Why do I have to mention prior accidents and claims?
By: John Rosenberg
Published: 01/23/2020
When you make a claim for injuries, one of the first things an insurance company will do is run your name through an index system that keeps track of all accident claims you have ever made. This index system will tell an insurance company the number of claims you have made in the past, what kind of injuries you suffered, your doctor’s names, and the names of your attorneys.Most people, not knowing that the insurance company has access to or already has this information, think that if they admit to having had prior accident claims and injuries, that it will hurt their case and open the door to the insurance company to deny the claim or become immediately suspicious of the new claim. Actually the opposite is true, and denying the prior claims and injuries tells the insurance company that you are not truthful. Once an insurance company believes that you are willing to lie to support your claim, your credibility is damaged, sometimes irreparably.If you have suffered an injury in the past, it is actually more likely that you will be injured even worse if you are injured again. Second and even third injuries help to explain, medically, why injuries in a recent accident can cause serious problems that require medical care and cause you to be disabled from working.