Insurance Company Personal Injury Claim Investigations

After you have filed a claim with a car insurance company for your accident, the claim will be investigated by that company, in most cases. The way that the accident will be investigated by the auto insurance company depends upon these factors:

What kind of accident and how severe it was
The policies of the car insurance company
Whether the car accident involved injuries, property damage or both

After the claim is filed, an insurance company claims adjuster will contact you. They will review the policy to ensure that you are covered. It is possible the claims adjuster will ask you for more information about the crash. As the insurance company investigates the claim, they may do the following things:

Ask that you send them a copy of the police report
Contact the driver for the other vehicle
Talk to witnesses to the car accident
Go to the accident scene
Look at your car and damages
Take pictures of your car
Request that you sign a medical release so your medical records can be reviewed
Talk to your medical providers about your injury costs

Your auto insurance company should cover your injuries and repairs, minus your deductible. It will negotiate with the insurance company for the other driver to determine who will pay what in the end. This process of initial payment is called indemnification. If the other driver is determined during the investigation to be at fault, your auto insurance adjuster will try to get payment from that company through the subrogation process.

Regarding your repairs, your insurance company will investigate the damage to the car. They may recommend that you use an approved body shop. But you have the right to choose a shop that you prefer.

During the investigation, the adjuster may ask that you sign a waiver so the company can review your medical records. Even if it is your own company, you may wish to consult a personal injury attorney to determine if you should or not. Once the insurance company has access to your records, the insurance adjuster could try to use the information to lower the claim amount.

At the conclusion of the investigation, your adjuster may determine that the other driver was at fault, you were at fault, or both of you share the blame. Your settlement amount could be reduced by the percentage of blame you have for the crash.

It is important to provide all of the information the insurance company asks for as they do their investigation. But if the accident involves substantial injuries and damages, you may be better off having a personal injury attorney review the case.

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If you are injured in an accident or on the job, you will probably need to negotiate with an insurance company to obtain the money you deserve and need to recover. This sounds easy in theory, but in reality, insurance companies work very hard to reduce their liabilities. Their major interest is to protect the bottom line and they do so by doing a complete investigation of the accident and the claim. Insurance claim adjusters can be quite ruthless as they conduct an investigation of the accident and injuries.

The insurance investigation typically has the following components:

Open file: Insurance adjuster will investigate the accident details and the injury to negotiate a settlement.
Compile evidence: The adjuster will collect evidence, such as statements from the insured, accident report, and official records that exist. The adjuster will want to see documents that prove your injuries and damages.
Check social media: The insurance adjuster will investigate you and the accident. They will try to unearth negative information about you that can lower the value of your claim. They will investigate if you have filed previous lawsuits and may check social media for evidence that you are not as injured as you claim.
Recorded statements: Adjusters often ask for a recorded statement from you describing the injuries and accident. A recorded statement is often used to get valuable information from you to reduce the claim value. You should not provide an adjuster with a recorded statement unless you speak to a personal injury attorney first.
Medical records: These are a vital part of your personal injury claim. Adjusters spend much time looking through bills and medical records to try to reduce the value of the claim. Adjusters may attempt to get your previous medical records so that they can claim you have a preexisting condition that reduces the value of the injury claim. Do not sign a medical authorization to release any medical records before consulting an attorney.