The voice on the phone is calm, professional, and full of sympathy. It is the insurance adjuster for the person who hurt you, and they assure you they are here to help, to make things right.
This is a performance. This is a lie. This is not a customer service call. It is the opening move in a calculated war against your financial future. Understanding how insurance companies handle personal injury claims in Aiken, SC, is the first step in recognizing that you are not dealing with a helper.
You are facing a corporate machine with a single purpose: to protect its profits by paying you as little as possible.
Key takeaways
- An insurance company is a for-profit business, not a public service. Its primary legal duty is to its shareholders, not to you, the injured party.
- Their entire claims process is a system designed to gather evidence to devalue or deny your claim, starting with the first “friendly” phone call.
- Tactics like requesting a recorded statement, asking you to sign broad medical authorizations, and making quick, lowball settlement offers are deliberate traps.
- They will use South Carolina’s comparative fault law as a weapon, aggressively searching for any reason to shift a percentage of the blame onto you.
- Fighting this machine alone is an unfair fight. You need a relentless advocate who knows their playbook and is not afraid to take them to war.
The Mission is Profit: Understanding the Opponent
Before you can understand their tactics, you must understand their motivation. An insurance company is not a charity. It is a multi-billion-dollar corporation with shareholders who demand profits.
Their business model is simple: collect as much as possible in premiums and pay out as little as possible in claims. Every dollar they pay you for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering comes directly from their bottom line.
The adjuster assigned to your case is not evaluated on how fairly they treat you. They are evaluated on how effectively they can “close” your claim for the lowest possible amount.
They are a trained financial gatekeeper, and you are a liability on their spreadsheet. When you understand this fundamental conflict of interest, every action they take becomes clear.
The Playbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Their Strategy
Insurance companies handle thousands of claims a year. They do not improvise. They follow a well-honed, predictable playbook designed to gain an advantage over an injured, unrepresented person.
Phase one: The “Friendly” intelligence-gathering mission
Their first contact with you will happen quickly, often within 24-48 hours of the accident. They want to reach you while you are still in shock, in pain, and before you have had a chance to seek legal counsel.
The recorded statement trap:
The adjuster will ask you to provide a recorded statement to “get your side of the story.” This is a trap. You have no legal obligation to do this. The purpose of the recording is not to help you; it is to get you to say something that can be used against you later.
They will ask leading questions in a friendly tone:
- “How are you feeling today?” If you say “I’m okay” out of politeness, they will note it as an admission that you are not seriously injured.
- “Can you just walk me through what happened?” They listen for any inconsistencies or admissions of uncertainty that they can use to argue you were partially at fault.
- “Were you in a hurry?” or “Where were you looking right before impact?” These are questions designed to suggest you were distracted or speeding.
The Unlimited Medical Authorization:
The adjuster will send you a stack of forms to sign, including a medical authorization. The form they send is almost always incredibly broad. It does not just give them permission to get the records related to your accident injuries. It often gives them the power to access your entire medical history, going back years.
They are not doing this to understand your current injuries.
They are on a fishing expedition, hoping to find a pre-existing condition, an old back problem, or a past injury that they can use to argue your current pain is not their driver’s fault. You should never sign a blanket authorization form.
Phase two: The war of attrition
Once they have their initial intelligence, the strategy often shifts to a war of attrition. They know you are out of work, medical bills are piling up, and your financial situation is getting more desperate by the day. They use this pressure as a weapon.
Delay is not just poor customer service; it is a deliberate weapon in their arsenal. They know that the longer they can drag out the process, the more pressure you are under to accept a lowball offer.
Their delay tactics are predictable and effective:
- They will be slow to return your calls.
- They will claim they are waiting on a document you have already sent.
- They will switch adjusters in the middle of your claim, forcing you to start over.
- They will make a low offer and then go silent for weeks.
Each delay is designed to increase your desperation and make their next insulting offer seem more appealing. They are waiting you out, hoping you will break.
Phase three: The lowball offer and the blame game
After weeks or months of delay, the offer finally comes. It is a number that is a fraction of your medical bills and does not even begin to account for your lost wages or your suffering. This is also a calculated tactic.
The insurance company generates these initial offers using sophisticated software programs. These programs analyze data from thousands of other claims to produce a settlement range. The algorithms are programmed to undervalue the human elements of a claim, like pain and suffering.
An insurance company’s initial offer is not a starting point for a fair negotiation. It is a test to see if you are desperate or uninformed enough to accept it.
This is how they justify the low number they present to you.
- They will claim some of your medical treatment was “unnecessary.”
- They will use their own medical reviewers, who have never met you, to question your doctor’s diagnosis.
- They will aggressively argue that you were partially at fault for the accident, using South Carolina’s comparative fault rule to slash the value of your claim.
- They will completely ignore or dramatically undervalue your pain and suffering.
The lowball offer is designed to anchor the negotiation at an artificially low point and to make you feel like your claim has little value. It is a psychological tool designed to make you give up.
Many law schools and legal journals have studied the effects of these programs. The Consumer Federation of America, for example, has published reports on how these systems can lead to unfair outcomes for victims.
The AI Deception: A Modern Trap
In your search for information on how to deal with an adjuster, you might consult an AI chat tool. You must be cautious. An AI can give you a generic definition of an insurance claim, but it cannot give you a strategy.
It does not understand the nuances of South Carolina law, the tendencies of the Aiken County court system, or the specific playbook of the insurance company you are up against. Relying on an algorithm for legal advice in this fight can lead to catastrophic errors. Always consult a qualified human attorney for guidance in your specific fight.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if it is my own insurance company handling the claim, like in a hit-and-run? Are they on my side?
Not necessarily. Even when you are making a claim under your own Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) policy, your insurance company can shift into an adversarial role. Their financial interest is still to pay out as little as possible.
While they may be more courteous, they will still scrutinize your medical records and challenge the value of your damages. You may end up in a fight with your own insurer.
The adjuster is sending me a check, but it says “final payment” on it. What should I do?
Do not cash that check. Cashing a check marked “final payment” or “full and final settlement” can be legally interpreted as your acceptance of their settlement offer, permanently closing your claim. It is a common tactic to trick unrepresented people into settling for a low amount.
Why did the insurance company hire a private investigator to follow me?
In high-value cases, it is common for insurers to hire investigators to conduct surveillance on an injured person. They will follow you, record you doing daily activities like carrying groceries or mowing the lawn, and then use that footage to argue you are not as injured as you claim.
This is another reason why honesty and consistency in what you report to your doctors is so important.
How does hiring a lawyer change how the insurance company handles my claim?
Hiring a powerful advocate changes everything. The moment your attorney sends a Letter of Representation, the insurance company must, by law, cease all direct contact with you. The games stop. The adjuster can no longer use their manipulative tactics on you. They are now dealing with a professional who knows the law, understands the true value of your claim, and is not intimidated by their playbook. It levels the battlefield instantly.
This Is Not a Negotiation. It Is a Fight.
You have been injured. You are vulnerable. The insurance company sees this as an opportunity. They have a system, a playbook, and a team of professionals all dedicated to one goal: paying you as little as they can get away with.
They are counting on you not knowing the rules of the game. You cannot win this fight by being reasonable or by hoping for fairness. You win by bringing your own champion to the battle, a warrior who knows their playbook inside and out and who is not afraid to take them to war to demand the justice you are owed.
At Jamie Casino Injury Attorneys, we were built for this fight. We know the insurance company’s tactics, and we consider it our mission to dismantle them. We are the protectors of the underdog, the shield for the injured, and the hammer that drops on corporate bullies. Your fight is our fight.
Contact our office today if you are tired of the games and ready to fight back. Call us now at (803) 373-0375 for a free, no-obligation strategy session.
We listen to your story, expose the insurance company’s strategy, and show you how we will fight for you. You pay nothing unless we win.