Navigating life after a car accident in New Mexico can be challenging and overwhelming. Unfortunately, car insurance companies don’t make it easy for clients to recover the financial compensation that they deserve. It is important to understand how insurance companies work and the tactics they use to challenge injury severity and minimize payouts. If you’re prepared, you can protect your rights and fight back with the help of an experienced auto accident attorney in Albuquerque.
Filing a Motion for an IME
Automobile insurance companies are for-profit. They will do whatever they can to pay a client as little as possible. This includes attempting to devalue a car accident claim by undermining the severity of the victim’s injuries.
One common tactic is requesting an independent medical examination, or IME. An IME is a medical evaluation done by a physician of the insurance company’s choosing. The purpose of the IME is to determine the magnitude of the victim’s injuries for the purposes of calculating insurance benefits.
While an IME is meant to be objective, insurance providers often choose specific doctors for their own reasons. An experienced personal injury attorney can assess the need for an IME, fight against an IME request if it is unnecessary and ensure your rights are protected during an independent medical evaluation.
Questioning Causation
An insurance company may call into question the connection between the injuries being claimed and the accident. This is especially common in cases where the claimant has pre-existing injuries or health conditions in his or her medical history.
Insurance companies cannot deny claims based solely on the fact that a claimant has a pre-existing injury. However, it is up to the victim to prove the connection between the accident and the injury he or she is claiming. If the crash exacerbated an existing injury, this must be proven using medical documentation.
Waiting to see a doctor for days or weeks after a car accident can open the door to an insurance company alleging that the injuries were not caused by the incident. Gaps or delays in treatment may give the insurer the opportunity to argue that something else caused the injury in the interim.
Minimizing “Invisible” Injuries
It can be difficult to prove car accident injuries that are not visible, such as soft-tissue damage, sprains and strains, whiplash, traumatic brain injuries, and emotional or psychological injuries. Without hard evidence such as x-rays available, an insurance company may try to argue that these conditions do not exist or are less severe than the victim is claiming.
Surveilling the Claimant
Car insurance companies often place claimants under surveillance by private investigators to search for reasons to reject a claim or reduce a payout. This can include physically surveilling the claimant to try to “catch” them walking, lifting, jogging, etc. It can also include social media surveillance to search for online activities that undermine a claim of pain and suffering.
How You Can Fight Back
In New Mexico, car insurance companies are legally required to handle claims in a good-faith attempt to resolve them based on the terms of the policy. If an insurance provider is guilty of bad faith while attempting to reject a valid claim, it can face penalties.
You can fight against an insurance company that is attempting to diminish the value of your claim by hiring a car accident attorney to represent you. An attorney can direct you to the right actions to protect your rights, such as seeking immediate medical care after the crash, documenting everything, keeping an injury journal and preserving key evidence.
Don’t accept an insurance settlement without first consulting with an attorney in Albuquerque. A lawyer can ensure the insurer’s offer is fair and reasonable based on the true extent and severity of your car accident injuries, including the future medical costs and lost wages they may cause.