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Recorded Statement

The Pitfalls of Giving a Recorded Statement to an Insurance Company

Recorded StatementIf you are in an auto accident, even through no fault of your own, sooner rather than later the other driver’s insurance company will be contacting you about your claim. BE CAREFUL. As friendly as the insurance adjuster may seem, his or her questions are not innocent. They are being asked for a specific strategic reason, which is to minimize the insurance company’s financial exposure. And one of the greatest tools an adjuster has for minimizing this exposure is to ask you to make a recorded statement.

Remember, anything you say to an adjuster may be used against you at a later time, and this goes double for a recorded statement. It will be impossible to refute any allegations about what you said when there is an objective audio recording that documents it.

An auto accident can be a traumatic event, one that you may never have experienced before, but it is exactly the type of event a seasoned insurance adjuster deals with every day. The adjuster will use your lack of experience to the insurance company’s advantage and to your disadvantage. The adjuster may ask you questions rapidly to get yes answers from you that you did not intend or may manipulate you into making statements that you did not mean, all in an effort to damage your claim. Remember, even if you merely misspoke, a savvy insurance adjuster could potentially twist your words to put your version of events in the worst possible light.

To that end, the insurance company wants to get a recorded statement from you as soon as possible, even though you may still be confused from the crash, or before you know the full extent of your injuries – in fact, that is exactly why the insurance company wants to get your recorded statement so early. It may take time following an accident for injury symptoms to present themselves. If you give a recorded statement immediately after the collision, claiming to feel “fine,” the insurance adjuster could dismiss any later complaints of pain as “unrelated,” even if they really were, and accuse you of “changing your story.”

For these reasons, it is best not to give a recorded statement, even if the adjuster implies that you are required to do so. That is false. You are under no obligation to give any recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company.

No matter how much the adjuster pressures you, refuse to give a recorded statement, hang up the phone, and call the auto collision specialists at GWC Injury Lawyers, who have decades of experience bringing justice in cases exactly like this.

GWC prosecutes a wide variety of injury cases throughout Illinois, including those involving auto collisions, workers’ compensation, construction accidents, medical malpractice, and product liability. If you or a loved one has been injured, in an auto collision or in some other way, please contact our office for a free legal consultation to see if you may be eligible for financial compensation for your injuries. Call our office 24/7 at (312) 464-1234 or click here to chat with one of our representatives today.

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