Dealing with insurance after an accident Your insurer and theirs want different things.
You owe your own insurer cooperation. You owe the other driver’s insurer the date, the place, and nothing else. What to say, what to refuse, and the deadlines California law puts on the insurance company.
On this page
After a crash you are dealing with two insurance companies, and you owe them different things. Your own policy requires you to report the crash promptly and cooperate with your insurer’s investigation. The other driver’s insurer is owed nothing beyond the basic facts, and you do not have to give it a recorded statement.
You owe the two insurers different things
Your policy is a contract. Almost every California auto policy contains a notice clause and a cooperation clause, which together require you to report a crash promptly and to help your insurer investigate it. That is where the duty to answer questions, sit for a statement, and produce documents comes from. It runs to your carrier, meaning your own insurance company, and to nobody else.
The other driver’s insurer is on the other side of your claim. It is not neutral, it is not investigating on your behalf, and its adjuster, the person handling the claim, is measured on how efficiently claims close. Be polite, confirm who you are and where and when the crash happened, and stop.
The two reports you must file
California imposes reporting duties on drivers directly, separate from anything an insurer asks for. Vehicle Code section 20008 requires a written report to the California Highway Patrol or the city police department within 24 hours when a crash causes injury or death. Vehicle Code section 16000 and the DMV’s SR-1 page require a Report of Traffic Accident Occurring in California, form SR-1, within 10 days whenever anyone is injured or killed or property damage exceeds $1,000. The SR-1 is required regardless of who caused the crash, and failing to file it can suspend your license under the state’s financial responsibility law.
Your own policy’s deadline is different again. Most policies say “promptly” or “as soon as practicable” rather than naming a number of days, so read yours instead of guessing. Our guide on how long you have to report a car accident to your insurance company goes through what those clauses mean in practice.
What to tell the adjuster
Adjusters are not tricking anybody. They ask ordinary questions in an ordinary tone, and the answers get typed into a file that is later read by someone deciding what your claim is worth.
| What the adjuster asks | Answer this | Do not say this |
|---|---|---|
| Who are you, and were you in the crash? | Your name, and yes. | Your Social Security number, or anything beyond what identifies the claim. |
| Where and when did it happen? | The date, the time, the cross streets, and the direction you were traveling. | Your own reconstruction of who could have avoided it. |
| How are you feeling today? | I am still treating, so I am not going to describe my injuries yet. | I am fine. I am okay. Just a little sore. |
| Can I record this call? | No. | Yes, before you have a diagnosis. |
| Will you sign this medical authorization? | Send me one limited to the body parts and the dates at issue. | A signature on a blanket authorization for your entire medical history. |
| Have you ever had neck or back trouble before? | Nothing until I have reviewed my own records. | A guess. A wrong no is worse than an accurate yes. |
| Can we resolve this today? | I will look at an offer once my treatment is finished. | A number, or a yes. |
The recorded statement, and the response that ends the request
No California rule requires you to give a recorded statement to the insurer of the person who hit you. There is a good reason not to give one in the first two weeks: you do not yet know your diagnosis, and a recorded “I feel okay” said before an MRI follows the claim to its last day.
Why the adjuster asks each question
Each routine question builds toward a specific defense. Once you see which one, the right answer follows.
- “How are you feeling?” builds the no-injury defense. Any cheerful answer becomes the baseline the rest of your treatment is measured against.
- “Had you seen a chiropractor before?” builds the pre-existing condition defense. The answer belongs in your medical records, not in a phone call.
- “How fast were you going?” builds comparative fault. California divides fault by percentage, and under Civil Code section 1431.2 each defendant pays only its share of the non-economic damages, meaning pain and suffering. Every point of blame moved onto you is a point off the bill.
- “Why did you wait three days to see a doctor?” builds the causation defense. This is the most damaging fact in a soft tissue claim, meaning a sprain or strain rather than a fracture, and it is created by the delay, not by the injury.
- “Are you missing work?” tests whether there is a wage loss line at all. Answer it with pay records later, not with an estimate now.
Why not to sign the medical authorization
Somewhere in the first packet is a medical authorization. Signed as written, it usually opens your entire history to the carrier, back years, including everything unrelated to this crash. What comes back is a list of every prior complaint, sorted for anything that resembles what you are treating now.
You do not have to sign that. Offer a narrow authorization instead: the body parts at issue, from a date shortly before the crash forward. If the carrier refuses, that refusal is worth noting in the file, and it is a reasonable point at which to hand the correspondence to an attorney.
How long the insurer has to respond
A stalled claim is measurable. Insurers in California operate under the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations, published by the California Department of Insurance in title 10 of the California Code of Regulations.
| Deadline | What the insurer must do | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| 15 calendar days | Acknowledge receipt of the claim | 10 CCR 2695.5(e) |
| 15 calendar days | Give a complete response to a communication from the claimant | 10 CCR 2695.5(b) |
| 40 calendar days after proof of claim | Accept or deny the claim, in whole or in part, in writing | 10 CCR 2695.7(b) |
| 30 calendar days after settlement is agreed | Send the payment | 10 CCR 2695.7(h) |
Insurance Code section 790.03 defines unfair claims settlement practices, including failing to act reasonably promptly on claim communications and compelling an insured to sue by offering substantially less than what is eventually recovered. Log the date of every call and keep every letter. A file with dates in it changes a negotiation.
You choose the repair shop
Under Insurance Code section 758.5, an insurer may not require that your car be repaired at a specific repair shop, and may not even suggest one unless you asked for a referral or the insurer has told you that you have the right to choose. Get your own estimate. If the carrier’s number is short, the difference is open to negotiation.
Why the first offer comes early
An injury claim cannot be valued until your doctors know what you will need going forward. That is the reason claims take months: not paperwork, but medicine. An offer made in week three is an offer made without that information.
Once you accept, you sign a release and the claim is closed permanently. If the shoulder that seemed like a strain turns out to need a repair, that is now your bill. Wait for your treatment to finish or for your doctor to state what comes next, then value the claim. Our guide on how to maximize a car accident settlement covers what moves a number, and the case results page shows what several of our files looked like before and after.
When the other driver carries the minimum
For any policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, California’s minimum liability limits are $30,000 for one person’s injuries, $60,000 for all injuries in one crash, and $15,000 for property damage, under Vehicle Code section 16056 as amended by Senate Bill 1107. They replaced limits that had been $15,000, $30,000, and $5,000 for decades. They are still small next to one night in a trauma center.
When the bills pass the at-fault driver’s limits, the case turns to your own underinsured motorist coverage under Insurance Code section 11580.2, and to any second defendant: an employer whose driver was working, a vehicle owner who lent the car, or a rideshare company’s commercial policy. Look at your declarations page and find out today whether you carry it.
When this does not apply
- You were the at-fault driver. Then your carrier is defending you, and cooperating fully with it is the right move.
- A public entity is involved. A Metro bus, a city truck, or a dangerous roadway condition brings in Government Code section 911.2, which requires a written claim within six months. That deadline is short and it is not forgiving.
- You were working when it happened. A workers’ compensation claim runs alongside the injury claim, and your employer’s insurer will assert a lien, a claim to be repaid, against any recovery.
- Nobody was hurt and the repair is being paid. Then there is no injury claim to protect.
Questions people ask about dealing with insurance
Do I have to talk to the other driver’s insurance company at all?
Will filing a claim with my own insurer raise my rates?
Do I have to use the body shop the insurance company recommends?
What if the insurance company denies my claim?
How long does the claim take?
Should I accept the first settlement offer?
What does it cost to have a lawyer handle the insurance company?
How to deal with the insurers
Report the crash to your own insurer and cooperate with it, because your policy requires that. File the SR-1 within 10 days and the police report within 24 hours if anyone was hurt, because the Vehicle Code requires that. Then hold the other driver’s adjuster to the date, the location, and nothing more, decline the recorded statement, narrow the medical authorization, and let your treatment finish before anyone puts a number on your claim.
If the calls have already started, or an offer arrived before your last appointment did, tell us what happened and we will tell you what we see. Our Los Angeles car accident lawyer page explains how we build and value a claim, and there is no fee unless we recover.
