Before You Give the Insurance Company a Recorded Statement

The call usually comes a day or two after the wreck. The adjuster is polite. She is sorry about what happened, she only needs your side of it, and she asks whether it's all right to record the call. Most people say yes because they have nothing to hide. That is why it works.

Who the adjuster works for

The adjuster for the other driver's insurance company works for the company that will have to pay your claim. She is trained to take statements, and the questions are built to do a job: pin down your version early, before you know the full extent of your injuries, and find the parts that reduce what the company owes. Her company owes you nothing like the duty your own insurer owes you. You are on the other side of the claim from her, however pleasant the call is.

You are allowed to say no

Nothing in Oklahoma law requires you to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company. You can decline, and declining does not end your claim. The company can evaluate it from the collision report, the photographs, the repair estimate and your medical records. If an adjuster tells you the claim can't move forward without a recording, what she means is that the company would prefer to have one.

How a recording gets used

"How are you today?" "Fine." That exchange, at the top of a recorded call, is the kind of thing that gets read back later. So do these.

• Injuries that haven't shown up yet. Neck, back and head injuries often get worse over the first days and weeks. A statement on day two that you're only a little sore will be compared against the MRI you get in month two.

• Guesses. How fast were you going? How far away was the other car when you first saw it? An estimate you offer to be helpful becomes a fixed fact once it is recorded.

• Fault. Oklahoma reduces your recovery by your own share of the fault, and bars it entirely if your share is greater than the other side's. Questions about whether you could have braked sooner, or what you were doing just before impact, are aimed at that percentage.

• Your medical history. A back strain from ten years ago is useful to an adjuster who wants to say your pain came from somewhere else.

Your own insurance company is different

Most auto policies require you to cooperate with your own insurer, and that can include giving a statement. Refusing outright can put your coverage at risk, so the answer here isn't a flat no. It also isn't to pick up the phone unprepared. If you are making a claim under your own uninsured motorist coverage, your company is the one writing the check, and its interest in the size of that check is the same as any other insurer's. Talk to a lawyer before you give that statement, and have the lawyer on the call.

When the call comes

Get the adjuster's name, company and claim number. Confirm who you are, the date and place of the wreck, and the vehicles involved. Tell her you are still being treated and you won't be giving a recorded statement. Don't guess at anything, and don't sign a medical authorization she mails you, because a blanket authorization opens your whole medical history instead of the records from this wreck. Then call a lawyer before you call her back.

I handle injury cases on a contingency fee, so you pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Call (918) 221-6190 or use the consultation form for a free consultation.

Related: Tulsa personal injury lawyer. Do You Really Get More With an Injury Lawyer? What the Numbers Say.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.