Real March Madness! Diminished value claim denial by an auto insurance carrier

March 19, 2014By Justin Petty 1 Comment

Diminished Value Claim Denial!

So you’ve been doing all this research on diminished value, and you’ve figured out that the at fault party’s insurance company should pay you for the lost value your car has suffered, right? The only problem is that you got a diminished value claim denial by the insurance company. Although it may make you want to rip your hair out, don’t get discouraged! It is very common for insurance carriers to deny diminished value claims as a tactic to weed out those victims who will be frustrated enough to just give up on their claim. They use this tactic because the sad fact is that most people DO give up. You know why? Forcing an insurance company to be fair is HARD! Also, there is generally nobody to help accident victims with their small value property damage claims and insurance companies know it. So where does that leave you? Is there any hope of recovering your lost value? Read on my friend, read on. . . . (more…)

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.

(more…)

Adjuster Inexperience

August 30, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

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.