Personal injury lawyers helping people injured in car and truck accidents deal with auto insurance companies every day. Many will tell you that auto insurance companies make a lot of money by not paying out on legitimate claims.

They will also say that accident victims have been limping away from hundreds of millions of dollars in valid and deserving claims that insurance companies are required to pay. Why? Many of these auto insurance companies believe you won't wait, you won't hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit, and you will eventually become so fed up that you'll take a low-ball settlement offer. This is called the "3 Ds" strategy: insurance companies will delay your claim, deny you were hurt and defend aggressively.

Steven M. Gursten, an experienced auto accident lawyer and partner of Michigan Auto Law, put together this list of the worst insurance companies, based on what he and the 17 attorneys in his law firm see every day from the Michigan auto insurance industry. In their own experiences representing people suing these insurance companies for No-Fault benefits, or helping people injured in car accidents where these insurance companies are on the other side, these are their personal picks as the worst of the bunch, as told by Gursten.