After a Texas crash, give the other driver’s adjuster only the basics: your name, contact information, the date and location, and the vehicles involved. You are not required to give a recorded statement, discuss your injuries, or sign a medical authorization. Say you are still being evaluated, and put everything else in writing.
Start With These Five Facts – Then Stop
When the other driver’s adjuster calls, you can be polite and cooperative without handing over your claim. A short, factual call is enough. Give the identifying information the insurer needs to open a file, confirm the basic circumstances of the collision, and end the conversation there.
That is not stonewalling. At this stage the adjuster is confirming coverage and gathering facts. Everything past identification and basic circumstances is evaluation, and evaluation is not something you owe a stranger on a first phone call.
- Your name, phone number, and mailing address.
- The date, time, and location of the crash – the intersection or block, nothing more.
- The vehicles involved and who was driving each one.
- Your own insurance company and policy number.
- The investigating agency and the crash report number, if you already have it.
What You Are Not Obligated to Give
You are dealing with the other driver’s insurance company. It is not your insurer, you have no contract with it, and you owe it no duty of cooperation. Nothing in Texas law requires you to answer its questions.
Your own carrier is different. Your policy contains a cooperation clause, so you generally do have to report the crash and work with your own insurer – especially if you later make an uninsured motorist claim. Even there, cooperation means honest answers, not unlimited access.
- A recorded statement. It is always optional with the other driver’s insurer.
- A blanket medical authorization. A release with no date range and no provider limitations lets an insurer pull your entire medical history looking for prior injuries/complaints.
- A description of your injuries before a doctor has finished evaluating you.
- Your Social Security number.
- An opinion about fault, including whether you think you could have avoided the crash.
- An answer to a settlement offer on the same call it is made.
Why a Recorded Statement Is Optional – and What It Is Actually For
Adjusters usually ask for a recorded statement within days of a crash and describe it as a routine step needed to process the claim. No Texas statute requires it, and declining does not void or prejudice your claim against the at-fault driver.
A recorded statement produces a transcript. That transcript gets compared, line by line, against your medical records, the crash report, and any later deposition testimony. Its practical value to the insurer is impeachment.
It is also taken at the worst possible moment. Three days after a collision you do not yet know whether the stiffness in your neck is a strain that may resolve in weeks or a disc injury that needs imaging. You are being asked to characterize an injury nobody has diagnosed yet.
You can decline in one sentence and offer something reasonable in its place: no recorded statement, but you will answer questions in writing. Email is a record that works in both directions.
Why “I’m Fine” Becomes Evidence
“I’m fine” is the most expensive sentence people say after a crash. It is a reflex and a courtesy. In a claim file it reads as a denial of injury, made by the injured person, on the day of the collision.
Soft-tissue injuries, concussions, and disc injuries often do not present at full intensity for 24 to 72 hours, and adrenaline masks pain at the scene. That is ordinary medicine. It is not what the file shows if the file opens with you saying you were not hurt.
The same problem applies to “I didn’t see him,” “I might have been going a little fast,” and “I was reaching for my phone.” Texas uses a 51% bar: under Civil Practice and Remedies Code §33.001 et seq. you recover only if you are 50% or less responsible, and §33.012 reduces your award by your share. Casual self-blame on a recorded line is an argument for raising your percentage.
The accurate answer to “how are you feeling” on day one is the truthful one: you are being evaluated and you are not going to describe the nature and/or extent of the injuries which your doctor has not finished assessing, diagnosing, and treating.
The Rest of the Call, in Plain Sentences
You do not need a lawyer’s vocabulary to hold the line. Short, true, and unhelpful is the whole technique.
- Asked for a recorded statement: “No, thank you. Send me your questions in writing.”
- Asked how you are feeling: “I’m still under medical care.”
- Asked how the crash happened: “The police report will have the details. I’ll refer you to that.”
- Asked to sign a medical release: “I’m not signing a blanket authorization. I’ll provide records for treatment related to this crash once treatment is done.”
- Offered a quick settlement: “I’m not evaluating any offer while I’m still treating.”
- Pressed after you decline: “I’ve given you what I have. Please put anything further in writing.”
After the Call
Write down the adjuster’s name, direct line, claim number, and the date and time of every call. If a call goes badly, follow it with a short email summarizing what you actually said. Keep every letter, email, and voicemail.
Do not sign anything that arrives in the mail without reading all of it, including the back of a check, where release language is sometimes printed. Once a lawyer sends a letter of representation, the adjuster contacts the lawyer instead of you and the calls stop. Jim Ross Law Group offers a free consultation at 817-275-4100, and there is no fee unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to talk to the other driver's insurance company at all?
No. You have no contract with the other driver’s insurer and no legal duty to answer its questions. You can give basic identifying information so the claim gets opened, then route everything else through writing or through a lawyer. Your own insurer is different – your policy requires reasonable cooperation with your own carrier.
Can I refuse a recorded statement in Texas?
Yes. No Texas statute requires you to give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver’s insurance company, and refusing does not forfeit or prejudice your claim. Adjusters often present it as a required step in processing the file. It is not. Offer to answer reasonable questions in writing instead, which gives you time to be complete and accurate.
What if I already gave a recorded statement?
It is not fatal. Request a copy of the recording and the transcript in writing, review it against what you now know, and correct anything inaccurate in a written follow-up. Most damaging statements are not lies – they are guesses about speed, distance, or symptoms made before anyone had the facts. Bring the transcript to your consultation.
Should I sign the medical release the adjuster emailed me?
Not a blanket one. Broad authorizations with no date range and no provider limitations let an insurer collect your entire medical history and hunt for evidence of prior injuries or medical complaints to blame your current symptoms on. Records related to crash treatment can be provided later, limited by date and medical provider once treatment is complete and you know what the claim involves.
What do I say when the adjuster asks how I'm feeling?
Say you are still under medical care and you will not describe your injuries until your doctors have finished evaluating you. Avoid “I’m fine,” “just sore,” and “nothing serious.” Symptoms from soft-tissue injuries and concussions commonly build over the first 24 to 72 hours, and an early denial of injury stays in the file permanently.
Can an adjuster record the call without telling me?
Assume every call is documented in some form, even when it is not being recorded. Adjusters take contemporaneous notes that go into the claim file and are treated as a record of what you said. Speak as if the words are being written down, keep answers short and factual, and follow up important calls with an email.
Do I have to tell my own insurance company about the crash?
Yes, promptly. Auto policies contain notice and cooperation provisions, and late notice is a defense which your own carrier can raise later – which matters most if you end up making an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. Reporting the crash is not the same as giving a recorded statement about your injuries.
This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Jim Ross Law Group, P.C., 2201 E Lamar Blvd #110, Arlington, TX 76006.