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FAQ Friday#6 – Do insurance companies really got my back?

Hi everybody, Washington state personal injury attorney Matt Dubin here for our sixth episode of FAQ Friday. Thank You Fridays are where I answer your questions about car accidents auto insurance personal injury claims or anything about our civil justice system I’m here to help ask me your questions in the comments to this post or when we announce next week’s FAQ Friday and I will be sure to get to them in a subsequent episode also don’t forget our contest where we’re giving away free dash cams for your car these contests are still going on on our Everett age and our Seattle page make sure you like our page find that contest and you like it tag someone and share it and you’re eligible to win a dash cam that those contests are still going on and whether you win the contest or not I really strongly encourage everyone to get a dash cam and install it in your car you can get a decent one for well under $100 and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen cases where the liability the fault for causing the accident is disputed and having a dash cam would provide the evidence that you need to prove your case well enter our contest and if you don’t win then go out and get yourself a dash cam and get it hooked up in your car so on to today’s question today’s question comes from Dan and Dan wrote I was told that my insurance company is looking out for my best interest so I don’t need an attorney if I get into an accident is that true dan you gave me a softball and I will give you the short answer and then I’ll go a little bit deeper into it the answer is no that is not true you are not in good hands your insurance company is not like a good name and they are not looking out for your best interest when you’ve been in an accident I’m sorry but that is just the case insurance companies are corporations there’s nothing evil about corporations there’s nothing wrong with corporations but we need to understand that the purpose of a corporation is to maximize profit for its shareholders so how do insurance companies maximize profits well they sell as many policies of insurance as they can and they collect your premiums month after month after month and when you have a claim against the insurance company whether it’s your insurance company or somebody else’s insurance company they will do whatever it takes to pay out as little as possible now there’s all different kinds of coverage your personal injury protection pays your medical bills your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage will pay if the person who caused the accident didn’t have insurance and a I apologize for the noise it’s kind of warm I’m here in the Everett office and we don’t have air-conditioning so the windows are open there’s a little bit of traffic noise but hopefully you can hear me okay and there’s liability insurance now your liability insurance won’t pay your claim that would be a liability insurance for the person their insurance company shouldn’t be telling you whether or not you need an attorney in fact a few years back the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office sanctioned an insurance company I believe it was Allstate for sending out a letter at the beginning of a case saying exactly that you don’t need a lawyer because we’re looking out for your best interest and in that case they found that giving that advice was actually the unauthorized practice of law that the determination of whether you need a lawyer or not is a legal determination and the insurance company has no business telling you whether or not you need an attorney you always have a right to have an attorney evaluate your claim bottom line is look insurance agents get paid by selling insurance policies insurance claims adjusters get paid by denying claims and this is just true they may tell you that they want to be fair they want to resolve claims in his fairway as possible but at the end of the day these claims adjusters are evaluated by how much less do they pay out than the value that they have assessed for the claims that are made so in other word if your claim is worth ten thousand and the claims adjuster manages to only pay out six thousand they are rewarded for paying out less than what the claim is actually worth so knowing that it makes perfect sense right that they’re gonna pay out as little as possible now if you’re injured in an accident if somebody else’s fault you’re still relying on your own insurance to pay your medical bills through your PIP coverage if the claim is in excess of the other drivers liability insurance you’re going to be relying on your underinsured motorist coverage to pay that claim as well and they’re going to treat you like an adversary just as if you were making a claim against somebody else’s insurance so it absolutely makes sense in almost every single injury claim at least at least to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney it may be in a smaller case that it makes for you to just work it out with the insurance company without needing to hire a lawyer in the rare case that happens but even then you need to realize that your insurance company doesn’t have your back they’re not looking out for your best interest and if they tell you (that) you don’t need a lawyer, that’s a good indication that you should run to a lawyer and at least have them evaluate your claim make sure you know what your rights are and on that note if you’re interested in learning more about your rights excuse me for just a second I want to I wrote this book maximizing your injury claim this book contains all of the basic information about how to protect yourself with insurance what to do at the scene of an accident how to decide whether you need a lawyer and really what to expect from the whole process from when you’ve hired a lawyer all the way through to the end of a trial if necessary you can go to maximizing your injury claim calm or you can go to my website Dube in law office.com and you can sign up for a free copy of my book I’ll mail it to you or you can request a PDF copy you give me your email and I’ll send you a copy free I just want you to have this information to know your rights and if you read this book you’ll understand what I’m saying today is that your insurance company is not looking out for you the other person’s insurance company is not looking out for you nobody’s looking out for you but you and if you hire an attorney then your attorney is looking out for you too so that’s today’s FAQ Friday go to the website or go to maximizing your injury claim com claim your free book go to our Facebook page and enter our contest for the dashcam and wait to see if you win if you win congratulations if you don’t win go out and get yourself a dashcam you don’t need to get a fancy one go get a cheap one on Amazon and get it in your car believe me if you’re in a regulated intersection and urine a t-bone accident and you’ve got both drivers claiming it was the other ones fault you’ll be so glad you’ve got that dashcam you’ll have absolute proof of what happened and believe me it’s gonna make your job and your lawyers job so much easier and that’s it for the sixth edition of FAQ Friday thanks for listening thanks for watching from me and from all of us with the Dubin Law Group be safe and I’ll see you next week.