After you’ve watched a thousand Geico commercials on television, you might have gotten the impression that the insurance giant offers plenty of support to victims after Coeur d’Alene car accidents. However, despite the flashy mascots like the gecko and the cavemen, victims must still work to protect themselves from falling prey to shady insurance practices.
Geico and other car insurance providers often choose the worst time to start worrying about their corporate profits. They can seek to limit the support they provide injured victims while keeping as much money as they can in their own pockets. It can take a legal expert to make sure they are held accountable.
Finding Support from Geico Insurance After an Accident
There are plenty of dangerous stretches for drivers in Coeur d’ Alene including the major interstate passing through and the always busy Highway 95. Victims in car accidents can suffer a devastating injury and find they’ve got a pile of hospital bills, car payments, and rent going unpaid as they try to heal.
Sadly, companies like Geico can seek to leave these burdens in the lap of an innocent victim. At-fault drivers and their insurance providers should be front and center when these bills come due. Yet, an insurance agent can instead look for ways to pin the costs on the victim.
To avoid this battle, let someone else fight for your rights after you’ve been hurt. Contact a Coeur d’Alene Car Accident Lawyer with CCD Law. Our lawyers will go right to work collecting evidence and witness testimony in your case to make sure an auto insurance giant has no grounds to deny your claim. Reach out to us for a free consultation today.
Insurance Company Tactics After a Coeur d’Alene Accident
When you are unlucky enough to get struck by a careless driver, you will, unfortunately, be getting to know whatever insurance company they use very well.
A large insurance corporation like Geico has overseen millions of car accident cases and by now has a list of preset strategies to keep victims from getting all the help they need after an accident. One of their most reliable tactics is to slow your accident claim way down. They may not even respond to you for a month or more.
This delay leaves you exposed to the enormous hospital bills that will arrive as you heal. The longer you are forced to wait the more likely you are to accept any offer they make you.
There are also several other factors you won’t know to watch for when you square off against an insurance company. They are all things insurance agents aren’t required to fill you in on:
- Won’t mention everything available to you in compensation. After you’ve been hurt through no fault of your own, hospital bills should only be part of the support your receive. Geico should be on the hook for several other hardships you’ll face. The travel costs to get to your medical appointments can factor into a settlement. You could have to travel out of state for treatment. The physical and emotional anguish a victim and his or her family experience can earn compensation. Victims are often out of work while they recover and those lost paychecks can be reimbursed by a claim against the insurance provider.
- Won’t bring up important deadlines. If you exceed the statute of limitations on injury claims in Idaho, you’d likely never be able to recover money for your injury. Geico would be able to walk away from the responsibility they bear. Idaho provides victims up to two years from the date of a collision to file their claim. In fact, it’s important to begin collecting evidence for your case as soon as possible, because witnesses and documents will be easier to track down in the days and weeks after an accident. The longer you wait to contact an attorney the harder things get.
- Won’t tell you who you’re talking to. Geico’s insurance network will bounce you around to phone representatives who will be working off of a script. They may have limited actual car accident knowledge. You may not talk to the same person twice. If you reject their first “lowball offer” they may not be authorized to increase a settlement figure. This would mean more waiting for you as they send you to another pool of representatives.
- Won’t mention the “L” word…Lawyer: Insurance agencies hope you never pick up a phone and call a personal injury lawyer. A local, experienced attorney will know how to read the confusing fine print on their contracts. Your attorney will easily spot “lowball offers” floated out by insurance agents. He or she will know exactly how much support your injury should earn.
For more information on handling other insurance companies in Idaho click here.
Contact a Car Accident Lawyer Serving Coeur d’Alene
Reach out to our Coeur d’Alene Car Accident Lawyers after you’ve been injured and find yourself forced to trust Geico insurance agents for your recovery. You could be very vulnerable in such a situation. Contact us for a free case evaluation to find out what to look out for when communicating with Geico. We will only offer you advice that is in your best interest.
Established in Spokane in 1948, Crary & Domanico, P.S. is licensed and practices in both Washington and Idaho. We are committed to providing our clients with the absolute highest quality legal representation.
