Insurance Companies Are Your Friend, Until They're Not

When you shop for a car insurance company, you're typically looking for two things: a good deal and a company or agents that make you feel good about the product. Many successful insurance campaigns are built upon making you feel like the car insurance company is your friend. According to the car insurance company, they will look out for you if something bad happens.

That is true, up to a point; right up to the point when they're not your friends anymore.

Insurance companies are in the business of making money. They're not there to protect you, although they sell you products designed to do just that. They are not there to be your friends.

Insurance companies exist to turn a profit. Collecting policy premiums is a good thing. Paying out on motor vehicle accident claims is a bad thing. Profit is always the key.

That friendly little insurance company that made you feel so good about buying insurance from them can turn against you in a blink if you're going to cost too much money. Insurance companies are experts in finding excuses not to pay. An 18-month CNN investigation of Allstate and State Farm insurance found that these insurance companies were actively encouraged to make it difficult for people to make a claim, and offered people a fraction of the claim's value just to make a case go away.

With incontrovertible proof in the form of this investigation in hand, why would you think an insurance company is going to treat you fairly and honestly when it comes to a personal injury case?

Some insurance companies make lowball offers so that your only choice is to accept pennies on what your case is worth or file a lawsuit. Many people can't afford the expense or don't understand how to file lawsuits, so the insurance companies get away with this strategy far more often than they should.

This is why it pays to have an advocate on your side. Team up with someone who knows the law, knows what you're entitled to and knows how to handle automobile insurance companies when they stop being your friends. And keep in mind that your local insurance agent isn't the person handling a claim; it's a faceless person in a cube somewhere trained to keep the insurance company's money in its own hands instead of paying it out to you.