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Many people believe that if their insurance agent fails to perform a part of their duties that leads to a penalty for them, that’s the end of the story and nothing can be done about it. However, in most cases, that’s quite far from the truth. The reality is that insurance agent negligence can often be prosecuted very easily, as long as you have your facts straight and have done enough research. And of course, you will need the right representation to move forward with the case.
But in many situations, you might find that you are in a much better position than you initially thought. You have to understand the implications of each type of insurance agent negligence that exists, how to recognize them, and what to do in each of those cases.
How Insurance Negligence Typically Works
There are many ways your insurance agent might be negligent in your relationship, and they don’t all necessarily manifest themselves straight away. Sometimes it might take a while to see the full impact of what has happened, but even then it’s not too late to follow the trail and figure out who’s to blame in your situation.
Agents failing to submit applications and claims in a timely manner is probably one of the most commonly encountered examples, and one of the easiest ones to defend yourself against as well. You just have to be organized in your documentation, and always have a solid paper trail showing exactly how you’ve communicated with your agent, what was agreed upon, and how they might have underperformed on their part.
Sometimes you might also be excluded from certain types of coverage in the policy you’re buying, even though there’s an implication of the opposite. Don’t fall for the trap of thinking that it’s your fault for not reading the fine print! This may also very well be a case of insurance agent negligence, but you have to get expert advice to confirm that the case is laid out in such a way.
On a related note, your insurance agent should also always walk you through the options you have available. Sometimes they might forget to mention certain details of a deal, or they may even omit them on purpose. While this may be hard to prove, it’s definitely not impossible. Again, it comes down to the expertise of whoever is helping you.
Recognizing Your Specific Situation
You have to learn to spot the details if you want to protect yourself against these types of problems. It’s not always easy, and sometimes you’ll have to go through long “training” sessions to educate yourself properly on the finer issues surrounding insurance agent negligence. But as long as you’re determined about it, you should sooner or later have a good degree of understanding regarding the issues in this area.
Keep in mind that this is a dynamic field as well, and it changes all the time. The knowledge you have today might not be entirely relevant tomorrow, and you should always keep learning to ensure that you’re prepared to deal with anything that comes your way. This is a tricky world, but with a determined attitude, it’s definitely possible to take it on.
Demanding Justice the Right Way
As we mentioned above, you should not go about this without proper preparation and support. There are many possible venues to get assistance when dealing with something like this, and you have to make sure that you’re using all available resources to their full potential. Sometimes, you might think that you have all your cards laid out properly and you just have to make one right move, but you will often find that you’ll encounter various setbacks along the way if you try that approach.
Because of this, always make sure that you have professional support at your side, and if you don’t know who to turn to for this, start looking now. You never know when you might run into a situation that requires the professional touch of an expert in dealing with insurance agent negligence, and while the market does offer various options in this regard, it’s up to you to familiarize yourself with them.
This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
David Smith Information Analyst at ManpowerGroup
20 November
Konstantin Rabin Head of Marketing at Kontomatik
19 November
Ruoyu Xie Marketing Manager at Grand Compliance
Seth Perlman Global Head of Product at i2c Inc.
18 November
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