
is your settlement authority double your first offer?
I spoke with an adjuster who worked
at one of the largest insurance companies
in the United States.
He told me that his ultimate settlement authority
was two times his opening offer.
That means if his opening offer was $10,000,
the most he could settle for was $20,000.
Now I don't suggest asking this question
in the beginning of the claim.
You should only ask it
if their final offer is not twice their initial offer.
The third question adjusters don't want you
to ask in personal injury claims is
where can I find more
about how you settle personal injury claims?
In a state like Florida, the injured person
or their attorney can file a Civil Remedy Notice
of insurer violation.
All these claimed violations are kept online
in a website that you can view.
You can even search by the individual insurance adjusters.
Now you got this section of this form where it says,
"Name of individual responsible for violation, if any"
and you put in the adjuster's name.
It's then going to show you the past times
that people or their attorneys have filed complaints
for Civil Remedy Notices against these adjusters.
In other words, these are times
where the injured person or their attorney is saying
that the insurance company was not acting in good faith.
I'm going to give you an example
of an actual Civil Remedy Notice filed
by an Uber passenger in an accident.
The Uber passenger's attorney claimed
that he had surgery to his lower back
and the medical bills were over $200,000.
Uber's insurance company, Progressive,
responded by offering $2,500.
And Uber's insurance company, Progressive,
said that the injured person, Dos Santos,
already received a fair offer
from the at fault party's insurance company.
And Progressive claim
that had asked the Uber passenger's attorney
for prior records.
In any back injury or neck injury case,
expect the insurance company
to wanna see your prior records.
And if you fell at a hotel or theme park,
like Universal Studios,
you can search by the name of the place where you fell.
Now it has to be the legal name.
For example, Universal Studios would be NBC Universal,
and you can then get an idea of how they handle past claims.
The fourth question
that insurance adjusters don't want you to ask
in car accident and personal injury claims is
how much authority did you request to settle this case for?
In order for an insurance adjuster to settle a case,
they need to get authority.
At some insurance companies,
these adjusters already have authority
without having to ask,
but at other ones they need to ask for authority.
I heard that one of the largest insurance companies
in the United States cut down their adjuster's authority
from $100,000 to $10,000.
This means that in order to settle a personal injury case
for any amount above $10,000,
they have to ask their manager for approval.
To get approval from the manager,
the adjuster has to complete an evaluation.
This form gives you a good idea of the things
that adjusters look for when deciding how much to pay you.
Now, this form that you can see here
is an updated evaluation form
that the Hartford's attorneys complete
to keep the adjusters advised.
Now, even if the adjuster tells you
how much they requested settlement authority for,
it doesn't mean you're going to get paid this amount.
I represented a man who was on a moped
in Miami Beach, Florida
when a taxi made an improper U-turn in front of him.
They crashed my client,
had a deep bone bruise to his upper arm, the humerus.
The adjuster for the taxi's insurance company told me
that she had requested
that her insurance company offer the $125,000 policy limits.
Unfortunately, she then only offered $18,000
and we sued and ultimately settled for $25,000.
And in this case, my client did not have a serious fracture
and he didn't have surgery.
So the $25,000 was fair value for the case.
The fifth question that adjusters don't want you
to ask in personal injury cases is what can I do
for you to pay me more money in my case?
Adjusters want to settle cases fast.
They don't want cases lingering and staying open.
Now adjusters are overworked.
Just look at what a third-party administrator
for Walmart said.
Surveys of workers compensation adjusters' show
that even at a caseload of 130 files,
adjusters consider themselves in a reactive mode,
being overwhelmed with phone calls,
data entry, and email request.
Generally speaking, adjusters are not gonna tell you how
to increase the value of your case.
They're not going to tell you,
"Hey, you should get the 911 call.
Maybe you'll hear my insured admitting fault in it."
They're not going to tell you,
"Although you've sent me the hospital bill,
we still need the ER physician's bill,
'cause that's a separate bill
and that's gonna add value to your case
and result in a larger offer to you."
If you're claiming that you have a head injury
or brain injury, they're likely not gonna tell you,
"Hey, you should treat with the neuropsychologist.
That may add significant value to your case."
And if you're injured at an accident
at a hotel or theme park or mall,
they're not gonna tell you to go to Google
or TripAdvisor and look for reviews
that show other people complaining of the same hazard
that caused your injury.
In this hotel slip and fall case here,
you can see the insurance adjuster telling me
the reviews have been considered
and she offered me $205,000.
She was referring to the reviews
that I had sent her showing other people complaining
that the area was slippery and had issues.
The sixth question that adjusters don't want you to ask is
how much can you offer me to settle my case?
You will never know how much the insurance adjuster
could offer you to settle your case.
The one exception is
if they're paying you the policy limits,
the policy limits are what they are.
The policy limits are the most they have to pay you
under the insurance policy.
In some cases that I've settled for fair value
where my client wanted a very fast settlement,
after the settlement I've asked the adjuster,
"If I would have sued,
would you have offered me more money?"
And the adjuster will say, "I would have asked my manager,"
and they probably would have offered $5,000 more.
But ultimately, it's the client's decision when to settle
and some clients want a fast settlement.
This seventh question that adjusters don't want you
to ask in personal injury claims is
how often do you settle a case in less than three moves?
That means three counteroffers on their part.
Insurance claims involve negotiation.
If you're not dealing
with an insurance policy limits settlement,
insurance adjusters rarely settle a case
in less than three moves.
I know an insurance adjuster
who worked at one of the largest insurance companies
in the United States
and he told me his supervisor told them,
"Never ever settle a case by making less than three offers."
Insurance companies know
that some people don't realize negotiation is part
of a personal injury settlement.
When negotiating, you need to be patient
and never drop too much at one time.
And please, whatever you do,
do not tell the adjuster that you want a certain amount.
Tell them you need a certain amount.
It's a lot stronger of a negotiation position.
When I say that insurance adjusters don't settle cases
in less than three moves, that means typically
if you were to demand a $100,000 to settle,
they may come back with $20,000,
you then come down to 75,000, they come up to 40,000,
you come down to 60,000, they come up to 50,000,
perhaps you meet somewhere in the middle.
But don't expect an insurance adjuster
to settle your case for fair value in less than three moves.
The eighth question that insurance adjusters don't want you
to ask in car accidents, slip and falls,
and personal injury claims is
do you like to settle for less money?
Insurance companies wanna settle for as little as possible,
but don't take my word for it.
Let's look at an actual document
in a case where bad faith was alleged against Geico.
The Geico regional claims manager said, "BI ALP,"
that means bodily injury, average claim payouts,
"dropped by 1% and UM,"
that's uninsured motorist insurance,
"average loss payouts," average claim paid out,
"improved by 5.2%.
Nice job on both."
You can see that this claims manager was happy
that the average loss payout
that Geico was paying out had decreased.
In other words, the injured people were getting less money
and Geico was saving money.
Remember, insurance companies run on profit.
The more profit they make,
the more their shareholders benefit.
The ninth question that insurance adjusters don't want you
to ask in injury claims is,
are you going to fight my case?
Just because you call an insurance company
or a claim is reported
and they tell you that there's a claim number,
or even if they tell you they've accepted liability
for the accident,
that does not mean they're not going to fight your case.
They may accept liability for an accident but they'll argue
that your injuries are not related to the accident,
so what good is that for your personal injury claim?
Or they'll argue that your injuries aren't
as bad as you're claiming they are.
You know when an adjuster's not fighting your case
when they're offering you fair settlement value
for their case, but until that happens,
do not think that just because you're dealing
with a sweet insurance adjuster, who says thank you
every time you send them a message record or bill,
that does not mean they're going to pay you fair value
for your injury.
I have dealt with some of the nicest insurance adjusters
who would thank me for sending medical records and bills
and thank me for my time
every time I spoke with them on the phone,
and then they ultimately denied liability in the case.
I sued them and we ultimately got fair value for my client.
Watch these videos here
to learn how to get the largest settlement
in the shortest amount of time.