What to say to an insurance adjuster after an accident

After a crash in O’Fallon, Missouri, most people deal with two adjusters and treat them like one. They aren’t. One works for your own insurance company. The other works for the driver who hit you. What you owe each of them is different, and mixing that up is where a lot of claims get hurt early.

Your own carrier: cooperation, with limits

Most policies obligate you to notify your carrier and respond truthfully to basic questions. That duty is real, and ignoring it can complicate your own coverage. It doesn’t mean answering every question the moment it’s asked, and it doesn’t mean signing a broad medical release just because your own company requested one. A short, factual notice usually covers what the policy actually requires.

Their carrier: no duty at all

The other driver’s insurer has no contract with you, which means no legal duty on your part to give them anything beyond basic facts. A recorded statement request from this side is a request, not a requirement, and declining it politely doesn’t hurt your claim. Their goal in that call is their company’s file, not yours.

What either adjuster might ask early

The first call tends to arrive quickly and sound warm. Both qualities serve the caller. Both sides may ask how you’re feeling, and a reflexive “I’m fine” can end up quoted back to you later as evidence you weren’t really hurt. Stick to what you know for certain and leave the guessing out. Details about fault, speed, or exactly what happened are easy to get wrong under stress, and an early guess can follow the claim for months.

Watch for an early number

A quick settlement offer, especially from the other side, often lands before treatment has even wrapped up. Signing something that early can close the door on costs that show up down the line. Having independent counsel look before you sign can flag what a fast number tends to leave out, from future treatment to time away from work that hasn’t happened yet.

A short note beats a fuzzy memory

Every call is worth a few lines somewhere you’ll find them again: which carrier phoned, roughly when, and the gist of the ask. Two months into a claim, that scrap of paper is often the only thing that keeps two conversations from blurring into one. The broader after-crash guide fills you in on the other early steps that pair well with this one, and the partly at fault guide debunks a few assumptions adjusters like to lean on when a fault question comes up.