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In the hours or days following a car accident in New York, you can always expect a call from an insurance adjuster asking you to make a recorded statement about the accident. While this is a routine part of the claims process, what you say and don’t say as part of your recorded statement does have a significant impact on your rights and the ability to claim compensation. In this blog, the team at Gabriel Law will be lending their expertise as your car accident lawyer in NYC to elaborate on the importance of recorded statements and what you need to do to protect yourself and achieve the best outcome.
How does insurance compensate for car accidents in New York?
In New York, all drivers must comply with minimum insurance coverage to register their vehicle and obtain their driver’s license. The insurance coverage is a combination of liability insurance, personal protection insurance (PIP), and uninsured motorist (UM) coverage.
If you’ve suffered bodily injuries in a car accident, you can call on your personal protection insurance (PIP), also known as no-fault insurance, to cover your medical expenses, lost wages, and other expenses connected with your recovery. Your PIP insurance is also called no-fault insurance because your insurer is legally required to cover the aforementioned expenses, regardless of your fault in the accident.
While both drivers and pedestrians injured in an accident can call on no-fault insurance, New York insurance law specifically excludes motorcyclists and motorcycle passengers from no-fault coverage.
The liability insurance kicks in to cover any damages that a person may have caused to another in the accident, and according to the New York DMV, the state’s minimum liability coverage includes:
- $10,000 for property damage in a single accident
- $25,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 for death for a person involved in the accident.
- $50,000 for bodily injury and $100,000 for death for two or more people in an accident.
This means that if your no-fault insurance does not cover all your costs, you can file a claim with the insurance provider of the other party and claim via their liability insurance. However, this step is only possible if the other party involved in the accident has liability insurance. In the event you are injured by an uninsured motorist or in a hit-and-run, you can also call on your UM coverage to cover your medical bills and other expenses.
What is the effect of a recorded statement?
An insurance adjuster will call you after the accident to gather the details surrounding the accident, such as where the accident took place, who was involved, and what are the injuries and other damages you have sustained. When it is a recorded statement, it will become your official retelling and recollection of the material facts of the accident.
Fundamentally, insurance is a business and your insurance company will comb through your statement to exploit any inconsistencies to reduce their obligation to pay out a settlement. For example, the insurance adjuster will most likely ask you to give a detailed description of all the injuries you’ve suffered in the accident, and when you present these details, you will be restricted from claiming compensation for anything beyond the injuries you described in the recorded statement. This will prevent you from claiming additional compensation for medical complications connected to the accident that may come about in the future.
They can also use the information provided in the recorded statement to allege that you share some of the blame for the accident and try to reduce your compensation as a result. This is possible because New York’s pure comparative negligence rules allows compensation to be reduced proportional to the extent of a person’s fault in an accident.
At the end of the day, our advice is to get your facts together and exercise extreme caution when giving out a recorded statement.
What to do (and not to do) when giving a recorded statement?
- Contact a New York City auto accident attorney to better understand your rights, liabilities, and the consequences of a recorded statement.
- Prepare ahead of time and gather all the required documents and information.
- Be calm and courteous towards the insurance adjudicator.
- Give the correct facts, but do not go into too much detail.
- Do not admit fault or apologize for the accident.
- Do not speculate about the material facts of the case.
Conclusion
Before agreeing to give a recorded statement to an insurance adjuster, the best course of action is to consult with an NYC car accident lawyer. By doing so, you will be able to gain an understanding of the importance of recorded statements and prepare them in such a way that protects your rights and guarantees fair compensation.
If you are in need of legal advice, contact the team at Gabriel Law and schedule your free consultation. As a personal injury law firm in NYC, we collectively have 50 years of experience handling a wide range of personal injury cases, and we would be thrilled to help you on your recovery as well.
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