Auto Insurers Not Wanting To Pay In Minor-Crash Claims

Lee Coleman

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According to an article in CNN, getting the insurance to pay if your injured in a minor crash doesn't look good, and you may be in for quite a fight even if the accident is not your fault. Doesn't sound quite fair does it, yet an 18-month investigation shows minor-impact soft-tissue injuries around the country, where there was little damage to the vehicle and injuries were not easy to see with the eye or even X-rays this was just the case.

"The cases, CNN found, illustrate a carefully developed strategy to make the victims look like they are trying to defraud the insurers. But documents CNN obtained indicate profit, not fraud, is the reason companies decided to play hardball in small accidents.
For Allstate and State Farm, according to documents obtained by CNN, the strategy was developed in the mid-1990s with the assistance of consulting giant McKinsey & Co. Looking for a way to boost profits, McKinsey focused on soft-tissue injuries incurred in minor crashes. While the McKinsey documents -- numbered in the thousands -- are under seal in courts around the country, CNN saw several of them during a court hearing in Lexington, Kentucky. Playing off Allstate's signature slogan, one document recommends the insurer put boxing gloves on its "good hands" for those who insist on going to court.
The strategy, according to former Allstate and State Farm employee Jim Mathis, relies on the three D's -- denying a claim, delaying settlement of the claim and defending against the claim in court.
"The profits are good, and as long as the community, the public allows this to occur, the insurance companies will get richer and people ... will not get a fair and reasonable settlement," Mathis said."