Should I talk to the insurance adjuster who is calling me after a Virginia car accident in which I was injured?

You need to be careful in your dealings with the insurance company for the at-fault driver after an automobile accident with injuries in Virginia. The insurance adjuster is not your friend even if they seem friendly. The insurance adjuster typically will keep pestering you about the claims until they get what they want, which is your signature on a release getting them and their insured out of any further obligation to you.

The first thing to realize is there is a difference between your own insurance company and the at-fault driver’s insurance company. With your own insurance company, you have an obligation to tell them what happened in the accident. However, you don’t have to give any adjuster, including your own insurance company, a recorded statement without an attorney. The insurance adjusters are programmed to do everything they can to prevent you from seeing a personal injury attorney. If you go get advice from me or another personal injury attorney, they will have lost because now you have someone looking out for you.

What I tell my clients in a new personal injury case is that when the insurance adjuster for the at-fault driver calls to simply tell them, “I’m represented by Attorney John Cooper and his phone number is 757‑455‑0077. He asked me not to talk to you about my personal injury case. Please call Mr. Cooper.”

By telling them to call me and not bother you anymore, you get them to stop pestering you while you attend to the things you need to do like going to see your doctor and getting well. I can make sure that we control the information given to the adverse insurance company so that we say what we mean and mean what we say.

So when the insurance adjuster for the at-fault driver starts loading up your voicemail box, just ignore them at first. The first thing you want to do is to contact me so I can tell you the answers to your questions and what you need to do to make sure that your personal injury case comes out properly. If they do get you on the phone, again tell them that as to your personal injury case, you intend to hire an attorney and don’t want to discuss it with them. This will make the insurance adjuster unhappy but is essential to preserving your rights and making sure that the case comes out in the best possible way for you, the innocent person who was harmed by somebody else’s carelessness. Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers is the author of Top Twenty Tips for Car, Truck or Motorcycle Accidents. Call us at 757.455.0077 for a free copy and call us for a free consultation if you or a loved one has been hurt in an auto accident.