After a car crash, regardless of the severity of your injuries, you will be contacted by the auto insurance companies for each of the drivers involved in the collision. You have a duty to report the collision to your own carrier and once you do, they will assign an adjuster who will want to discuss the claim with you.
You have an obligation to speak to your own carrier about what happened. However, you do not have an obligation to speak to any of the other carriers involved. Your obligation to speak with your own carrier arises from your automobile policy. They have the right to investigate your claim.
In my practice, I will always let a client speak to their own carrier, but I prefer this to occur in my presence. This can be done either in a telephone conversation from my office with you present and the adjuster on the phone, or all three of us in the same room. The conversation is usually recorded.
The adjuster who contacts you on behalf of a carrier insuring one of the other drivers involved in the collision will likely, at the start , be one of the nicest people you have ever run into. His primary goal is to get you to give a recorded statement which he hopes he can use against you in the event the claim does not settle. Secondly, he or she will try to offer you a small dollar amount up front to settle your claim.
Rarely, and I mean rarely in my 22 years of practice, have I allowed a client to give a recorded statement to an adverse carrier. The reasons are simple: The adjuster is trained to get you to say something harmful to your case. At this time, your life has been turned upside down and you may not be thinking straight. In addition, in an attempt to cooperate, you may give up some ground in hopes the adjuster will then be nicer to you and give you a better settlement. In truth, they never do.
If you have recently been in an auto accident, please contact my office for a free consultation. I will explain the entire claims process to you and answer any questions you have.