Were you involved in an accident where the other driver has Mercury Insurance? Be prepared for a big fight.
In a bad faith action against Mercury, it was revealed that first line adjusters at Mercury have only $2,500 authority.
Their supervisors had $10,000 authority.
The only person who had authority at $50,000 or above was the regional manager who supervises all of Southern California, Arizona and Florida.
What does authority mean in a car accident case?
When an adjuster gets your file, they evaluate the case, and set a “reserve.” A reserve is what they think the case is worth, and will not offer any more than that, without getting permission from someone more senior than them.
But, there is a cap on what they can set their reserve at. This is the “authority.” If they evaluate a case and think the case is worth $7,500.00, but their authority is only $2,500.00, they have to run the case by their supervisor to set the reserve at $7,500.00.
Mercury has a reputation for lowballing cases, so you can surmise that adjusters don’t want to run to their supervisors 10 times a day asking for increases in authority to set a higher reserve.
In my day-to-day experience handling many cases against Mercury, they are consistently the lowest in initial offers to my clients. They will not give you a fair evaluation, and a the threat of lawsuit must be acted upon to demand a fair settlement for your case.