The Insurance Company Wants a Recorded Statement

You might not even be out of the hospital before the other driver’s insurance company calls and asks you for a recorded statement. The adjuster will give you all sorts of reasons why you should give them one:

• It will help them evaluate the case;
• They cannot make a determination as to fault (even in a rear-end accident case) without your statement;
• They cannot begin to process your claim.

This is just another one of those lies that insurance adjusters tell. These reasons are all largely bogus. Anything that they want to know from you they can find out from their own insured or from the poilce report. The truth is that there is no reason that they want a recorded statement except in the hopes that you later contradict something that they have you recorded as saying. There is especially no reason to give a recorded statement during the first few days after the crash when you may have a hundred other things on your mind, be in pain, or be on medication.

Remember that despite their efforts to brand themselves as “good neighbors” or convince you that you are “in good hands,” priority number one for an insurance adjuster is to save the company money. They do this by denying claims and by paying less money out than they charge in premiums. This goal is always on their mind when they are evaluating your claim.