Do I Have to Give a Recorded Statement to My Own Insurance Company?

The short answer

Usually yes for your own insurer, and usually no for the other driver’s.

That difference catches people out constantly, because the two calls sound identical. Both are polite. Both ask how you are feeling. Both mention that the call is being recorded.

Why your own insurer is different: the cooperation clause

Your auto policy is a contract. Nearly every Pennsylvania auto policy contains a cooperation clause requiring you to assist the company in investigating and settling a claim — which typically includes submitting to an examination under oath or a recorded statement when the company reasonably requests one.

Refusing outright can give your insurer grounds to argue you breached the policy, which can jeopardize coverage you are paying for. That is a bad outcome, and an avoidable one.

The other driver’s insurance company has no contract with you. You owe it no cooperation, and no Pennsylvania law requires you to be recorded by it.

When your own insurer’s interests diverge from yours

For a straightforward property damage or medical benefits claim, your insurer’s interest and yours mostly line up. It is simply processing a claim.

That changes in one common situation: an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim. In a UM/UIM claim, your own insurance company is the party that would pay you — which means, for that piece of the claim, it occupies the same position an opposing insurer would. The friendly tone does not change, but the incentive does.

This is the single most important thing to understand before a recorded statement. If UM/UIM coverage may be involved, the call is not routine paperwork.

What a recorded statement actually is

It is a recorded interview, transcribed and placed in the claim file, where it will remain for the life of the claim. It can be quoted back to you months later, in a context you cannot anticipate now.

The risk is rarely dishonesty. It is ordinary human speech under stress: “I’m okay,” said out of politeness three days before the disc herniation shows up. “I didn’t really see him” said about a driver who ran a light. “My back’s been bothering me for years,” said about something entirely unrelated.

Practical guidance

• You can ask to schedule it rather than doing it the moment they call. You are allowed to be prepared.

• You can decline to speculate. “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure” are complete, truthful answers, and they are far safer than a guess about speed, distance or timing.

• Do not characterize your injuries as resolved while you are still treating. The honest answer early on is usually that you are still being evaluated.

• Stick to what you observed. Not what you concluded, and not what someone else told you afterward.

• You are allowed to have an attorney present, or to have one handle the request. Asking for that is not an accusation against your own insurer — it is how these claims are routinely handled.

If you have already given one

It is not a catastrophe and it is not usually the end of a claim. Request a copy — you are generally entitled to one — and read it carefully.

If something in it was mistaken or incomplete, that can be addressed. What cannot be fixed is a statement nobody reviews until the other side reads it aloud.

Talk it through with someone local. If you have questions about your own situation, the attorneys at Joyce, Carmody & Moran can review what happened and explain your options — no cost for the first conversation, and no obligation. We are based in Pittston and handle injury matters throughout Luzerne County.