What are signs of bad faith in an insurer investigation?

On Behalf of | Sep 3, 2022 | Insurance Bad Faith

You should be able to depend on your insurance company when your house or vehicle suffers damage from a recent calamity. Some insurers react to their clients in a timely manner, but others do not. One way to tell if your insurer is not fulfilling its duty is to take note of how it investigates your claim for damages.

FindLaw points out a few ways an insurance company might violate its duty to investigate your claim and act in bad faith towards you.

Failing to investigate

A common part of an insurance investigation involves the insurer sending someone to check out the damage to insured property. So you should expect to meet with a claims adjuster to examine your home or automobile after making your claim. A failure to send an adjuster or take any steps to look at your property is a possible sign the insurer does not take your claim seriously.

Failing to offer investigation results

After meeting with the adjuster, you should receive the results of the insurance company’s investigation of your property along with a value of the damage. Your insurer may show bad faith by not giving you the investigation results or the valuation for your property.

Dragging out the investigation

In general, your insurer should respond to you at reasonable times over the course of the investigation. In addition to delays in processing your claim, your insurer might evidence bad faith by not replying to your emails or phone calls in a timely manner, if at all.

Sometimes an insurer will pick up speed after a delay or two, but there are instances when an insurance company will stonewall to get the client to drop the claim. However, if your insurer is breaking its obligation to you, you may have legal options to secure coverage as your policy dictates.