Did you ever notice how nothing really bad ever happens in the storylines of the major automobile insurance companies’ TV advertisement?

All of the major auto insurers in the US advertise regularly on TV to get more customers. We have all seen the ads from Geico, State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, and others crowding the airways as they fight for market share. The name of the game from the insurance companies is to take in as much as they can in premium dollars and pay out as little as they can in claims. Meanwhile they earn most of the money by investments taking the premium dollars and earning fat returns on the money.

When they advertise on TV they all seem to have amusing little tales about fender benders as if nobody ever gets seriously injured in car accidents. The statistics show otherwise. People die and get maimed every day in car wrecks that happen because other people are texting or otherwise not paying attention to what they are doing on the road. The insurance companies have these funny little ads typically showing just property damage and skip the blood, broken bones, head trauma, and other serious consequences when cars get into crashes.

Obviously the advertising gurus tell them that happy singing cartoon characters and smiling attractive people who have no real cares in the world that can’t be solved by a little body work on the vehicle sell more policies than speaking the truth to everyone which is that drivers need to be more careful and that when you get hurt as a result of somebody else’s fault on the road the same happy insurance companies will do their best to pay you as little as they can get away with by using their teams of investigators, claims, agents, and lawyers to say that you aren’t really as hurt as you say you are.

As a personal injury attorney for over 23 years in the Norfolk and Virginia Beach area of VA, I am disgusted when I see these ads. The insurance industry is a cut-throat, mean crowd who will do anything to besmirch people who get hurt and try to wiggle out of their obligation to pay fair and full compensation to the injured. Unfortunately, your average person watching TV hasn’t had the misfortune of having to fight one of these big insurance companies over a serious injury. However, if they or one of their family members does get hurt, they will look at those silly little ads in a different way, just like I do.