What Not to Say to an Insurance Adjuster in California

The phone rings two days after the crash. The voice is friendly and asks how you are feeling. That call is why people search for what not to say to insurance adjuster before they ever call a lawyer. The person on the other end works for the driver who hit you, and the notes they take become the defense file. At Borna Houman Law, our Santa Monica office gets this question almost every week, usually from someone who already picked up.

Key Takeaway: In California, do not tell the other driver’s insurance adjuster that you are fine, that you are sorry, or that any part of the crash was your fault. You are not required to give the adverse carrier a recorded statement. Give your name, the date, and the location of the collision, then stop and get advice.

Most writing on this question lists five phrases with no law attached. The phrases matter, but the reason is mechanical. California reduces your recovery by your share of fault, dollar for dollar, with no cutoff anywhere on the scale. A sentence that moves your fault number moves your money.

If an adjuster has already called, talk to a lawyer before the second call. Borna Houman Law handles injury claims across Los Angeles County from our office on Wilshire in Santa Monica, and there is no fee unless we win. Call (888) 42-BORNA for a free consultation.

Why is the adjuster calling you in the first place?

The adjuster is calling to close your claim for as little as possible, as early as possible. Claims professionals are measured on indemnity paid and cycle time, so a cheap fast file is a good file.

The early call has three goals. Lock down a version of the facts before you have the police report. Get a statement about your injuries before you know what they are. Find out whether you have a lawyer yet. The insurance adjuster is not your friend, and the first call is the cheapest day of your claim for them.

You can check a carrier’s complaint history and file a complaint through the California Department of Insurance.

What is the recorded statement actually for?

A recorded statement exists to fix a quotable version of your story on day two, to be compared against everything you say for the next two years. It is not an investigation tool. The adjuster already has the report number, the photos, and their own driver’s account.

Eighteen months later, in deposition or at trial, defense counsel reads the recording back to you. You said the light “was probably green.” Now you say it was green. You said your neck was “a little sore.” Now you have a cervical disc injury and a surgical recommendation. Neither statement was a lie, but both are now inconsistencies, and inconsistencies are what a defense medical expert builds a theme on.

In our experience representing injured people in Los Angeles, the recorded statement is the most damaging document in an otherwise clean case, and it is the one piece of evidence the client created voluntarily.

Do you have to give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement?

No. You have no obligation to give a recorded statement to the insurance company for the driver who hit you.

Your own auto policy contains a cooperation clause. It requires you to cooperate with your insurer in investigating and settling a claim, including reasonable requests for a statement, and ignoring it can risk your own coverage. That duty runs to your carrier and no one else. The adverse carrier is a stranger to your contract. It has no right to record you, no deadline you agreed to, and no leverage beyond the impression that refusing looks suspicious.

Refusing does not look suspicious. It looks represented. Say this: “I am not giving a recorded statement. Please send your requests in writing.” If you carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, the analysis changes, because then your own carrier is also a paying party. Our guide to an uninsured motorist claim in Los Angeles covers how that works.

Why does “I’m fine” cost so much later?

Saying “I’m fine” at the scene or on day two becomes the defense theme for the life of your claim, because it is the only contemporaneous statement about your body made by the person who owns it. Adrenaline masks a lot on day one. Whiplash, disc herniations, concussions, and shoulder tears commonly declare themselves three to seven days out, long after the adjuster typed “denies injury” into the file.

If you were fine on Tuesday and in physical therapy on Friday, something other than the crash must have happened. That argument is weak on the medicine and strong on the paper, and juries hear the paper.

Gaps in treatment make it worse. A three-week gap between the emergency room and your first follow-up gets characterized as recovery, and every bill after it gets attacked as unrelated. If you are hurt, get evaluated and keep the appointments. Our post on the steps to take after an accident in California covers the documentation.

Expect a defense doctor at some point, and our explanation of the independent medical examination in California covers what that exam is and is not.

How does admitting a little fault cut your California settlement?

California is a pure comparative negligence state, which means your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault with no cutoff at any percentage. The rule comes from Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804, which replaced the old all-or-nothing contributory negligence bar and is now the comparative fault instruction California juries receive.

Take a real number. Your case is worth $90,000 in total damages. On the recorded call you said you “might have been going a little fast.” The carrier assigns you 20 percent of the fault. Twenty percent of $90,000 is $18,000, so your recovery drops to $72,000. One hedge in one sentence, eighteen thousand dollars.

In most states, fault above 50 percent bars you completely. California has no such bar. At 70 percent at fault on a $90,000 case you still recover 30 percent, or $27,000, where a claimant in a modified comparative state would get nothing. That cuts both ways. Badly hurt people with bad facts still have real claims, and every percentage point is money all the way up the scale. The adjuster knows this, which is why the questions are about speed, distance, and whether you glanced at your phone.

Those percentages drive what settlements look like, which we break down in our analysis of the average car accident settlement in California.

What deadlines is the adjuster never going to remind you about?

In California you generally have two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, which sets a two-year limit for an action for injury to or the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.

If a city, county, transit agency, school district, or the state is involved, you must present a written claim to that public entity within six months of the date the cause of action accrued under Government Code section 911.2, and missing that six-month window can end an otherwise strong case long before the two-year deadline ever matters.

A friendly negotiation extends neither clock. No rule says an open file, an adjuster promising to review the medicals, or a settlement number under consideration tolls the statute of limitations. In our experience representing injured people in Los Angeles, the most expensive losses are not bad liability cases. They are good cases where someone negotiated politely for twenty-three months and then found out the carrier had no reason to hurry. More detail is in our guide to the California personal injury statute of limitations.

The California courts publish a plain-language overview of how a civil lawsuit works in California.

What they ask, what they are testing, and what to say instead

Adjuster questions are not small talk. Each one maps to a defense the carrier may raise later.

What should you do on the call, step by step?

You do not need to be rude. You need to be brief. Five steps cover almost every first call.

First, get their information before you give any. Ask for the adjuster’s full name, the insurer, the claim number, and a direct callback line, and write all four down. You will need the claim number for the next two years.

Second, confirm only the objective facts: the date, the approximate time, the intersection or block, the vehicles involved, and that a report was taken. That is all you owe an adverse carrier on a first call.

Third, decline the recording and the medical authorization in one sentence each, then stop talking. Silence after a short answer is not your problem to fill. Adjusters are trained to wait, because people talk to relieve the discomfort, and the sentence after the pause is the one that hurts.

Fourth, do not discuss your injuries, your treatment, your work, your prior medical history, fault, or any dollar figure. Not one number. Early offers land before anyone knows whether you need an MRI, and a release signed in week two closes the claim for good.

Fifth, end the call and write down what was said while it is fresh, then get advice before the next contact. Once we are involved, the adjuster calls us instead of you. We handle the full range of claims listed on our personal injury practice areas page.

Frequently asked questions

What scares insurance adjusters?

Documentation and a credible willingness to file suit. A claim with complete medical records, a clear liability theory, a wage loss calculation, and a lawyer who has filed similar cases is expensive to fight and cheap to settle fairly. What does not scare an adjuster is an angry call from an unrepresented claimant with no records.

What will an insurance adjuster not tell you?

That you are not required to give them a recorded statement, that your two-year deadline under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 keeps running while you negotiate, and that a public entity claim must be presented within six months. They also will not tell you the reserve set on your file or the range their supervisor already authorized.

How do you outsmart an insurance adjuster?

You do not outsmart them, you out-document them. Adjusters handle hundreds of files and follow a script, so improvised cleverness loses. What wins is refusing the recording, keeping every medical appointment, putting requests in writing, and letting a lawyer handle valuation from a complete file.

What is the biggest mistake people make with an insurance claim?

Talking too much on the first call, then accepting an early offer. In our experience representing injured people in Los Angeles, those two moves cost more value than anything else a claimant does, because one sets the fault percentage and the other closes the file before the medical picture is complete.

Can an adjuster use my social media against me?

Yes. Public posts, tagged photos, check-ins, and fitness app activity get pulled to argue that your injuries are overstated. A photograph of you at a birthday party proves nothing about a disc injury, but it gets shown to a jury anyway, so keep your accounts private and post nothing about the crash or your recovery.

Does hiring a lawyer cost me anything up front?

No. California personal injury cases run on contingency, so the fee comes out of the recovery and there is no fee unless we win. How the percentage and case costs work is explained in our breakdown of the personal injury contingency fee in California.

Talk to Borna Houman Law before the next call

Your first conversation with the adverse carrier is worth real money. If the adjuster has already called, do not call back until you have talked to a lawyer. If you already gave a statement, that is not the end of your case, but we should look at it now.

Borna Houman Law represents injured people across Los Angeles County from our Santa Monica office, and we deal with adjusters so you do not have to. Our Santa Monica personal injury lawyer page explains how we build and value a claim from week one. Call (888) 42-BORNA for a free consultation.

Borna Houman, California Bar No. 352339, Borna Houman Law, 2530 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica.

Disclaimer: This article is general information about California law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Borna Houman Law. Deadlines and outcomes depend on the specific facts of your case, and you should consult a licensed California attorney about your situation.