Be Wary about Providing a Statement to an Insurance Adjuster

While you have nothing to hide regarding the accident, and the truth is on your side, you should be wary about providing your account of what happened to an insurance adjuster. To be sure, the adjuster is personable. She’s friendly. She needs your statement to evaluate the claim and get you your just due.

But the adjuster, as nice of a person as she may be, works for the insurance company. Your interests are not aligned with her interests. She is not on your side. What you say, or how you say it, may diminish the value of your case. The more prudent course is to hire a personal injury attorney and to inform the adjuster of your intent to do so.

Below are a few links to articles that explain why you should be wary about providing your statement to an insurance adjuster or an insurance company, and why you should hire a personal injury attorney.

1. “...job #1 for every insurance company employee is to reduce the amount paid out in claims, and that includes your claim.”

2. “If you’re contacted by the other driver’s insurance adjuster most of the time this means the other driver’s insurance company knows you have a case against them and they’re trying to do whatever they can to keep your claim against them as low as possible.”

3. “Once you give a recorded statement, it is impossible to change anything you have said. The record is created on the spot, with no time to prepare and often before you have seen your doctor and obtained an accurate diagnosis of your condition. If you give incomplete answers because you have forgotten some details, you will meet with skepticism or disbelief if you try to add to them later. If you describe an injury to one area of your body, your statement will be used against you when you develop symptoms in another area of the body, because you failed to mention it in your first statement.”

4. Unfortunately, many claims adjusters use recorded statements to try and trip-up claimants, getting them to say things that will hurt their claim.

The bottom line is that you should not be so trusting of someone whose interests are not aligned with yours. Rather, hire someone who will advocate for your interests and who has experience dealing with insurance companies. Hire a personal injury lawyer.