After Your Car Accident . . . Don't Talk To The Bad Guys

Right after your car accident, don't talk to the "Bad Guys" . . . the claims adjusters or investigators for the other driver's insurance company. While you must cooperate with your insurance company, you aren't obligated to talk with the opposing insurance company.

An adjuster may come to see you in person. More likely, she will call you on the phone, ask you about the accident and ask you to give a recorded statement.

Don't talk to or give a statement to the opposing insurance company right after your accident.

If you want to, or feel it is in your best interests, you can always give a statement later . . . after you have recovered from your injuries, had a chance to sort out your thoughts about the accident, talked to your insurance company and gotten any legal advice you want. Actually, there's one exception.

I have to qualify this advice. Slightly.

You may have to talk with the adverse adjuster to have your car repaired and to get a rental car while the repairs are being done. Before you have that conversation, learn the rules for who pays for car damage.

Then, if you decide to have the other insurance company pay for your car damage, when you speak with the adjuster, talk only about the car repair and car rental. Don't talk about your injuries. That comes later.

Why shouldn't you talk to the opposing adjuster about your injuries?

Because you might inadvertently give incorrect, incomplete or misleading information that will later be used against you. Or, what you tell the adjuster may be misunderstood, misinterpreted, or occasionally, misrepresented and used against you. It's far wiser to wait until you get a handle on your injuries and then present full, complete and correct information about them.

Are opposing claims adjusters really Bad Guys?

I'm sure they are not. I call them this to emphasize that they are not on your side. The adjuster's legal duty is to his employer, not to you. He is paid to guard his employer's vault. And, believe me, it takes a vault to hold the insurance companies' profits.

Take State Farm as an example. In 2006, they had a profit of over $5 billion, an increase of 64% from 2005. Curiously, though, although profits were up 64%, revenues were only up a little more than 2%. It sounds to me like they are paying less on claims. Instead of paying claims, in 2006, the good neighbors at State Farm were able to raise the annual income of their chairman and CEO, Ed Rust, Jr., by 82%, to over $11 million.

Here's another example, Allstate. In 2006, Allstate's profits rose over 180%, to almost 5 billion dollars! I wasn't able to learn the income of their CEO, Edward Liddy, for 2006, but in 2005 it was $26.7 million! And he wasn't even the top earning insurance company CEO that year!!! (I got this information from the 2007 Fortune 500 ranking of America?s largest corporations and from Forbes.com)

Leaving this rant to return to my main point: Never forget that the adjuster for the other insurance company is an adversary. Deal with the adjuster in a business-like, arms length way. Among other things, that means not talking to the opposing adjuster right after you accident, unless you have to arrange car repairs and a rental. In that event, talk only about those things, not about your injuries.

Click here to return from this discussion of not talking to the Bad Guys after your accident to a general discussion of things that you should do after your car accident.