After you’re involved in a wreck caused by another driver, you may initially welcome contact from their insurer – but you shouldn’t. The claims adjuster’s apparent concern for your well-being and friendly demeanor can be masking the insurer’s true intentions.
Recorded statements do help insurers evaluate claims, to be sure, but they are also used to help question the seriousness of someone’s injuries or who may really be at fault. Before agreeing to be recorded, an accident victim should understand why the questions are being asked (and how the answers may be used).
What can you expect an adjuster to ask after a car accident?
Some questions will be designed to gather basic information, while others are designed to dig into the facts of a case and look for opportunities to challenge your claim. Common questions include:
- The road, traffic and weather conditions at the time of the crash
- Any conversations you had with the other driver after the wreck
- When your pain or other injury symptoms began and where injuries are located
- What medical treatment you have received and your prognosis
- Whether prior accidents and pre-existing health conditions you may have
- What damage there is to your vehicle and whether you have missed work
The adjuster’s ultimate goal is to settle your claim for the lowest dollar amount possible, so everything you say will be scrutinized for inconsistencies and opportunities they can use to the company’s advantage.
For example, even polite statements you don’t think anything about can sometimes be used as “proof” that your injuries are not terribly severe. When the adjuster asks how you are doing, you might reply, “I’m fine. How are you?” purely out of social habit. The adjuster, however, can use this early statement to argue that the accident was unrelated to the pain that keeps getting worse in your back or neck or the headaches that won’t stop.
Similarly, the estimates you might be pushed into giving about your speed, the other driver’s speed, distance, timing and other roadway conditions can all create similar problems. You could be branded as unreliable or prone to exaggeration.
Your statements could also be used to try to shift part of the liability your way. Under Tennessee’s modified comparative fault law, that could be fatal to your claim. Any compensation you might be due will ultimately be reduced according to the percentage of fault assigned to you, up to 49%. If you are 50% or more at fault, you’re legally barred from recovering any of your losses since you would be considered as much or more at fault for the wreck than the other driver.
Do you have to give a recorded statement upon demand?
Typically, you have a contractual obligation to answer questions posed by your own insurer, but the same does not hold true when it comes to the other driver’s insurance. You can politely decline to be recorded or even answer their questions at all.
In either situation, you can also ask to delay making the recorded statement until you have had more time to recover (and the opportunity to speak to a car accident attorney). That’s usually the wisest move.