Dealing with an Insurer after a Car Accident

Holtsville, New York, Car Accident Attorney

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, you might have asked yourself how the insurance company determines what it should pay you for your injuries. Most people are under the mistaken impression that a claims adjuster consults with doctors or accesses medical cost data and arrives at a claim amount accordingly. As a result, most people are surprised to learn that some of the nation’s largest insurers use a software program called “Colossus” when calculating claims payouts. MetLife, Allstate, the Hartford and Farmers are only a few of the nation’s largest insurers that use Colossus. So, how does Colossus work? Colossus uses preset algorithms to analyze data to determine a range or baseline settlement for similar kinds of injuries.

Understanding How Colossus Calculates Your Claim Payment

Information regarding different kinds of settlements and verdicts is entered into Colossus, functioning as a kind of database. When a claim is submitted, a claims adjuster enters information related to the kind of accident involved, medical costs, lost wages and other relevant material. The estimate provided by Colossus will depend on what information is entered into the program.

As a result, if your injury involves costs associated with pain and suffering, future complications or the aggravation of a chronic condition, the estimate generated by Colossus may not reflect this. Here, a claims agent who relies on Colossus may end up offering you a lower claims payout due to what he or she enters — or fails to enter — into Colossus.

Other Concerns Regarding Colossus — How Injuries Are Entered

The Colossus program uses what are referred to as “value drivers” when calculating a claim. Examples of different value drivers are the kind of injury, the length of hospitalization, the treatment received and other factors related to a car accident injury claim. When an entry is made into Colossus, however, a claims adjuster can make a separate entry for each injury listed or enter a combination. For example, a claims adjuster could make one entry for “neck injury” and a separate one for “back injury,” or the adjuster could make a single entry for “neck and back injury.”

The problem here is that each entry produces different kinds of questions that relate to different kinds of value drivers. Consequently, a failure to enter appropriate values into the program can actually lower the claims estimate generated by Colossus. And, if your injury results in chronic pain that shoots down your legs or back when you move a certain way, Colossus can’t quantify how this figures into your car accident injury.

Colossus — Why You Need to Call a Personal Injury Attorney after a Car Accident

There are other issues associated with Colossus and insurance companies in general that make it advisable to consult an experienced car accident attorney if you’ve been injured in a car wreck. At the Long Island law office of Rosenberg & Gluck link to www.lilawyer.com/attorneys.php, we can evaluate your case and help you recover compensation proportional to the actual costs of your injuries. If you’ve been in a car accident, contact Holtsville, New York, car accident attorneys link to Contact Us at Rosenberg & Gluck to schedule a free consultation.