Has your insurance company asked you for a recorded statement?
A recorded statement is a phone call between you and your insurance adjuster in which the insurance company may want to get information to possibly void your coverage. A recorded statement is a completely routine task that occurs in many cases. They are probably not singling you out for any specific reason.
What they are looking for is inconsistencies between your current situation and the situation that you reported on your insurance application. For example, you are supposed to update your car insurance company with your current residential address. If the insurance adjuster finds out that you are living at a different address than what is on your insurance application, that may give them grounds to void your policy. The insurance company is also going to ask questions regarding your medical treatment and the injuries related to your accident. This is just general information that they need to keep current on the status of your claim. Before providing the recorded statement to the insurance company, you and your personal injury lawyer will speak by phone to go over more instructions on how to handle the recorded statement.
It is best to provide brief answers to the insurance company during a recorded statement. Insureds are under an obligation not to provide any false information to your insurance company. If someone provides false information to their insurance company, they could potentially be investigated for fraud or be denied coverage. So, the best thing to do is to just be honest.
So, if someone does live at a different address than what is on their insurance application, they can tell the adjuster that in the recorded statement. If the insurance company uses that as grounds to void coverage, there are some arguments that can be made and some other angles one can take to try to obtain coverage. However, the most important thing is to just be honest.
That said, an insured is under no obligation to provide the insurance company with more information than they request. That’s why it is important to keep answers brief. It is important for people providing recorded statements to insurance companies to take a moment and think carefully about what the adjuster is asking and then provide them with just enough information to answer their question.
Typically, these recorded statements are not combative, they do not get ugly, and they will not be stressful. Also, if an insured has a personal injury lawyer, the lawyer will be on the line in case the insured feels any of the questions are inappropriate. If the insurance company does ask anything regarding any conversations between an insured and their personal injury attorney, the attorney can object and instruct the insured not to answer the question. These recorded statements typically take 10 to 20 minutes but could go on as long as an hour depending on the circumstances.
While a recorded statement is not taken under oath, an insured does have an obligation to tell the truth to the insurance company as previously discussed. If you are in Florida and were involved in a car accident and have any additional questions about a recorded statement, please give us a call at 954‑388‑0646.