Not all insurance companies are the same. Some of them are frustrating, some of them are slow, and some of them have built an entire system specifically designed to wear you down until you give up or take less than you deserve.
After more than 20 years handling car accident cases in Maryland, I’ve dealt with every insurance company out there, and today I’m going to tell you which five are the most difficult to deal with, what tactics they actually use, and what you need to know before you ever pick up the phone with one of them. I’m Adam Smallow, let’s get into it.
First, let me explain how auto insurance companies think after a car crash. Before we get to the list, you need to understand one thing: every major insurance company uses software, and now AI in that software, to evaluate claims. Programs like Colossus, that Allstate made famous for its biased evaluation against car accident victims, and other similar software assign a dollar range to your injury based on your medical records, the type of crash, and a bunch of other factors.
The adjuster’s job is to settle your claim within that range or below it if they can. They’re not your friend. They’re not there to help you. They are trained to minimize what they pay and save their billion-dollar bosses as much as possible. That’s the baseline for all of them, but some companies go further than others, and those are the ones I want to talk about today.
This is not necessarily ranked one through five, although the first two are the OGs of bad faith settlement tactics. Rather, these are the five auto insurance companies that all belong in the sewer when it comes to car accident settlements. There is a sixth that I wanted to include, but a top five list sounds much better than a top six list.
So, number one: Allstate. Allstate spent years developing a strategy that has come to be known inside the industry as “deny, delay, defend.” They became notorious for aggressively fighting claims that other insurers would pay fair value for. Allstate taught their adjusters to scrutinize every claim for any reason to reduce the value or deny it outright. They are known for making extremely low initial offers, often less than your medical bills, then dragging out the process hoping you’ll get frustrated, give up, and accept less. If Allstate is the at-fault driver’s insurance company in your case, understand from the first phone call they are not going to make this easy. You need to document everything, respond to nothing without legal advice, and be prepared to win your case after filing a lawsuit. We see Allstate coming a mile away and have a strategy to stay ahead of their bad faith tactics every step of the way.
Number two: State Farm. Another OG auto insurance company that does business in the sewer. State Farm has an enormous share of the auto insurance market, which means they handle an enormous number of claims. We deal with them every single day. Because of that volume, they’ve become very systematic in how they process cases. They rely heavily on their own medical evaluations, their own bill review systems, and their own interpretation of what injuries are reasonable given the type of crash. What that often looks like in practice is them questioning whether your injuries are really as serious as your doctors say they are. They may send your medical records and bills out for an independent review that comes back suspiciously low. They may argue that some of your treatment wasn’t medically necessary. And because Maryland uses contributory negligence, they will look for any angle to suggest you share some of the fault for the accident, which could reduce or eliminate your claim entirely. They play games with your injury claim; we do not. With high-quality medical care and crystal-clear communication with our clients, we will beat State Farm every day of the week and twice on Sunday when that case is settled.
Number three: Progressive. These next two insurance companies are the new kids on the block—not that they are new insurance companies, but they’ve grown through marketing and branding, and in every way, they’re just as bad as Allstate and State Farm, maybe even worse. Progressive has become increasingly aggressive in how they handle third-party claims in the last decade, meaning claims filed against their policyholders by other drivers. They’re known for making quick settlement offers in smaller cases and then digging in hard on anything more serious. One tactic Progressive uses fairly consistently is questioning the causation of your injuries, meaning they’ll argue that your injuries existed before the accident or that the accident wasn’t severe enough to cause the injuries you’re claiming. They do this by looking at the damage to your vehicle. This is the hill they want to die on. If it’s minor property damage, they will say it’s a minor impact. We hear this nonsense all the time from Progressive, and it couldn’t be any farther from the truth. Have you ever been in a car accident where it feels like you were rear-ended by a tank, and you get out and you’re surprised that the bumper is still intact? Was the Progressive adjuster in the vehicle when the crash happened? Did they feel what our clients felt? We know how to fight back against these ridiculous property damage impact arguments. We focus on our clients’ injuries, not the injuries to their vehicle. When Progressive argues that you don’t have a legitimate injury because the crash couldn’t have caused it, we sit back and let our outstanding medical providers tell them otherwise. Don’t let them get away with this. Low-speed and minor property damage crashes cause real injuries all the time. Medical research supports this, and an experienced attorney knows how to fight this argument every time.
Number four: Liberty Mutual. Progressive, “Liberty Liberty Liberty” falls into the category of: the funnier the commercials, the more corrupt they are with regard to car accident claims and settlements. Their bad faith settlement tactics might just be the worst on this list according to our data. Yes, Liberty Mutual’s settlement offers are horrific, and they know that we know that. Most of the time, Liberty presents settlement offers that are thousands of dollars below our clients’ medical bills. That’s right, Liberty won’t even pay close to our clients’ legitimate medical bills—hospital bills, physical therapy bills, medical doctor bills, and MRI bills. And they won’t offer a penny at all for non-economic damages that Maryland law allows, including pain and suffering, pre-impact fright (that’s the seconds you feared when you saw the vehicle before the crash), and even the inconvenience and disruption of daily life that these accidents cause, like attending doctor’s visits for several months. This is all part of your settlement, and Liberty Mutual does not care. I’m a civil lawyer, not a criminal one, so I can’t comment and say whether their settlement practices are legal, but I can tell you they are disgusting. Which again, is why we have a plan to deal with all of these insurance companies, including Liberty Mutual, on day one of your case.
Last but certainly not least, number five: Geico. Geico is one of the largest auto insurers in the country and one of the most aggressive when it comes to claims. They are known for making fast, low offers immediately after an accident, before you’ve had time to assess your injuries, before you finish treatment, and before you understand what your case is worth. That speed is intentional; they want you to take that number before you know better. Geico adjusters are well-trained and move quickly. They’re good at sounding reasonable while making unreasonable offers. If Geico calls you in the first few days after your accident with a settlement offer, this is not good customer service—that is a tactic. Do not respond to it without talking to an attorney first. I refer to Geico as the best of the worst. In other words, their settlement offers rise slightly above Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, and Liberty Mutual.
Those four make it easy because we know how low they’re going to come in at settlement, and we simply file lawsuits. Geico tries to get your lawyer to bite. They’ll dangle a little more money than Liberty Mutual or State Farm and try to hook that lawyer into a below-average settlement. Their settlement offers may be a few thousand dollars above your medical bills, but nowhere close to what your case is worth. See the trend here? These insurance companies are fixated on medical bills, not your injuries, not your physical and mental pain, and not the impact that the crash caused to you and your family.
So, what do all five of these companies have in common? They’re not going to volunteer information about what your case is actually worth. They’re not going to tell you what evidence you should gather. They’re not going to recommend you get an attorney. In fact, some adjusters will directly suggest that getting an attorney is unnecessary and will only slow things down. That’s not true, and they know it. The truth, as I mentioned earlier, is that people represented by attorneys receive settlements significantly larger than car accident victims who handle claims on their own. That number comes from the Insurance Research Council, the insurance industry’s own research arm. That is black and white.
So when an adjuster tells you that hiring a lawyer will only complicate things, they’re telling you the opposite of what the evidence shows. What to do if you’re dealing with any of these companies:First, don’t give a recorded statement. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. They will use it against you down to the word. Decline politely and say your attorney will be in touch.
Second, don’t accept the first offer, no matter how reasonable it sounds, no matter how friendly the adjuster is. The first offer is almost never the fair offer.
Third, don’t post anything on social media. These companies monitor social media. A single photo or post that looks inconsistent with your injury claims can destroy your case.
Fourth, get legal advice before you sign anything. Anything. A release, a medical authorization, anything. Some forms they ask you to sign give them access to your entire medical history, not just the records related to the accident.
Fifth, call us at Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers. We handle cases against all of these insurance companies. We know their tactics, we know their playbook, and we know how to fight back.
The bottom line: insurance companies are not on your side. Some are more difficult than others, but none of them are in business to pay you what you deserve. Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, Geico, and many more. If you’re dealing with any of them after a car crash in Maryland, the smartest thing you can do is not deal with them alone. Call Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers for a free consultation. No fee unless we win.
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