Insurance companies use Colossus program to pay less money. Here’s what you can do about it.
If you have been injured in a vehicle crash, you want to know how you can recover your damages. Our personal injury law firm will fight to get you fairly compensated. But almost every car insurance company uses a manipulative software program called Colossus to minimize the amount of money they pay to injured victims. This post explains how you can combat this software to make more money.
What is Colossus?
It is a computer software program was developed in the late 1980s in Australia. Car insurance companies, especially Allstate, quickly began using it.
Colossus, as its name implies, became a formidable way for the industry to contain claims costs. It knew that it could low-ball injured victims by hiding behind arbitrary data and save a fortune.
How does it affect the personal injury claims process?
A car accident attorney obtains extensive evidence proving their client’s claim to the other driver’s insurance company or the jury. This includes the police report, witness statements, vehicle and scene photographs and measurements, medical reports and bills, health insurance and other payments, lost wages, and other information. He or she submits a comprehensive package with a demand for payment. Our firm tailors the demand to satisfy the requirements of the Colossus program to enhance our client’s financial recovery.
A claims adjuster (or attorney after a lawsuit is filed) reviews this information and completes lengthy questionnaires. The Colossus program has over 10,000 data points which it calls “value drivers.” Many have their own multipliers and minimizers. The program analyzes the evidence and algorithms determine a case value which is almost always on the low side.
How Colossus skewers the data
The software relies primarily on medical reports. We work with the best medical professionals who are trained to comply with the stringent Colossus reporting requirements. We review the records with the professionals to insure that quality concerns are met.
After we submit the demand, we contact the adjuster to make sure that he or she understands the strengths of the case and has properly inputted the factors listed below.
More problems with Colossus
We monitor other potential problems that could result in lower offers.
And if Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Medicare, Medicaid, or workers compensation pays any of the medical bills or some are written off or discounted, the numbers have to be recalculated.
Colossus heavily relies on whether the injury is demonstrable by x-rays or tests. However X-rays are primarily used to detect fractures. They are usually negative if there are neck and back sprains and strains, so other diagnostic tests may be needed to alleviate the pain and secure reasonable compensation.
The program relies on the ability of untrained insurance representatives to understand the nuances of medical terminology and correctly and honestly itemize the data.
The medical notes must include the following:
- How the crash happened including mechanics of impact
- Immediate treatment, including whether an ambulance was used, and diagnostic testing
- Each injury complained of and documented
- Prior injuries
- Subsequent medical treatment by a doctor
- Physical therapy
- Medications
- Injections
- Surgery
- Delay or gap in treatment
- Impairment
- Disfigurement
- Duration of treatment
- Need for future treatment
- Loss of income
- Aggravating factors
Here’s an example of how this works
Let’s say that Colossus calculates a case’s value at $20,000 and that the negligent driver has purchased $30,000 per person in coverage. The adjuster may be instructed to settle the case for 70% to 80%, so their first offer may be $14,000 and their final offer may be $16,000.
This payment may go up to $20,000 to $30,000 if the attorney understands how Colossus works and how to get a larger verdict from a jury.
The best way to increase the offer
The company uses the garbage in – garbage out method to guarantee that its valuation will be low. Colossus was designed to deprive the victims of car and truck crashes of a fair accident settlement.
To prevent a low-ball offer, there are steps you can take. Hiring the best car accident lawyer who understands how Colossus and jury trials work is the best solution.
An experienced personal injury lawyer can call the insurance adjuster and advocate for their client. They can rebut objections and argue intangibles like pain and suffering and disruption of the normal activities of daily living. They can contact the supervisor to demand higher settlement authority. Almost every car crash case, a figure estimated at 99%, settles out of court.
In the alternative, the attorney can file a lawsuit, as going to trial can be more advantageous.
However, if the injured person is not represented by a personal injury lawyer, the offer is often cut to as low as $500. The company knows that the person does not intend or know how to file a lawsuit and does not understand how the insurance claims process works.
Life before Colossus cheated injured people
As a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer for the past 40 years, I have seen case values change substantially. Back in 1980 when I started handling car wreck cases, the formula of three times medical bills was often used.
So if the injured person had incurred $5,000 for reasonable and necessary medical treatment, that generated an offer of $15,000.00. It helped if you knew the adjusters so you could argue for additional payment.
I remember going to social outings with claims representatives and insurance lawyers. Attorneys had weekly docket calls around a long conference table with judges in the lawyer’s lounge.
Contact us if you have questions
- How can you get a good injury settlement
- Our settlements including recent $950,000 recovered for elderly North Texas couple