Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton, P.A. blog

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Profits Up But Service Down in Auto Injury Cases

Recent investigations of major auto insurance carriers have discovered that if you are injured in a minor accident, the chances are high that insurance companies will challenge your injury claims. This is true, in part, because many insurance companies believe it is cheaper to drag your claim out and force you into court than to pay you fairly for your injuries. Most injured persons simply can't afford to wait years for resolution of their claims and are forced to accept the insurance company's settlement offer. Often it amounts to only pennies on the dollar when compared to the true value of the claim. The insurance companies have continued this practice by deceiving the public into believing that they are just trying to hold down rates and prevent fraud in auto accident claims.

Some insurance industry insiders, including former agents and claims adjusters, have now come forward to expose this shameful practice. They have admitted that they were trained to deny or underpay claims, no matter how deserving, to boost company profits. It doesn't take a genius to see that if the companies can save a few thousand dollars a claim over a million claims, the profit increase is huge. In fact, despite record profits over the last 10 years, auto insurance companies have not returned the savings to their customers. They have actually increased premiums by 30% over that time period.

posted by Attorney Frank Ashton at 7:04 PM