If you have been in a car crash in Illinois and made a property damage claim, the chances are excellent that you have required the opinion of an insurance adjuster. The process of “adjusting,” or determining the cost of the damage to your car after an accident, is a bit mysterious and can be extremely frustrating. You might need the services of an Illinois car accident lawyer to help you through Illinois claims adjusting process whether you are filing a first-party claim with your insurance carrier or a third-party claim against the other driver’s insurance so you can receive the true value of the costs to repair your vehicle.
Disputes with insurance adjusters are common after Illinois car accidents. Insurance adjusters employed by an insurance company have an incentive to minimize the significance of the damage to your vehicle. In-house insurance adjusters get paid by the insurance company for whom they work and are not advocates for you. In-house insurance adjusters will try to keep the cost of repair low to save their employer money, and that notion applies to first-party claims as well as third-party claims.
Justifiably, insurance companies should pay for the damage incurred in the accident and not for every bump, scratch, or ding in your car that was the result of another incident like a runaway shopping cart slamming into your car at the supermarket. Insurance adjusters will, therefore, take a narrow view of the damage attributed to the accident for which you are seeking compensation for vehicle repairs. Therefore, you must be ready to prove that the crash exclusively caused the damage to your car rather than another event or general wear and tear. You can help your cause by taking timely pictures of the damage and acting quickly to get the insurance adjuster out to inspect your vehicle.
