The Insurance Adjuster Called. Here's What's Actually Happening
LAST REVIEWED JULY 4, 2026 · CALIFORNIA
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Direct answer
What should I say when an insurance adjuster calls me?
When an adjuster calls after an accident, stay polite and brief: confirm basic facts like the date and location, decline to discuss fault or describe your injuries in detail, and decline a recorded statement — you are generally not required to give one to the other driver's insurer. Do not guess, do not minimize (“I'm fine”), and do not accept any offer on the phone. You can end any call by saying you will follow up in writing or through an attorney. Your own insurer is different: your policy requires cooperation, but even there you may take time and get advice first.
Adjusters call quickly and sound like helpers — that is training, not deceit. Their function is to resolve the claim at the lowest defensible cost, and the early phone call is where the raw material for that comes from: your recorded words, offered while you are hurt, unrepresented, and eager to seem reasonable.
What the friendly questions are collecting
“How are you feeling today?” — answered with the reflexive “fine, thanks” — appears later as evidence you were fine. Open-ended invitations to “just tell me what happened” collect fault admissions and inconsistencies. Requests for a recorded statement fix your account permanently before you know your own injuries.
None of this requires bad faith by the individual adjuster; it is simply the machinery. Knowing what the call is for lets you be courteous without being material.
The script that keeps you safe
Confirm who is calling and write it down — name, company, claim number. Confirm only neutral facts: date, location, vehicles. Then, in whatever polite words come naturally: you are still being evaluated medically, you will not discuss injuries or fault yet, you decline to be recorded, and future contact can be in writing. That is a complete, adequate, and unimpeachable phone call.
Two absolute lines: do not sign or verbally accept anything, and do not authorize broad medical-record releases — blanket releases hand over your entire history, not just the accident's records.
Your insurer vs. theirs — different duties, same care
You owe your own insurer timely notice and cooperation under the policy; you owe the other driver's insurer courtesy at most. Even with your own company, you may schedule the conversation, prepare, and get advice first — cooperation does not mean immediacy. Once you are represented, every call from any insurer becomes a call to your attorney's office, which is many people's single favorite feature of representation.
Common questions
I already gave a recorded statement. Have I ruined my claim?
No — claims survive early statements constantly. Tell your attorney exactly what was asked and said, as best you remember. Context, medical evidence, and the statement's own circumstances (pain, medication, pressure) all bear on its weight. What matters now is not adding to it.
The adjuster said hiring a lawyer will just slow everything down. True?
Consider the source: the party whose costs rise when you are represented. Representation trades some speed for accurate value and protection from missteps — a trade that favors the injured person in any claim involving real injuries. Speed toward a small number is not a benefit.
Do I have to talk to them at all?
The other side's insurer: no — you can direct all contact to writing or to your attorney from day one. Your own insurer: your policy requires notice and reasonable cooperation, but on a schedule that allows preparation and advice. Silence toward your own insurer is the only genuinely risky version.