The biggest mistake someone can make is talking to the at fault driver’s insurance company after an accident. Insurance companies do not have your best interest in mind. They are simply looking at the bottom line. They want to take in more premiums per year than settlements that they pay out per year. We see this all the time when we get cases and we talk to our clients and it can be within a couple of days of the accident and we ask, and I always cringe, did you talk to the other side’s insurance company? And they always say yes, but they were just asking me some simple questions about my treatment and how I was doing.
People don’t understand that a very simple question from an insurance company can be used against them. These statements are recorded and if you say after an accident, for example, to the at fault driver’s insurance company, “Oh, I felt okay at the scene of the accident.” But they will focus on the, I felt okay at the scene of the accident. The biggest thing people should do after an accident is not talk to an insurance company. Even if you decide you don’t want to hire a lawyer, there’s no reason to talk to the other side’s insurance company. The only reason they’re doing it is because they want to minimize your claim and your damages.
I’ve had cases where insurance companies for the at fault driver are calling my client when they’re in the hospital. I’ve had cases where the at fault driver’s insurance company is calling people within hours of the accident and the adjusters on the other end of the line are super friendly. They seem like they’re concerned about your wellbeing and they may ask you questions like, “Oh, at the scene you only bumped your head, right?” And then if you answer yes later on, if you have a back problem, they will say, here’s the statement, this is what you said.
The biggest thing I can tell people who’ve been involved in an accident is do not talk to the other side. Even if you decide not to hire a lawyer, it’s probably the biggest mistake that I see personal injury clients make. And what’s nice is once you hire a lawyer, the first thing that we do is we send out notice of representation letters to every single person involved. And that means that the insurance company deals with us. All information they get is filtered through us and they never contact our clients again.
The number one thing people should do after an accident is focused on getting better. Do not speak with the other side’s insurance company and likely talk to a lawyer. Even if the lawyer doesn’t take their case, or even if the person decides that they don’t want to hire a lawyer, just don’t talk to the at fault driver’s insurance company.
