Imagine a situation where you are legally forced to pay for a service that ends up never being worth quite the same as the value of the hard-earned money you are shelling out for that service. It would be nice if this were just the stuff of bad dreams, but the truth is that the law hands certain insurance companies this kind of power over virtually everyone, including you.
Insurance companies Who Know They Have You Over a Barrel
It turns out that certain activities you want to do legally require you to purchase insurance to engage in these activities. If you want to drive a car, then you must have auto insurance. If you want to enter into a mortgage agreement on a house, then you must have homeowner’s insurance. What makes this even more sticky is that you are not in a position to disagree with the need for having insurance in these situations, because not having insurance comes with its own set of undesirable risks. But, never think insurance companies do not realize they have the upper hand, this is how the law works to favor their business model.
Your Credit-Based Insurance Score and Higher Rates
To add insult to injury, many home and auto insurance companies even look at your credit-based insurance score as a basis for deciding to charge you more for a policy if your score is on the low side. A low credit score can raise your insurance rates considerably. Somehow, we are expected to believe that having a low credit-based insurance score is a legitimate reflection on how well someone can drive, right? Well, the insurance agencies underwriting auto insurance policies sure seem to think so as they assume statistical correlation is the same as causation.
When You Volunteer to Pay
Sometimes you might not be legally backed into a corner, but you would like security anyway. Even in situations where purchasing insurance is voluntary, such as in the case of purchasing life insurance, you always seem to get that feeling that a knife has been stabbed into your wallet and the bleeding never ends. If it is not evident to you yet, then you need to begin to understand that your insurance company is not on your side, and all kinds of methods have been devised in the insurance industry to nickel and dime people like you.
Who Do Insurance Companies Really Represent?
When you are speaking with an insurance company sales representative over the phone, the deal you are being offered always sounds too good to be true at first. In most cases, it generally is too good to be true. The salesperson is nice, friendly, and seems to be the kind of person you think has your best interests in mind. Sure, you might have to pay a little more than expected, but look at all the benefits you get for the money you will be forking over each month. Do not believe it for a second. When the unthinkable happens, the security and support you expected to get from your insurance provider is never quite as glorious as the sales pitch made it out to be. This is because insurance companies have their own back first and foremost, not yours.
Insurance Is A Business, Not a Charity
Insurance companies are not in business to lose money. When you dig beneath the surface, you learn that insurance companies financially depend on converting as many leads to sales as they possibly can. The more of these leads that they sweet talk into signing up for high dollar policies, the more capital generating individual revenue streams they have feeding their corporation’s bottom line. Once they have your money firmly in hand, an insurance company then seeks to look for ways to mitigate having to pay that money back to you when it comes time for you to make a claim against your policy. In some situations, they simply refuse to pay for whatever reason gets them off the hook and leaves you empty-handed.
Negotiating How You Are Being Hung out to Dry
While we are on the topic of the claim you filed against your insurance policy, there is something you need to know. Speaking with the insurance adjuster without having proper representation, such as an attorney who has your back, is always a bad idea. The adjuster is not your friend and they are not a qualified medical professional either, but secretly they are against your interests. The situation is so slimy, the insurance adjuster should be required to tell you by law that you have the right to remain silent and that anything you say can and will be used to take advantage of you. They are hoping you will say anything that will give them cause to reduce or eliminate the need to pay on your claim. Too often people learn this lesson the hard way. This is why sometimes, the real negotiations with your insurance company do not truly begin until you have filed a claim and placed them into a situation to have to let go of some of that money you already paid into their company. The adjuster’s job is to make sure that does not happen.
Bad Faith Insurance Practices
Another area where insurance companies cross the line is categorized as bad faith insurance practices. Maybe you have heard of people trying to pull one over on an insurance company, but the truth is that some insurance companies are guilty of doing the same thing to their own policyholders. The following are a few examples of these bad faith insurance practices you should be aware of and look into before jumping into a policy with an insurance company.
- Failing to pay a proper amount a claim is worth
- Refusing coverage to clients when coverage is warranted
- Refusing to properly investigate a claim
- Rejecting legitimate insurance claims.
If an insurance company has a history of these kinds of violations, then you should think twice about trusting they will treat you any differently.
Summary
When push comes to shove, insurance companies are nothing more than a business playing the numbers game to pad their pockets. Once your money is in their hands, the last thing they want is for a claim to force them into the position to have to pay it back and then some. Often insurance companies will engage in questionable tactics where you, the policyholder, are at a complete disadvantage unless you have proper legal representation. The thing you must always be aware of is that your insurance company is not on your side. You can always count on the Bodden & Bennett Law Group to represent your best interests when attempting to collect on an insurance claim. Contact our office to find out how our attorneys can help you get the compensation you deserve.
