Recorded statements and insurance adjusters
An adjuster will call within a few days. They will be friendly, sympathetic, and efficient. None of that is a trick — it is simply that their job and your interests are not the same thing, and the call is part of their job.
The distinction that governs everything
| The other driver's insurer | You owe them nothing. No recorded statement, no medical authorization, no interview. They are the adverse party. Being polite and declining is a complete answer. |
|---|---|
| Your own insurer | Your policy contains a cooperation clause, so you generally do owe reasonable cooperation, including a statement. That is a contractual obligation with real consequences for your own coverage if you ignore it. |
People routinely get this backwards: they give a full recorded statement to the adverse insurer within 48 hours, and are evasive with their own. Reverse it.
What the questions are actually for
A recorded statement is a transcript taken early, before you know the extent of your injuries, which can be quoted back to you eighteen months later when you do. The questions that sound like small talk are rarely small talk.
| What they ask | What it is doing |
|---|---|
| "How are you doing today?" | Produces "fine, thanks" — social reflex, recorded, and quoted against a claim of ongoing pain. |
| "Can you describe your injuries?" | Taken before imaging and specialist review. Anything not listed on day four becomes something that appeared later. |
| "Had any problems with your back before?" | Invites a casual no. A chiropractic record from 2016 then becomes a credibility problem rather than a footnote. |
| "How fast were you going?" | Nobody knows precisely. A guess becomes a fixed number you are held to. |
| "Did you see them before the impact?" | Building a comparative fault argument about your lookout. |
| "Are you back at work?" | Working through pain gets characterized as being fine. |
Medical authorisations
If you have already given one
It happens constantly and it is not the end of anything. Request a copy — you are generally entitled to one — and read it carefully.
Where something is wrong or incomplete, the answer is to correct it clearly and early rather than hope it goes unnoticed. A correction made promptly reads as accuracy. The same correction made after the inconsistency is pointed out reads as something else.
Questions people ask
Do I have to give the other driver's insurance company a recorded statement?
No. You have no obligation to the other side's insurer at all. Decline politely and ask them to put anything in writing. You generally do owe cooperation to your own insurer under your policy's cooperation clause, which is a different thing.
They say the claim cannot be processed without a statement.
The claim can be processed. They can be given written information, the collision report, photographs and medical records. A recorded statement is a tool for their file, not a procedural requirement imposed by anything other than them.
I already gave one and said something wrong.
Request a copy, read it, and correct anything inaccurate promptly and in writing. A prompt correction reads as accuracy. The same correction after they point out the inconsistency reads very differently.
Should I sign the medical authorization they sent?
Not a blanket one. They are entitled to records relevant to the injuries you are claiming, not to a general search of your entire medical history. Provide what is relevant, or have someone handle it for you.
Related
Reviewed October 2026 by Simon Aziz Budhwani, Esq., the attorney responsible for this site. Legal statements here name the California code section they rely on, so you can check them rather than trust them. This is information about the law in general, not advice about your situation.
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