After a car accident, you might expect the at-fault driver’s insurance company to do the right thing and fairly compensate you for your losses. However, insurers don’t always accept liability; they regularly deny valid claims and lowball others.
Here is what drives their decisions in Illinois car accident cases.
Insurance Companies Are For-Profit Businesses
Insurers are not charities or advocates for accident victims. They are for-profit businesses with a duty to their shareholders. This is true of third-party insurance companies, i.e., an insurer for the party who caused your accident. It is also true for first-party insurance corporations — your own insurer.
Every dollar an insurer pays out on a claim is a dollar that affects its margins. Insurers lose money paying out claims. Insurers cannot act in bad faith in denying or undervaluing your claim, but they can challenge your claim within lawful limits.
That basic financial dynamic shapes how adjusters approach your case. Their job is to resolve your claim for as little as possible, and many are evaluated on how effectively they achieve this goal.
Denying or Devaluing Your Claim Protects the Insurer’s Bottom Line
Insurers have specific strategies for reducing what they pay. Common strategies include:
- Disputing liability. The insurer may argue that their driver was not at fault or that you share the blame, which can reduce or eliminate their payout under Illinois law.
- Downplaying your injuries. Adjusters often claim your injuries are not serious, are unrelated to the crash, or stem from a pre-existing condition.
- Pressuring a quick settlement. Insurers may push a fast, low offer before you understand the full extent of your injuries.
- Using your own words against you. A recorded statement or a casual remark like “I’m fine” can be twisted to undercut your claim later.
Insurers may also blame you for the accident. Illinois follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which allows insurers to reduce your recovery by your percentage of fault and bars any recovery if you are more than 50% at fault. That gives them a powerful incentive to pin as much blame on you as possible.
In Some Cases, Other Parties Might Share Liability
Not every denial is illegitimate. Sometimes an insurer disputes a claim because they are not liable or because liability is shared among multiple parties. For example, a crash might involve more than one negligent driver, or the injured victim may share some fault for the accident (see comparative fault discussion in section above).
When fault is spread across several parties, identifying every responsible party becomes a critical part of the claims process. This process helps counter the insurer’s attempt to shift all the blame onto you and increases the insurance coverage available to pay your claim. An experienced St. Charles car accident attorney can investigate the full picture and pursue compensation from everyone responsible.
If an insurance company is denying or undervaluing your Illinois car accident claim, you should contact an experienced car accident attorney for help seeking full compensation. Call Feagans Law Group to discuss your rights and legal options. Call (630) 940-2093 today.