2 Tips For Working With Your Workers' Compensation Insurance

16 March 2018
 Categories: Law, Blog

Share

After you have been involved in an accident, you are going to need to work with your worker's compensation insurance company. Keep in mind though that your insurance company isn't always on your side and is looking after their own interests. Be careful with how you communicate with your insurance company.

Only Convey the Facts

The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you are only conveying the facts when you talk to your insurance company. When you talk to an insurance agent, keep in mind that you are not talking to a friend. This is not the time to talk about how scary being in an accident was, or how you felt so bad for the other driver. This is not the time to share your emotions; this is the time to share the facts.

When talking to the insurance agent, wait for them to ask questions about the accident. Answer their questions as directly as possible, and make sure that you stick to the facts of the case. Also, don't feel like you have to be able to answer all of the questions. You don't want to provide false information either. If you are not sure about things, its okay to say that you don't know.

Avoid Accepting Responsibility

Along the lines of conveying the facts, make sure that you don't accept responsibility for the accident. There are lots of ways that you could be seen as accepting responsibility for what happened.

In most accidents, blame is not that straightforward. You may have been 30% responsible for the accident, or you may have been 80% responsible for the accident. It is hard to determine on your own how responsible you are for the accident. Anything you say, such as "I should not have done that" or "I wish I would have braked sooner" can be seen as accepting responsibility for the accident. Even saying that you are sorry about what happened could be seen as accepting responsibility for the accident.

Don't express remorse, say that you wish you would have done something different, or say that it was your fault.

Let the accident investigators determine who was responsible for what happened. Don't say anything that suggests you are responsible because you don't know what really happened.

When you are involved in a car accident at work, it is important to be careful about how you talk to your worker's compensation insurance company. Stick to the facts, don't provide unnecessary information, and keep your feelings to yourself. You can always have your workers' compensation lawyer with you while you talk to your worker's compensation representative to make sure that you stick to the facts about the accident.