Will that accident affect your insurance rate?

April 22, 2010By Justin Petty No Comments

So one of the most common questions I get is related to how an accident will affect insurance premiums.

If you are worried about this, then you are correct in doing so.  The answer as to how much your rate will increase is specific to the insurance company that provides your coverage.  For example, if you watch TV you’ll see advertisements from more than one insurance company that now offer “accident forgiveness”, or something of the sort.  In my opinion, this is a great marketing technique, but I would want to know how much it would have cost me to have an accident before “accident forgiveness” and then whether there is a charge to get “accident forgiveness” on your policy.  Without having those answers, how can one determine if the offer is a deal or a dud?

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Difficult Adjusters and Lawsuits

November 24, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

packs-a-punch3

As a former liability adjuster, I cannot count the times that an individual threatened a lawsuit in an attempt to get more money.

I would like to make the point that adjusters are calloused to the threat of a lawsuit.  Many times, the adjuster’s ignorance is the reason they do not respond.  It is rare for an adjuster to actually be involved in the negotiation of an actual suit, so they never get real experience and hardly ever actually hear or see what the staff attorney or hired attorney does to get the suit settled.  Threatening a suit is rarely useful unless the threat is clearly credible.

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First Party Diminished Value Claims in Texas

November 7, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

first party diminished valueOkay guys listen, it is possible to file a diminished value claim against your own insurance company.

In Texas, there are still some courts that will hear a case under the collision portion of your policy, and there is at least one case in Dallas where the trial court agreed that diminished value was part of the damage calculation that should be used under the collision portion of a policy.

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Texas Diminished Value Claims

September 1, 2009By Justin Petty 18 Comments

Where do some of these “diminished value experts” people get off?

I agree that insurance companies are not so inclined to pay diminished value, and people sometimes get dollar signs in their eyes when they are involved in an accident that is not their fault.  The reality is that diminished value exists, but it is definitely hard to prove. There are arguments that adjusters use all the time to try and dismiss a valid claim and save a few bucks.  The problem is that most of the “diminished value experts” out there have never actually been adjusters.  Through a little research of my own, I have found that at least four of the companies that heavily advertise diminished value services have never even had an adjuster’s license, much less actual experience adjusting.

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Adjuster Inexperience

August 30, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments
 policy excludes diminished value

During my years as an insurance adjuster I came to realize that most insurance companies hire inexperienced adjusters to handle most of the smaller property damage claims that come through the doors.

When I first started adjusting insurance claims, the best pay I could find was $22K per year, and when I started adjusting claims that was okay money, but I could have worked 50 hours a week at a grocery store for $9 or $10 per hour and made just as much or more.

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Free Help

August 28, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

Why is it that people can’t do a little research on their own? Resources like my website and many others are out there to help people with almost any problem. Laziness is not a virtue, hehe.

Get a free consultation today on your claim and get the answers you have been searching for!