You are under no obligation to give a statement.
After a car accident, chances are good that you are not exactly feeling your best. You may be in a significant amount of pain, and feeling dazed, in shock, or just overwhelmed thinking about how your life got turned upside down in an instant. And then the phone rings: it’s the adjuster from the other driver’s insurance company. What should you do?
If you are like most people, your natural instinct is to just talk to the adjuster. Most people want to just go along, and their inclination is to not stir the pot. And let’s face it: most people are not involved in multiple car accidents in their lifetimes, so they don’t know their legal rights. So if you get an unexpected call from an insurance adjuster for the driver who caused your accident, it isn’t surprising that you might just answer their questions.
But doing so can actually hurt your case — a lot. Insurance adjusters aren’t there to help you. They work for the insurance company, which is a business. They make money by minimizing claims, which means by paying you as little as possible for your claim. The adjuster who is acting nice on the phone has actually been trained to try to get you to say things that will hurt your case — all without you knowing it. The adjuster will likely ask your permission to record the call (and will do so very, very quickly), and then will start to ask you a lot of questions about what happened during the accident. Confused, you might say something wrong — and before you know it, you could find yourself out quite a bit of money.
So what should you do when the other driver’s insurance adjuster calls you? While it may be hard for many people to do, the answer is quite simple: refuse to give a statement. You can either state that you have hired a car accident lawyer and refer questions to your attorney, or tell the adjuster that you plan to seek legal representation and that you won’t be giving a statement. If you don’t plan on hiring a lawyer, you can also just say no. You are under no obligation to give a statement to the other driver’s insurance company. You should absolutely not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance adjuster, as that can and will be used against you if you file a claim or a lawsuit for the damages suffered in the accident.
However, you may be required to give a statement to your own insurance company. Typically, this is a condition of your own insurance policy. Your car accident lawyer can talk about this with you and help you decide on a strategy for giving a statement to your insurance company.
If you have been hurt in any kind of accident, the Law Offices of Larry H. Parker can help. With more than 40 years of experience and a 95% success rate, our attorneys know how to get results. We never charge a fee unless we get money for you. Contact us today at 800-333-0000 or info@larryhparker.com to schedule a free initial consultation.
