How Complex Insurance Policies Affect Your Settlement
Wrecks with commercial vehicles come with a lot of complications. There may be more than one liable party that holds the fault for the wreck. You’re likely struggling with significant vehicle damage and injuries. And to top it all off, there is likely a complex insurance nightmare to deal with.
While commercial vehicle policies generally come with higher limits, they also have layered coverage and the companies delay and deny to avoid paying out a settlement. The Car Crash Captain takes a look at what this all means if you have been injured in a wreck with a commercial vehicle in Texas.
Higher Limits with a Catch
Most likely you have a policy that reads something like 50/100/50. This means if you’re found at fault, your insurance will cover up to $50,000 in bodily injury per person, $100,000 in bodily injury per accident, and $50,000 in property damage per accident.
The complex insurance policies held by generally are much higher – they have more assets to protect, and the likelihood of injury after a wreck is greater. These policies often cover a million dollars, or more, if injury or death occurs.
The catch is, of course, that the greater the payout, the harder the insurance company will fight to keep it. Just because the money is there, doesn’t mean you’ll get it without a fight.
Layered Policies that Delay
When you really look at their policies, you notice there are different tiers or levels to these policies as well. For example, the primary coverage might be $500,000 or $1 million. But what if you are severely injured and you require more than that?
After that primary coverage is exhausted, an umbrella policy might kick in. Of course, there could be other structures, clauses, layers, and tiers to deal with as well.
Even if you’re awarded a settlement of $3 million, it’s not as easy as getting a $3 million check. Multiple layers often mean multiple insurers. That means each company gets a chance to delay, deny, or otherwise devalue your claim.
Aggressive Insurance Adjusters
Any time a large settlement is on the line, you will be faced with aggressive adjusters and agents that aren’t on your side.
They will delay responding and offering a settlement. The goal is to wear you down – you need compensation to recover, and they know it. The hope is that you accept a settlement that is lower because it’s available now.
They might deny liability outright. They blame the victim, dispute fault, claim other factors were involved, or that it was a third party that was actually at fault.
They’ll wear you down by requesting more paperwork than necessary, or medical exams. They’ll claim they never received items and you’ll have to send them again. These are all in an effort to stall negotiations.
Finally, the insurance company will devalue your claim. If you claim $1 million, they might counter with $50,000 saying that the extent of your injuries isn’t that severe. It’s then a back and forth as they hope you get so desperate you take the lowball offer.
Why You Need Herbert Law Group
Those complex insurance policies have one job: to protect the company behind them. They don’t care about the victims; they don’t care about lowballing victims.
Herbert Law Group, however, does care.
And we are here to fight on your behalf so you get the maximum compensation after your wreck. Compensation that will provide you justice, meet your needs, and ultimately help you heal.
Let’s talk about what happened. A free phone call to 214-414-3808 and we’ll figure out how we can help, and how you can rest easier knowing our team is on it. No time for a call right now? Fill out our contact form, and we’ll be in touch with you soon.