If you have been in an accident, you will quickly receive a call from an Adjuster that wants to take a “recorded statement” from you. An adjuster is an employee of the insurance company that represents the other driver involved in an accident. They are highly trained individuals who are automated to ask questions that could hurt your claim against the driver they represent thus diminishing the amount of money they will eventually pay.
They follow a script and try to seem like your friend when talking to you, but they will always try to phrase questions to work in their favor.
During these calls they will try to trick you by asking open ended questions that are open for interpretation. Their goal is to find something they can pin against you, so they do not have to pay you the compensation you deserve for all your pain and suffering. We typically advise our clients (or potential clients who call) not to give a recorded statement to the at faults party’s insurance company. Below are some common questions they will ask:
- “Is there anything in reference to the accidents that you would like to add that we have not discussed that we should know about?”
- “What type of medical benefits do you receive?”
- “Did you have any prior injuries that have resurfaced because of the accident?”
- “Was there any type of evasive action that you should have taken to avoid the accident?”
If you break down the questions listed above it is clear that they are trying to put blame on you for an accident called by the person, they represent. It is not your fault. You will most likely be still in a state of shock from your accident when they call asking these questions.
You are under no obligation to give a recorded statement to anyone at the beginning stage of your case. This is one of the reasons why we advise anyone who is in an accident to call an attorney, so you can avoid being tricked by Insurance Adjusters in the aftermath of their accident!