Dealing With Insurance Adjusters After a California Accident

After a collision, an adjuster usually calls quickly. They are typically professional and sympathetic — and they are paid by a company whose financial interest is in resolving your claim for as little as possible. Understanding that is not cynicism; it is context. This is general information, not legal advice.

Your insurer versus their insurer

These are two different relationships. Your own insurer owes you contractual duties, including the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and your policy generally requires you to cooperate. The other driver's insurer owes you no such duty. Their adjuster's job is to evaluate and limit their insured's exposure.

What California law requires of adjusters

California Insurance Code section 790.03(h) defines unfair claims settlement practices. Among the practices it prohibits when knowingly committed, or performed with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice:

• Failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly upon claim communications
• Failing to adopt reasonable standards for prompt investigation and processing of claims
• Misrepresenting policy provisions or pertinent facts
• Failing to attempt a prompt, fair, and equitable settlement once liability has become reasonably clear
• Compelling insureds to litigate by offering substantially less than what is ultimately recovered
• Failing to provide a reasonable explanation for a denial or a compromise offer

Adjusters are professionals operating within these rules. Knowing the rules exist helps you recognize when a claim is being handled unreasonably. The California Department of Insurance accepts consumer complaints about claim handling.

The recorded statement

A request for a recorded statement usually arrives early and is framed as routine. It is worth understanding its purpose: the adjuster is trained to gather answers that establish comparative fault or minimize the injury.

Common patterns include opening with "how are you feeling?" — where a polite "I'm fine, thanks" becomes evidence you were not hurt — asking you to estimate speeds and distances you cannot actually know, and probing any gap between the crash and your first treatment.

You are generally not obligated to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer. Your own policy may require cooperation, which is different from being required to speculate.

The first offer

Early offers frequently arrive before the full scope of injuries is known, and once you sign a release the claim is generally closed permanently — even if you later need surgery. An offer is an opening position, not an assessment of what a claim is worth. Our guide to what a California car accident case is worth explains what actually drives value.

Practical ways to protect your claim

• Be truthful, brief, and factual. Never guess. "I don't know" is a complete answer.
• Do not describe injuries as minor before treatment is complete.
• Keep treating consistently. Gaps are the most commonly used argument against injury claims.
• Put important communications in writing and keep a log of calls, names, and claim numbers.
• Do not sign a blanket medical authorization without understanding its scope — broad releases can open unrelated medical history.
• If the at-fault driver was uninsured, your own carrier becomes the payer — see uninsured and underinsured motorist claims. Watch the deadline. Negotiations do not pause the statute of limitations.

When representation changes the dynamic

When an insurer knows the other side is prepared to litigate, the negotiating calculus changes. If liability is disputed, injuries are significant, or you are being pushed toward a quick release, our California injury attorneys offer a free consultation. Every case is different.