The call usually comes within 48 hours. The adjuster is warm, sympathetic, and efficient. They are sorry you were in a crash. They want to get your car taken care of. They just need a quick recorded statement to open the file. It is the most important phone call of the claim, and the goal is to end it quickly.
What the adjuster is doing
The adjuster works for the company that will pay your claim. Their job, measured and reviewed, is to pay as little as possible as early as possible. The first call is designed to lock in your account of the crash and your injuries before you have seen a doctor or a lawyer, so that anything you say later can be compared against it.
Why recorded statements hurt
You will be asked how the crash happened, how fast you were going, whether you saw the other car, what you were doing, and how you feel. You will answer honestly and imperfectly, because you are hurt and the crash lasted two seconds. Months later, when your treating physician has diagnosed a disc herniation, the adjuster will play back the part where you said you were “a little sore but okay.” Nothing you say in that statement can help you; it can only be used to narrow what they owe.
You are not required to give one. Your own policy requires you to cooperate with your own insurer; it imposes no obligation to the other driver’s company.
What to say
“I’m not going to give a statement. Please send any requests in writing. My attorney will be in touch.” Then take the adjuster’s name, direct number, and the claim number, and end the call. Be polite; the person is doing their job, and you will not win anything by arguing with them.
Do not sign the medical authorization
Along with the request for a statement will come a form authorizing the insurer to collect your medical records. The standard version is unlimited: every provider, every condition, your entire life. The insurer uses it to find pre-existing conditions and prior complaints to argue that the crash did not cause your injuries. If records need to be provided, they are provided for the relevant time period and the relevant body parts, through your attorney.
The early offer
Sometimes the first call comes with money. A few thousand dollars, today, to “take care of things.” It will be offered before anyone knows what your treatment will cost, and accepting it requires signing a release that ends the claim forever, including for injuries that have not shown up yet. There is no version of this where taking the early offer is the right move for an injured person.
Your own insurer is different, but not entirely
You must report the crash to your own carrier, and you should. Reporting is how you access MedPay, collision, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. Report the facts. Decline to speculate about fault. If your own insurer asks for a recorded statement, that request can usually be honored, but it is still better done with counsel on the line, because your own insurer becomes the adverse party in an underinsured motorist claim.
Next: Part 5, property damage, which is the part of the claim you can and should resolve quickly, and how to do it without hurting the injury claim.
This article is general information about Indiana law, not legal advice about your situation. Laws change and every case is different. Talk to a lawyer about the facts of your case.