In order to successfully communicate with anyone in 2025, you need a high level of social awareness and emotional intelligence. Understanding the perspectives and beliefs of others is crucial to you getting your point across in today’s social climate.

People are politicized, quick to judge, and easily turned off when they don’t agree with what you have to say. Uttering the wrong words can quickly turn a friendly conversation into a full blown battle.

While many of us have developed skills to navigate this unforgiving social landscape, there are certain situations where even the strongest communicators struggle. One of these situations is dealing with auto insurance adjusters.

Without understanding the motivations and incentive structures guiding adjusters, you can easily fall victim to their deceitful tricks. In this blog, we’ll explain who insurance adjusters are, what their job is, and how you can effectively communicate with them throughout the duration of an accident claim.

Who are Insurance Adjusters and What Do They Do?

Before understanding how to effectively communicate with them, you need to understand who insurance adjusters are and what they do.

Insurance adjusters are employees of insurance companies and represent their employer’s interests. For the purposes of this blog, know that we will specifically be referring to auto insurance adjusters.

The job of an adjuster is fairly straightforward: protect their employer’s bottom line. When an accident claim is filed, it’s an adjuster’s responsibility to:

• Investigate the accident
• Evaluate injuries related to the accident
• Calculate the claim value (based on medical expenses, vehicle damage expenses, etc.)
• Negotiate a settlement

The key word above is negotiate. Ultimately, it’s an adjuster’s job to negotiate the lowest claim settlement possible. The better job an adjuster does, the less your insurance provider will spend on your claim.

Common Tricks Used by Adjusters

You might be left wondering, “My accident was clear cut and obvious. What could an adjuster possibly do to reduce the value of my claim?” The answer to this question might surprise you.

Adjusters have a laundry list of tricks they use to extract particular information from policy holders and spin that information in a way that’s detrimental to their claim.

Some of the most common tricks used by adjusters include:

• Acting overly friendly: Adjusters will make an effort to sound warm, casual, and concerned. Don’t be fooled. This isn’t because they care.

The more comfortable you are, the more likely you will let something slip that’s detrimental to your claim. For example, saying something as simple as, “Oh I’m fine” can and will be used against you.

• Getting you to give a recorded statement: Asking you to give recorded statements is one of the oldest tricks in adjusters’ books. Recorded statements trap you and often force you to contradict yourself down the line. Inconsistent statements will hurt your credibility and ultimately reduce your claim’s value
• Asking seemingly innocent questions: Vague, ambiguous, seemingly innocent questions are frequently asked by adjusters. The purpose for these questions is to make you speculate and guess as to the details of your accident.

Answering questions like,  “How fast were you going?” or “Are you sure your injuries aren’t from something else?” can lead to contradictions down the line and will likely hurt your claim.

• Downplaying your injuries or medical treatment: Adjusters will frame your injuries as minor in order to shift your own perception of them. If you believe that your injuries aren’t serious, you’ll be more likely to discontinue treatment and get your insurance company off the hook.
• Pushing a quick, lowball settlement: Insurance companies know that most of their customers aren’t experts with regard to insurance coverage and their rights.

Adjusters often push lowball settlement offers on policy holders early into their claims.Their hope is that you don’t realize you’re entitled to more, accept their offer, and leave thousands in compensation on the table.

• Delaying the process on purpose: Adjusters commonly drag their feet and delay the payment of medical bills and other accident related expenses. The reason is often sinister.

They know that the longer outstanding bills sit and the more pressure you feel to get them paid, the more likely you will be to accept the lowball offer mentioned above.

• Monitoring your social media: Adjusters are professional social media stalkers. If you thought an ex creeping around your page was bad – just wait until you experience adjusters.

They’ll dig up comments, stories, and any other traceable online artifact that calls your injury timeline into question. Even an innocent status update meant for friends and family will be hunted down, taken out of context, and used to hurt your claim.

• “Independent” Medical Examinations: Independent medical examinations or IME’s are commonly used during auto accident claims. Insurers hire doctors to give “independent” assessments of their policy holders’ injuries and treatment progression.

In reality, these exams are anything but independent. The doctors are normally acting in the interest of the company that hired them and will purposely downplay the severity of your injuries or overstate the progression of your recovery. Adjusters will use the findings of IME’s to make future medical attention seem unnecessary and get your insurer off the hook for your treatment.

These tactics are extremely common and although there’s no guarantee, there is a very high likelihood they’ll be used on you. The best way to protect yourself and maximize your compensation is to be prepared!

How to Deal With Adjusters

Now that you know what to expect from your adjuster, the only thing left to do is create a gameplan for dealing with them. Some rules of thumb for talking to adjusters include:

• Keep conversations short and strictly factual
• Never admit fault or apologize
• Don’t discuss your injuries or treatment in detail
• Do not give a recorded statement
• Be careful posting on social media (if you don’t have to, don’t)

While these are great general guidelines, every personal injury claim is different. Some adjusters are easier to deal with than others and each can present their own unique challenges.

Although there are clearly steps you can take on your own, the best preparation is enlisting the services of a trusted personal injury attorney. PI attorneys know the insurance claim process better than anyone. They know the adjuster’s tricks, what to say to them, and what to avoid completely.

If you’re serious about getting complete compensation, hiring a personal injury attorney is the best decision you can make.

Get David Get Paid

If you need help dealing with a difficult insurance adjuster, you’re in the right place. Here at Femminineo Law we pride ourselves in the way we guide and prepare our clients for every aspect of their personal injury claim (and/or lawsuit).

We’ll make sure you’re ready for every call with your adjuster, every IME, every deposition, and any situation that might arise as we move through the compensation process together.

If you or a loved one was recently injured in an accident, give us a call at 855-65-CRASH, today! We’ll make sure you’re treated with kindness, respect, and urgency from day one.

Get David. Get Paid.