Insurance companies deal with a plethora of injury claims, settling case after case almost every day.
Sometimes, people will approach them with minor injury claims and expect to negotiate fair compensation without the need for a lawyer.
However, throughout the years, for the reason of saving money, some insurance companies have started to develop underhanded and cunning tactics, all of which do not show good faith.
Some insurance agencies may choose not to cooperate and deliberately seek to sabotage your claim with their dishonesty.
But it is likely that you have not yet been exposed to them.
With that said, here are some of the insurance bad faith tactics that you need to know about and need to learn in order to avoid them.
Outrageous Demands
It is common practice for insurance companies to make outrageous demands of the insured, which is one of their most infamous tactics that are frequently employed.
This happens regardless of the extent of suffering that resulted from the damage.
Whether you lost your house to a fire or if the building you are in collapsed, leading to your injury, they may still make outrageous demands.
This will include drowning you in burdensome paperwork, seeing as dishonest insurance companies force policyholders to obtain various pieces of information, as well as fill out an endless stream of paperwork before finally investigating the claim.
Often, this could happen in spite of it being evident that your claim is indisputable.
Expect insurance companies to continue making such demands until you are driven away.
The way to avoid becoming a victim of this bad faith tactic is quite simple, hire an attorney.
Doing so is extremely important, especially if you are approaching them with a serious injury claim.
Unreasonable Delays
There are numerous cases that suffer from their insurance company’s unreasonable delays, either in the payment or in initiating the investigation of the claim.
Many companies perform such underhanded tactics in the hopes of having the claimants deterred and simply giving up.
However, claimants must not give up, and instead look to hire the services of an attorney.
You can check out this page to learn all about how a lawyer can help with the unreasonably delayed insurance claim payments, which starts with a customary investigation and review and ends with them going to trial if necessary.
Many lawyers choose not to get paid until the claim is won, which may intensify the fight conducted on your behalf.
Denying a Claim
While there is no specific issue with insurance denying your claim, there is one with them denying your claim without offering an explanation or reason.
It is even more aggravating to receive an invalid denial reason for your valid claim.
This is perhaps one of the most common bad faith tactics employed by dishonest insurers.
However, while denying a claim without a reason does seem absurd, it is important to remember that it could have been no more than an honest mistake.
Look to first address the issue, before following with your claim against the insurance company for bad faith.
There is no real way to avoid this issue, but there is a way to fix it. Simply go through all the proper channels of the procedure, which is to start by writing to them and explaining the issue.
If they remain persistent in continuing to show bad faith, then seek a third-party assessment which is the final stage before resorting to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Failure to Conduct Adequate Investigation
A frequently used tactic that is quintessential insurance bad faith, is the failure to conduct a thorough and adequate investigation.
Insurance companies are required to promptly conduct their investigation as soon as they are approached with a claim.
When this happens, the investigation must be conscientious, otherwise, there will be grounds for you to hit them back with a bad faith claim.
While there is no particular way of avoiding this issue, commonly, people will choose to either hire an attorney or instead carry out the job that would have otherwise been performed by an attorney.
The former is more expensive, while the latter is tireless, especially if you happen to fall into the hands of a dishonest insurance company.
All in all, it is easy to identify and even combat an insurance company’s bad faith tactics.
The simplest way is by hiring an attorney.
Attorneys will remove the troubles involved in dealing with the endless complications of an insurance company, and instead, offer you time to focus on what matters most, which is recuperating from the injury or damage you would have shortly experienced.