Should I Give a Recorded Statement to an Insurance Company?

If you or somebody you care about has been involved in a vehicle accident, whether another driver was at fault you were, you are likely going to be dealing with multiple insurance carriers. The aftermath of the vehicle collision can be incredibly complicated, and you can be sure that the insurance carrier of the other party is going to ask you to give a recorded statement. Here, we want to discuss whether or not you are required to give a recorded statement by law and what you can do to ensure that you are treated fairly and receive any compensation you are entitled to.

Does Florida Law Require That You Give a Recorded Statement to Insurance Carriers?

There are various statutes in Florida that require vehicle accidents to be reported, but you need to know that there is no law requiring you to give a recorded statement to an insurance carrier. This includes statements to your insurance carrier as well as the statements given to other driver’s insurance carriers.

How Can Insurance Carriers Use Your Recorded Statement Against You?

There are various ways that insurance carriers can use recorded statements against accident victims, even those who are not at fault for the collision. Many people think that if the other driver is to blame, then they have nothing to hide from the insurance carriers. The reality is that insurance claims adjusters are trained to ask questions and have conversations in ways that get you to admit partial or complete fault even when you did nothing wrong.

When you are speaking to insurance claims adjusters, whether it be the ones that work for your insurance carrier or the other driver’s carrier, the adjusters are going to seem very friendly. They may even engage you in casual conversation. This is meant to get you to lower your guard and to speak freely about what happened.

Claims adjusters are trained to get drivers to admit facts that did not even happen. You may find yourself talking about the latest news with the insurance claims adjuster one minute when suddenly admitting that you are not sure how fast you were driving right before the collision in the next minute.

Regardless of how friendly claims adjusters for the insurance carrier may seem, you need to understand that their number one goal is to help their insurance provider pay as little as possible in a claims settlement to those involved. They will do what they can to get you to admit something in a recorded statement that can be used against you to delay or deny your claim altogether.

The bottom line is that you should never agree to give a recorded statement to an insurance carrier regardless of how insistent they are for you to give one.

Consider Working With an Attorney to Avoid Any Problems With Your Claim

If you or somebody you care about has been involved in a vehicle accident, you should consider involving a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. By involving an attorney early in the process, you can ensure that they will be the ones to handle all communication and negotiation with the insurance carriers. This means that you will not face the risk of saying something you shouldn’t in a recorded or unrecorded statement.