False. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that we hear when speaking with people like you looking for someone to help them get the compensation they are entitled to.

Your insurance company cannot raise your rates simply because you file a claim. If you are at fault in an accident, your insurance may raise your rates, but not simply because you file a claim.

False. This is another big assumption that clients make. They don’t talk about there potential personal injury claim with an insurance adjuster who is assigned to the case without an attorney, but they then talk to their insurance agent about what to do and how to handle the matter, particularly where the insurance agent is a friend or family member. Most all of us have insurance through an agent that we personally know. Do not fall into this trap! Insurance agents receive bonuses or commissions based on what is call “ loss ratio.”

Insurance agents who bring in clients who make less claims against the insurance company make more bonus money under the loss ratio than agents whose clients make more claims. Agents have a vested, financial interest in their clients making as few claims as possible. Keep this in mind and do not talk to anyone from an insurance company prior to hiring an attorney to advise you how to properly proceed in a way that will not hurt your chances of recovering what you are entitled to.

True. This is a tough one for some people to get their minds around. Many people think that because they have been paying in as a good client for years to an insurance company that they will be rewarded (or at least treated fairly) when the time comes when they have a legitimate claim because this is what all that money they have been paying in premiums is for. . . . and that insurance adjusters will be compelled to do the right thing if their claim is not frivolous.

The stark reality is that insurance is a business that is obviously profit driven. It certainly is not a charity. With all insurance employees, the job description entails keeping profits high and claims low. They are financially rewarded for one and financially punished where claims hurt the company’s bottom line. The insurance adjuster who is assigned to your claim by the insurance company has a job to do.

Inherent in that job is seeing lawyers, injured people, and accident victims, like you, as people that might negatively affect their employer’s (and their own) bottom line, and they will do whatever they can to minimize your claim as much as possible.