When the other driver’s insurance company calls after your crash, the adjuster will introduce themselves, express concern, and tell you they just want to help get things resolved. It sounds reassuring. It’s meant to.
Insurance companies are not on your side. They are businesses, and they make more money when they pay out less. Understanding how they operate — and what they’re doing behind the scenes from the moment a claim is filed — is one of the most important things an injury victim can know.
What Happens the Moment You File a Claim
As soon as a claim is opened, the insurer assigns an adjuster whose job is to manage the company’s financial exposure. They will begin reviewing the accident report, examining the facts of the crash, and assessing how much liability their policyholder actually carries.
They are also watching you. They may check your social media. They’ll look for prior injury claims. They’ll search for anything that creates distance between the crash and your injuries. This isn’t paranoia — it’s standard practice. From day one, the insurer is building a file not to help you, but to defend against you.
The Tactics They Use to Reduce What You Receive
Insurance companies have spent decades refining their approach to minimizing payouts. The tactics they use are well-documented — and surprisingly consistent:
- Disputing fault — even in cases where liability seems obvious, insurers will look for any evidence that you share responsibility. In Alabama, where contributory negligence can bar recovery entirely, even a small shift in fault can eliminate your claim completely.
- Minimizing injuries — adjusters frequently challenge the severity of injuries, suggest that treatment was excessive or unnecessary, or claim that your injuries existed before the crash. They have medical consultants on staff whose job is to find reasons to discount what your doctors say.
- Delaying communication — slow responses, requests for redundant documentation, and drawn-out review periods are not accidents. Delay is a strategy. The longer a case drags on, the more pressure a financially strained victim feels to accept whatever is on the table.
- Offering fast, low settlements — an early offer feels like relief after a crash. It’s designed to. These offers are made before the full picture of your injuries is known, before surgery is scheduled, before months of rehabilitation. They’re calibrated to close the claim cheaply, not fairly.
The Recorded Statement Trap
One of the first things an adjuster will ask for is a recorded statement. They’ll frame it as a formality — just getting your account of what happened. What they’re actually doing is creating a permanent record they can use against you.
A single imprecise word can be seized upon. Saying you were “fine” at the scene, even casually, can be used to suggest your injuries weren’t serious. Describing the crash in a way that differs even slightly from the police report creates inconsistency they’ll exploit.
You are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. The smart move is to decline politely and let your attorney handle all communication from that point forward. Once something is on record, it cannot be taken back.
Why Early Settlement Offers Are Almost Always Too Low
The timing of an early offer tells you everything you need to know about its purpose. It arrives before your diagnosis is complete, before your treatment plan is set, before anyone — including your own doctors — fully understands what your recovery will require.
Insurance companies know this. That’s precisely why they move fast. A victim who settles before reaching maximum medical improvement may be giving up compensation for surgeries, therapy, and lost income that haven’t happened yet. Once a release is signed, the insurer’s obligation ends — regardless of what comes next.
What Changes When You Have a Lawyer
When an attorney enters the picture, the entire dynamic shifts. Communication runs through them, which eliminates the recorded statement risk and prevents adjusters from working around you. The insurer knows the case will be fully developed before any number is put on paper. And they know that if a fair offer isn’t made, the next conversation happens in court.
At Shaun Capps Injury Law, we’ve seen every tactic in the insurance company playbook. We know how to counter them, and we know what a case is actually worth — not what an adjuster has been authorized to offer. You deserve an advocate who fights as hard for your claim as the insurer is fighting against it.