Following a car accident, it isn’t uncommon for representatives of the other driver’s insurance company to contact the injured victim. Their goal is to try to get you to say or provide a written statement about the incident and your injuries.
More often than not, this can put you in a legal corner before you even recognize the full physical, emotional, and financial damages resulting from your injuries and trauma. In some cases, they will make a quick offer of a small lump sum, hoping you will jump at it instead of taking the time to consult with an experienced attorney and develop a strong claim for compensation.
It’s always in your best interest to avoid communicating with the other driver’s insurance after an accident. Don’t sign any documents or accept any money before a skilled car accident attorney in Wisconsin has assessed the situation.
Do I Need to Talk to the Other Insurance After an Accident in Wisconsin?
The other driver’s claims adjuster or any other representative has no legal authority over you. You aren’t under contract with them. Not only do you have no duty to give them a statement, but it’s prudent not to engage with them at all.
A lot of people don’t realize that their honest answers to innocent-seeming questions can easily be twisted by an insurance company to assign partial or full blame to you, or to undermine your injuries.
Notably, Wisconsin is a “one-party consent” state for recording conversations. You might be recorded without your knowledge and without understanding how your words could be used against you. If you’re still receiving medical care for your car accident injury, or you’re yet to discover the complete extent of your injuries, you don’t want to accept the first (or even second) settlement offer.
The best course of action to protect your interests is to let an experienced personal injury lawyer handle all communication on your behalf. If the other driver’s insurance company calls and you haven’t hired an attorney yet, you may politely decline to speak with the insurance adjusters of other insurance companies.
What About My Own Insurance Company?
Your auto policy likely has a “duty to cooperate” clause, under which you need to notify them about the accident within a certain timeframe and provide the basic facts (when, where, and how it happened).
Read your auto accident policy to check if it states that you must give a recorded statement or sign certain authorizations. If it does, then failing to cooperate with them may result in the denial of uninsured motorist (UM), underinsured motorist (UIM), or collision coverage.
However, you can still inform the insurance company’s representative that you’d like to consult with a car accident claim attorney or have one present before the recorded statement. The reason for being cautious here is that if your case goes to litigation, the other driver’s insurance company could use the statement you provide to your own insurer.
Things to Keep in Mind When Speaking to the Other Insurance Company After a Car Crash
If you’re pursuing compensation through the other driver’s car insurance company, you might feel like you have to talk to them. Or your own insurance provider may be in the middle of subrogation (trying to recover what they paid out from the at-fault driver’s insurer), and they may suggest you cooperate with the other side.
Keep in mind that even then, you can still refuse to be recorded and decline to speak to the other driver’s insurance adjuster until you consult a personal injury attorney. But if you do end up communicating with the driver’s insurance after an accident, here’s what to do to avoid allowing them to deny or diminish your insurance claim:
- Get the name, address, phone number, and email address of the person you’re speaking with, the insurance company they’re with, and the individual/business they’re representing (do this before you discuss anything).
- Provide limited personal information. Besides your full name, address, contact number, and your place of employment, don’t explain anything else about your family, income, work/school schedule, or the nature of your work.
- Don’t provide any details about the accident. Politely refuse to say anything other than the time, location, and type of accident, and the vehicles involved. You can say your investigation is still ongoing, and you won’t be able to discuss it until a later date.
- Don’t provide any details about your injuries (you might discover an injury at a later point, or it may advance into a more severe one than you thought).
- Don’t volunteer any information about the witnesses to other car insurance companies.
- Don’t agree to provide them access to your personal, employment, or medical records.
- Don’t give them any estimates about the settlement amount you’re seeking for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
- You don’t have to tell them which physicians or medical providers you’re seeing, but you can tell them that you will be continuing or seeking medical treatment.
- You can provide them basic identifying information about the other parties involved in the accident, but again, don’t discuss the details of the accident.
Our Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers Are Here to Help
If you’ve received a quick or lowball settlement offer from the other party’s insurer, accepting it will almost certainly cost you a substantial amount of money. Quick settlements are a common tactic that the other party’s insurance company may use to mitigate its legal obligation to fully compensate you for your serious injury. Don’t take the bait.
Get in touch with our Wisconsin car accident attorneys at Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs as soon as possible so that we can aggressively negotiate a fair settlement on your behalf. Over the past 35+ years, we have represented thousands of people injured or killed in truck, bike, and car accidents across Wisconsin and recovered more than $200 million on their behalf.
To schedule a free consultation, call us at 855-954-1186 or contact us online.
