After An Accident: 4 Things You Shouldn't Do When Dealing With The Insurance Company
After a car accident, you can expect to be contacted by the insurance company pretty quickly. If you are dealing with your own insurance company, it can pay to be as cooperative as possible. If you are dealing with the other party's insurer, however, you should know that the company will probably try to get out of paying you the money that is owed to you. Therefore, you need to tread carefully when dealing with insurance companies, no matter how nice insurance adjusters or agents might seem. These are a few things that you should always avoid doing when talking to an insurance company after an accident.
1. Agree to Being Recorded
By law, the insurance company has to let you know if your conversation is being recorded. However, you shouldn't submit to being recorded unless you have talked to a lawyer first. You might accidentally say the wrong thing, and there will be no way for you to take it back after it has been recorded. No matter what the insurance company says, they cannot make you agree to being recorded, especially if you don't have a lawyer present. Therefore, don't back down about refusing the recording of your statement or conversation.
2. Apologize
By nature, it's easy to apologize when you have been in an uncomfortable or upsetting situation, even if you know that the situation isn't your fault. Although it might just seem like a natural and polite thing to do, you should never apologize to an insurance company or the other driver. Keep the words "I'm sorry" -- or anything that might mean the same thing -- out of your mouth during this ordeal. Otherwise, you could be blamed for something that wasn't your fault.
3. Say More Than the Facts
When dealing with the insurance company, you should never say anything more than what is a plain, proven fact. State facts that can be found on the police report, but don't speculate about anything. Otherwise, your speculations could be held against you.
4. Say That You Don't Need a Lawyer
In a car accident case, you always need a lawyer. Don't tell the insurance company anything different; otherwise, you could be taken advantage of.
It's always a good idea to be as polite as possible when dealing with an insurance company, but you still have to be careful to protect yourself. For more information, contact Connor Law or a similar firm.