Dealing with State Farm After an Accident in Raleigh
While every insurance company differs slightly in how they process claims and what slogans they put onto billboards, there is one thing they all have in common: the only way they make money is by making sure they give as little of it as possible to policyholders. State Farm is no exception to this trend, and on top of that, they have a few unique quirks that can make it especially difficult to get a payout from a claim.
Fortunately, you could significantly boost the odds in your favor by hiring a skilled car accident lawyer to help you fight for much-needed compensation. When it comes to dealing with State Farm after an accident in Raleigh, there is no substitute for assistance from a legal professional who has dealt with this company many times before and knows all their tricks already.
The Significance of State Farm’s Adjustment Teams
It is no secret that State Farm tends to lowball people who file claims for compensation following accidents in Raleigh. However, claimants can usually anticipate exactly how hard it will be to get their claim accepted based on whether State Farm assigns an individual adjuster to their claim or not.
When State Farm considers a claim to be low in value or thinks it poses a low risk of requiring them to pay out compensation, it assigns that claim to a “Team” of adjusters who only have the authority to make extremely low offers on claims, if any at all. To make matters worse, not having a specific individual to contact about their claim means claimants may waste hours playing phone tag with State Farm if they want to get any update on their claim’s status.
Ultimately, this process is designed to be frustrating for claimants—specifically, frustrating enough that they give up and accept a low settlement offer that does not cover all their damages. Filing a lawsuit is usually the only way to get a claim pulled away from its assigned team and given to an individual adjuster, who may have the authority to make a more valuable offer.
What Not to Do When Interacting with State Farm
Regardless of who State Farm assigns a claim to, it is crucial for claimants who are dissatisfied with a settlement offer not to counter that offer with a demand of their own, as this could permanently limit the amount of compensation a lawyer could later demand on their behalf. In the same vein, claimants should not volunteer any more information than strictly necessary when speaking with a State Farm representative—for example, while adjusters may seem to claim otherwise, it is not required for people pursuing third-party claims against someone State Farm insures to give a recorded statement about their damages.
What accident victims in Raleigh should do when dealing with State Farm is stay patient and let a qualified attorney interact with adjusters on their behalf. Any questions State Farm has about a claim should be answerable through objective documentation submitted to them, and any attempt they make to coerce a claimant into accepting a subpar settlement should be addressed by a legal professional rather than the claimant themselves.
A Raleigh Attorney Could Deal with State Farm on an Accident Victim’s Behalf
Like any other insurance company out there, State Farm will often go to great lengths to avoid paying out on a claim. When dealing with State Farm after an accident in Raleigh, it is almost always a good idea to have a knowledgeable ally on your side of the legal aisle who could guide you through filing a lawsuit and pursuing an appropriate settlement to cover your losses.
No one should try to go up against a massive insurance company alone—and by retaining a skilled car accident lawyer, you will not have to in your case. Call today to learn more.
