Insurance Adjuster Tricks After a Car Accident in California (2026): What to Say and What Not to Say
- Tom Feher, Esq.
From Tom Feher, Esq. “The adjuster who calls three days after your crash is trained, friendly, and evaluated on how little the file costs. Nothing they ask for in that first week, a recorded statement, a medical authorization, a quick check, exists to help you. Politeness costs nothing. Signatures cost plenty.”
Short answer: be polite, confirm the basic facts of the crash, and give the other driver’s insurance company nothing else. The adjuster’s tricks are predictable: a friendly call that turns into a recorded statement, a blanket medical authorization, a quick check attached to a permanent release, and patient delay while the filing deadline runs. Do not give a recorded statement, do not sign a medical authorization, and do not accept an early check. A quick offer is priced on what the adjuster hopes you do not yet know about your injuries.
Key Takeaways
- You owe their adjuster nothing: no recorded statement, no medical authorization, no opinion about fault or how you feel.
- Early checks are pricing bets: the first offer usually arrives before your injuries are fully diagnosed, which is exactly why it is low.
- A release is forever: California settlements routinely waive Civil Code 1542, releasing even injuries you do not know about yet.
- Deadlines create the pressure: the two-year limit under CCP 335.1 is the adjuster’s quiet ally; filing early takes the leverage back.
- Your own insurer is different: you have cooperation duties on your own policy, especially for UM claims, but you can still have counsel handle the contact.
Free Case Evaluation – No Fee Unless You Win
If an adjuster is calling and you are not sure what to say, Feher Law will take over the contact for you, starting with a free consultation. Call (424) 622-3350 – You pay nothing unless we win.
| The Adjuster Asks For | What It Really Does | What to Do Instead |
|---|---|---|
| A recorded statement | Locks your words in before diagnosis; mined later for inconsistencies | Decline politely; facts can be confirmed in writing |
| A medical records authorization | Opens your entire history to hunt for pre-existing conditions | Provide only crash-related records, through counsel |
| A quick settlement check | Closes the claim before the injury declares itself | Value the claim after diagnosis, not before |
| A signed release | Ends the claim forever, including unknown injuries, via a Civil Code 1542 waiver | Sign nothing until the full medical picture exists |
| “Just your side of the story” | Invites fault admissions California law does not require you to make | Confirm time, place, vehicles; stop there |
| Friendly check-in calls | Keeps you talking until something helps the file | Refer every call to your lawyer |
This table is general information, not legal advice. How these rules apply depends on the facts of your case, and no outcome is guaranteed.
Why the Adjuster Calls So Fast
The call that comes days after the crash is not a courtesy; it is claim pricing. Liability carriers set reserves early, and the cheapest files are the ones resolved before the injured person understands the injury. An adjuster who gets a recorded statement in week one, while you are sore, medicated, and eager to be agreeable, has material the defense can read back against your treating doctors’ findings months later.
California law does not require you to give the other driver’s insurer a statement at all. The information exchange the law requires happened at the scene under Vehicle Code 16025; everything beyond that is voluntary, and voluntary means optional.
Seven Insurance Adjuster Tricks to Recognize
- The friendly rapport call. The adjuster is warm, sympathetic and “just checking in.” The goal is to keep you talking until you say something useful to the file: that you feel fine, that you were in a hurry, that your back has bothered you before.
- The recorded statement framed as routine. “We just need your side for the file.” You are not required to give one, and it will be compared word by word against your medical records and later testimony.
- The blanket medical authorization. It opens your entire history, not the crash records, so the carrier can attribute your injury to something older.
- The fast, low offer. A number in week two, attached to a release, before any diagnosis is complete.
- Disputing treatment as unnecessary or pre-existing. Every gap in care and every prior visit becomes an argument that the crash did not cause the injury.
- Misstating the law. “You have to give us a statement,” “you waited too long,” “your claim is worth less because you were partly at fault.” The first two are false; the third is a negotiation, not a verdict.
- Patient delay. Months of pleasant calls while the two-year deadline runs. A claimant negotiating with weeks left has no leverage.
What to Say to the Insurance Adjuster: A Short Script
Confirm your name, the date, the location and the vehicles involved. Then: “I am not prepared to discuss my injuries or how the accident happened. Please send any requests to me in writing.” If asked for a recorded statement: “I am not going to give a recorded statement.” If asked to sign an authorization: “I will provide the records related to this crash through my attorney.” If offered money: “I am not accepting any offer until my treatment is complete.” That is the whole script. You do not need to be rude and you do not need to explain. Once you have a lawyer, the script shrinks to one sentence: “Please contact my attorney.”
Should You Talk to the Other Driver's Insurance Company at All?
You do not have to, and in an injury case you should not beyond confirming basic facts. The information exchange the law requires happened at the scene. The other driver’s insurer owes you nothing until liability and damages are established, and every conversation before that point is an opportunity for the file to improve at your expense. Report the crash promptly to your own insurer, which you are contractually required to do, and let counsel handle the at-fault side. Our guide on what to do when the other driver’s insurance will not pay covers the next step when the adjuster’s answer is no.
The Recorded Statement and the Medical Authorization
The two documents to refuse are the recorded statement and the blanket medical authorization. The statement exists to be compared, later and unfavorably, against your medical records and deposition. The authorization is broader than it looks: it typically opens your entire medical history so the carrier can attribute your neck injury to a chiropractor visit from 2019. The claim only requires records related to the crash, and those can be produced selectively, through counsel.
California’s fair-claims regulations require insurers to handle claims promptly and communicate honestly, and Insurance Code 790.03 lists the settlement practices the state defines as unfair. Those duties shape how carriers must behave, but the practical protection is simpler: give the file nothing to use, and make the case about the medicine and the law.
Talk to a California Personal Injury Attorney
Feher Law has recovered over $170 million for clients across Southern California. Call (424) 622-3350 – Free, no-obligation case review.
The Early Check and the Release That Ends Everything
Quick offers follow a pattern: a number that sounds meaningful in week two, attached to a release. California releases routinely include a waiver of Civil Code 1542, the statute that would otherwise preserve claims you did not know about when you signed. Waive it and the herniated disc diagnosed in month three is your problem, not the carrier’s. Courts enforce settlements under Code of Civil Procedure 664.6; there is no reopening a signed release because the injury turned out worse.
The right sequence is medical first, valuation second, negotiation third. Our guide on whether to accept a first settlement offer walks through how early numbers are priced, and our personal injury settlement calculator shows what a claim like yours may actually be worth.
Your Own Insurance Company Is a Different Conversation
Your duties to your own carrier are real: your policy requires timely notice and cooperation, and if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured, your own uninsured motorist coverage under Insurance Code 11580.2 becomes the source of recovery. Cooperate with your own insurer, but understand that in a UM claim it evaluates your damages the way an opposing carrier would, so the same discipline applies: accurate facts, complete medical documentation, and no speculation about fault or prognosis.
A lawyer can stand between you and both carriers from the first week. Once representation is announced, the calls stop coming to your phone, and every request goes through someone whose job is your net recovery.
The Deadline Behind the Patience
Adjusters are patient because the calendar works for them. Every month of friendly delay is a month closer to the two-year filing deadline under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, and a claimant negotiating with weeks left has no leverage at all. Claims against public entities run far faster: a written government claim within six months under Government Code 911.2.
Filing early costs nothing and changes the conversation, because a carrier facing a filed case with trial exposure prices the claim differently than one talking to an unrepresented claimant on the phone. You pay nothing unless we win.
You Pay Nothing Unless We Win
Our California personal injury attorneys work on contingency – no upfront fees, and the fee terms are in writing before we start. Call (424) 622-3350 – Free, confidential case review.
What to Expect When You Work With Feher Law
- Free Case Evaluation: You speak with our team, we review the crash or incident facts, your treatment, and any offers on the table, and we give you a straight read on the claim’s value. No fee, no obligation.
- Case Investigation: We gather the evidence that drives gross value: scene evidence, vehicle data, medical records, wage documentation, and where needed, accident reconstruction and medical experts. We also start a running ledger of every lien against your recovery.
- Demand and Filing: We present a documented demand to the insurer, and if they will not pay full value we file suit within the two-year deadline under CCP 335.1 so you never lose leverage to the calendar.
- Negotiation and Lien Reduction: While we push the gross number up through discovery and mediation, we simultaneously negotiate every hospital, provider, and government lien down. Both moves raise your net.
- Resolution and Your Settlement Statement: Before anything is final you receive a line-item settlement statement showing the fee, each cost, each lien payoff, and your exact net. Our fee comes only out of the recovery – you pay nothing unless we win.
Why California Injury Clients Choose Feher Law
Thomas Feher, Esq. has taken more than 50 jury trials to verdict, and that trial record is what moves settlement math, because insurers pay real value to firms they know will pick a jury. The results are public: a $20.7 million brain injury verdict against a hotel defendant in July 2026, a $14.6 million verdict in Simone v. Estate of Bruce Jameson for a catastrophic spine injury, an $8.5 million recovery for a T-boned worker, and more than $170 million recovered for California clients overall. Feher Law also treats the back end of the case, lien negotiation and the settlement statement, as part of the representation, not an afterthought, because the firm’s job is your net recovery, not just the headline number. From offices in Torrance and Huntington Beach, the firm serves clients throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County, in English and Spanish. Every case is handled on contingency – you pay nothing unless Feher Law wins for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
A friendly call that becomes a recorded statement, a blanket medical authorization, a quick low offer attached to a permanent release, disputing treatment as unnecessary or pre-existing, misstating your obligations, and patient delay while the filing deadline runs.
Confirm your name, the date, the location and the vehicles, then say you are not prepared to discuss your injuries or the crash and ask that requests be sent in writing. Decline a recorded statement and any authorization, and do not accept an offer before treatment is complete.
Ready to Talk to a California Personal Injury Lawyer?
Feher Law offers free, confidential consultations – no upfront fees. Call (424) 622-3350 – Find out what your case is worth and what you would actually keep.
Last reviewed by Thomas Feher, Esq. – October 2026
