Should I Talk to the Other Guy’s Insurance Company?

Transcript:

We get this question a lot. The other side’s insurance company will try to reach you, and they may initially say some things that are encouraging, like they want to help you. More or less, they are on an information gathering mission when they call you. They want to know the basics of the collision. They also want to take a recorded statement, a lot of times, and we always advise our clients, not to give a recorded statement. That adjuster does this day in and day out, they know the type of questions to ask you that will, or could, damage or limit your claim.

Often times, we see where a person has an injury to multiple parts of their body and they’re only focused on one part and the next day they see that that really it’s two or three parts of their body that are hurting and if they’ve given that recorded statement to the adjuster, they may not have told them. A lot of times what that adjuster is trying to do, when they make contact with you after a collision, is to take a statement from you and get you to admit that you caused, or contributed to cause, the collision. That’s a favorite argument of the defense lawyers, is, “Well, yes, we may have caused the collision, but you also contributed to it, and those adjusters, they know what to ask you to secure admissions from you to give that defense lawyer, later on down the line, ammunition to say that you were partially at fault, or you contributed to cause the injury.

So we highly recommend that you do not give the insurance company a statement. Even though you receive a call from the insurance company seeking information, the best advice is really to contact your own representation, your own lawyer. So that you can be prepared for any questions that that adjuster ask you. You may want the lawyer to handle it all and you may not want to talk to the insurance company at all, which is what we find most people prefer, but sometimes there is a little delay between the time that the adjuster contacts you and you’re able to get with the lawyer.

We try to be available 24/7 to answer any questions. Our cellphones are available and you’re welcome to call us for information. It’s very important that you seek your own independent advice prior to speaking with an insurance company.