After you are involved in a car accident, you may receive a call from the other driver’s insurance company wanting to ask you questions about the accident. The first thing that you should know is that you are NOT legally required to answer these questions or even to speak to the insurance company’s representatives at all.
So that brings up the question – should you talk to them? That really depends upon the facts of your car accident – including exactly what happened, who was at fault and whether anyone was injured. As a general rule, it’s best that you not speak to the other driver’s insurance company if you think there’s any chance that anyone involved (you, the other driver or passengers in either vehicle) might make a personal injury claim. This holds true regardless of whether you or the other driver was at fault for the accident.
With that being said, there are some instances where it may be better to talk to the other driver’s insurance company. For instance, if it was a very minor accident and there were no serious injuries, you may want to answer questions if you were definitely not at fault or if the other driver refuses to answer questions or is lying about what happened. If that’s the case, it could end up taking a very long time for you to receive compensation for the damages to your vehicle if you don’t tell the other driver’s insurance company what really happened.
The bottom line is that if you are involved in an accident that results in serious damage to property or personal injuries, you should get an attorney or an adjuster from your own insurance company to speak on your behalf.
