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Dealing with the other driver's insurer: calls, offers and releases
The at-fault driver's insurer works for its own customer, not you. What to say on the first call, what it can ask for, and why a release ends your claim.
When the other driver's insurer calls, you can be polite, give the basic facts of the crash, and decline everything else until you are ready. The adjuster on that call is paid to settle the claim for the insurer's customer, not to look after you. You have no duty to give that company a recorded statement or a blanket medical authorization, and the one thing you should never sign casually is a release, because a signed release usually ends the claim for good.
Whose side the other driver's adjuster is on
When someone else causes a crash, you are a third-party claimant: you are claiming against a policy you did not buy and have no contract with. The insurer owes its duty of good faith to its own policyholder first. It also owes you honest, prompt handling, because every state regulates how insurers treat claimants, but it does not owe you advice.
That regulation is real. The NAIC's Unfair Property/Casualty Claims Settlement Practices Model Regulation (902), which many states have adopted in some form, defines "claimant" to include third parties and sets minimums that matter on a phone call:
- The insurer must acknowledge a claim within 15 days and reply to a claimant's pertinent communications within 15 days.
- It must not tell a third-party claimant that their rights will be impaired unless a form or release is completed within a set period, except to give notice of a real statute of limitations.
- If it deals directly with a claimant who has no lawyer and a limitation period is running, it must first give written notice of the deadline, at least 60 days before it expires for third-party claimants.
- Once it accepts liability and the amount is determined and not in dispute, it should tender payment within 30 days.
Those are the model's terms; each state adopts its own version, with its own day counts. Texas shows how the pieces can differ. According to the Texas Department of Insurance (consumer bulletin, accessed November 2026), the state's prompt-payment law does not apply when another driver's insurer is paying, but that insurer must still act in good faith and try to settle fairly and quickly. Check state car insurance requirements lookup for your state's basics and your state insurance department's site for its claims rules.
There is another reason the adjuster is not neutral: subrogation. If your own insurer paid for your repairs, it will pursue the at-fault insurer for the money, so the company may be closing two claims for the same crash.
The first call: what to say and what to skip
You will probably hear from the adjuster within a few days. The call usually opens with a request to "just get your side of the story" and ask whether it can be recorded. You can answer the first part without answering the second.
| The adjuster asks | A reasonable answer |
|---|---|
| "Can I record this call?" | "I would rather give you the basic facts and send anything else in writing." |
| "Tell me how the accident happened." | State where and when it happened and what you were doing, briefly and factually. Skip guesses about speed, distance or who should have done what. |
| "Were you injured?" | "I'm still being evaluated" or "I haven't finished treatment." Do not say "I'm fine" if you are only sore on day one. |
| "Where is your car?" | Give the shop or tow yard, and say you will send the estimate when you have it. |
| "Can you sign this medical authorization?" | "I'll look at it and respond after I have read it." (More on this below.) |
| "Would you take $X to settle everything?" | "I am not settling anything until my car is repaired and my treatment is finished." |
Two points deserve explanation. First, a recorded statement is a tool for the insurer. Whatever you say is preserved in your own voice and can be quoted later if your account changes by even a detail. You have no contract with the other driver's company, so nothing obliges you to give one. Your own insurer is different, because your policy contains a duty to cooperate; the article on recorded statements: when to give one and when to wait explains where that line sits and how to prepare.
Second, do not speculate about fault or injuries. "I think I might have been going a little fast" is the sort of sentence that turns a clear claim into a shared-fault one. Fault is decided from the police report, the physical evidence, witnesses, photos and statutes, and in some states it is allocated by percentage; see how fault is determined in a car accident for how that works.
Before you hang up, get the adjuster's full name, direct line, email and the claim number, ask what the insurer's position on liability is and when you will hear, and ask for any promise (rental, a payment date) to be confirmed by email. Write down the date, time and what was said.
What the adjuster will request
For the vehicle, the insurer will ask for photos, a repair estimate or the name of the shop, and the vehicle's location so it can inspect it. Many insurers use photo or video estimates for smaller losses; our guide on photo estimates and virtual appraisals explains how accurate those are and where they miss hidden damage. Expect them to compare your shop's estimate with their own. When the numbers differ, the question is usually labor rate, parts type or an item that the insurer's estimator did not see, not honesty.
For injuries, the requests grow wider: doctors' names, treatment dates, bills and sometimes proof of lost pay. Those are fair for a claim you intend to pursue; how much the insurer may collect directly is covered in the medical authorization section below.
Keep your own file from day one: dated photos, the crash report number, every estimate and invoice, rental and tow receipts, pay records for missed work, and a log of each call.
Property damage first, injuries later
Property damage and injury claims run on different clocks, and insurers often handle them with different adjusters. A car can be inspected, estimated and paid in a few weeks. An injury claim cannot be valued responsibly until you know how the treatment ends, which can take months. Treating them as one package is how people settle injuries for the price of a bumper.
If the insurer accepts liability, you can ask it to pay the property damage now. A payment for the car is not a settlement of your injuries, provided the paperwork says so. The release for a vehicle payment should be limited to property damage, with injury claims expressly preserved. If a single form tries to cover "all claims arising from the accident" while you are still in treatment, do not sign it.
Property damage and injury claims often have different statutes of limitations, and the lengths vary by state; see statute of limitations car accidents. An adjuster who seems in no hurry has not paused the clock.
What "full and final" means
A release is a contract in which you give up claims in exchange for money. A typical form says you accept a stated sum "in full and final settlement of all claims" arising from the accident, and discharges the driver and the insurer from any further liability. Courts generally enforce releases as written, so a neck injury that later needs surgery is usually your cost to bear.
The Texas Department of Insurance warns of exactly this in its consumer bulletin: the other driver's insurer may offer a medical settlement and ask you to sign a release promising no further claims, and before signing you should talk to your doctor about future treatment and consider whether the offer is fair. The State Bar of Texas makes the same point in its Texas Bar Journal client page "Driver's Ed" (June 2019): insurers want to settle for as little as possible, so do not sign anything prematurely.
How releases differ
| Type | What it ends | When it is reasonable |
|---|---|---|
| Property damage only | Claims for the car and its contents | After the repair is finished or the total-loss payment is final |
| Injury release | Bodily injury claims | After treatment is complete and the long-term outlook is known |
| General release | Every claim arising from the crash | Rarely before you have a lawyer's review |
| Release of your insurer's rights | Your own insurer's subrogation claim | Almost never, without telling your insurer first |
The last row matters more than most people expect. Your own policy has language about this. In a sample Louisiana personal auto form from National Automotive Insurance Company (form 11338, 2015), the insured agrees to "do nothing after an accident or loss to prejudice our rights" of recovery, and if the insured recovers from a responsible party without the insurer's written consent, the insured's right to payment under the affected coverage "will no longer exist." Wording differs by company and state, but the principle is common. The California Department of Insurance auto-claims guide makes the same point when it discusses your insurer's recovery rights: if the other party offers to pay your deductible, don't sign anything, and you cannot sign an agreement releasing the other party.
A worked example
Say a driver rear-ends you and the repair estimate is $4,860. The other insurer offers $4,860 for the car plus $2,500 "to close the file," and sends one form. You have had two weeks of physical therapy and your doctor has not said you are done. The $2,500 is not unreasonable for a sore back that resolves, and not remotely enough if it becomes a disc problem. If you sign the single form, the $2,500 is all you will ever receive for the injury. If instead you ask for a property-damage-only release, take the $4,860, and leave the injury open, you lose nothing and keep your options. Whether to settle the injury later is a decision to make after treatment, ideally with advice.
The numbers are invented; the point is separating the car from the body. Our article on Does cashing a claim check end your claim? Releases explained covers whether cashing a check can end a claim even without a form.
Loss of use and diminished value
Two payments that the first offer often leaves out are rental and lost value.
Loss of use. In many states you can claim compensation for the time you are without your car through no fault of your own. In practice the at-fault insurer usually pays for a comparable rental for a reasonable repair period. The Texas Department of Insurance explains that the other driver's insurer pays for a rental for the time it considers reasonable to repair the car, based on estimated labor hours; you should tell the adjuster about delays, since the rental may be extended for parts orders or additional damage, and if your car is totaled the insurer might stop paying for the rental a few days after notifying you. Our article on rental cars after a claim: reimbursement, loss of use and daily limits details daily limits and cutoffs.
Diminished value. A repaired car with an accident history is worth less than an identical car without one, even if the repair is perfect. Many states let you claim that difference from the at-fault driver's insurer as part of property damage. Georgia is the best-known case: in State Farm v. Mabry (274 Ga. 498, 2001) the Georgia Supreme Court held that an insured can recover diminished value from their own insurer on a first-party claim. Against another driver's insurer the rules and methods vary, and adjusters often decline to offer it unless asked. Policy wording often excludes it from your own coverage (the ISO endorsement PP 13 01 does, and the sample form above excludes "diminution of value," defined as a perceived or actual loss in value following a workmanlike repair). If the other driver caused the crash, a third-party claim is usually your only route. See diminished value claims for how the claims are built.
The medical authorization
Adjusters evaluating an injury claim want medical records, and the easy way to get them is a signed authorization that lets the insurer collect records itself. Reasonable requests exist; blanket ones do not.
Look for four things before signing anything:
- Scope. An authorization limited to the providers who treated crash injuries, for the period around the crash, is one thing. A form that lets the insurer obtain "any and all" records "from any provider" is another, and may reach unrelated conditions, mental health records or years of history.
- Time. A valid authorization should say when it expires. Open-ended ones are a red flag.
- Who receives the records. Ask whether they go to the adjuster only or can be shared with other companies.
- Alternatives. You can offer to send records and bills yourself, or through your lawyer. Many claims are resolved that way.
The State Bar of Texas page also warns that gaps in treatment hurt claims; insurers read a gap as evidence you were not badly hurt. Following your doctor's plan is both the right thing for your health and the best documentation. For injuries that appear late, see delayed injuries and symptoms after a crash. Record-request rules vary by state, so a short consultation with a licensed attorney is worth the time here.
When to use your own collision coverage instead
You do not have to wait for the other driver's insurer. Your own collision coverage pays for your car regardless of fault, minus your deductible, and your insurer then seeks reimbursement from the at-fault company. The Texas Department of Insurance notes that you do not pay a deductible when you file against another driver's insurer, while filing with your own insurer does require one, and that if the other insurer refuses to pay you can file with your own company if you have collision coverage.
| Situation | Often better route |
|---|---|
| Other insurer accepts fault, adjuster is responsive, car is driveable | Third-party claim; no deductible |
| Other insurer is slow or disputing fault and you need the car repaired | Own collision, then let your insurer pursue recovery |
| The other driver has no insurance or too little | Own collision, uninsured motorist property damage coverage where you have it |
| Your car is leased or financed and the lender needs prompt repair | Own collision may be faster; check the lender's rules |
| You were partly at fault | Own collision, because shared fault complicates a third-party claim |
Using your own coverage has costs: a deductible you may only partly recover, and a claim on your record. The Should I file a claim? calculator and our guide to whether you pay a deductible when you were not at fault help weigh that. The Texas Department of Insurance notes that the appraisal clause cannot be used with another person's insurer, so a valuation dispute there is settled by negotiation, a complaint or small claims court.
When to stop talking and get advice
You can handle many property damage claims yourself. Move to a lawyer, your state insurance department, or both, when any of these happens:
- You have more than minor injuries, ongoing treatment, missed work or a possible permanent problem.
- The insurer denies liability or says you were partly at fault. See when the other driver's insurer denies your claim.
- The adjuster pressures you with a deadline, an expiring offer, or a threat to close the file unless you sign today. Under the NAIC model, a third-party claimant cannot be told rights are impaired by missing a form deadline unless the insurer is giving notice of a real limitation period.
- You are asked for a broad medical authorization, a recorded statement about injuries, or a release you do not fully understand.
- The other driver's limits look too low for your losses. Your own underinsured motorist coverage may then matter, and the way to preserve it is worth a professional's advice.
- The adjuster's offer is far from your estimate with no written explanation.
The guide on when to hire a lawyer after a car accident sets out when it makes sense. A state insurance department cannot decide fault or set damages (the Texas department says so about itself), but it can take complaints about how an insurer handled a claim.
Common questions
Should I accept the first offer on my car?
Compare it with your shop's written estimate and, if the car is totaled, with the valuation report. A first offer is often a starting point. Ask for the insurer's estimate, ask why any line differs from your shop's, and request supplements if the shop finds more damage. If the car is totaled, the guide on negotiating a total loss settlement explains how to challenge a valuation.
What if the other driver's insurer will not return my calls?
Document your attempts, then send a written request by email or mail with the claim number, the date of loss, and a specific question or demand. Under rules modeled on NAIC 902, an insurer must acknowledge and respond to claim communications within about 15 days. If it does not, file a complaint with your state insurance department, or use your own collision coverage in the meantime.
Does cashing a check mean I settled?
Not automatically, but it depends on the language on the check and any accompanying letter. Read both. Under the NAIC model, an insurer should not label a first-party payment as "final" or a "release" unless the limit is paid or the amount was agreed. A payment to a third-party claimant is more likely to come with release language, so read carefully and see the dedicated article.
Key takeaways
- The other driver's adjuster represents the other driver's insurer. Be factual and brief, and put anything you want to rely on in writing.
- You generally do not owe that company a recorded statement or a broad medical authorization, and you should decline both until you understand what they are for.
- Sign a property-damage-only release for the car, if you sign anything, and leave injury claims open until treatment is finished.
- Ask for rental or loss-of-use payments and a diminished value review; the first offer often omits both.
- Using your own collision coverage is an option when the other insurer is slow or disputing fault, but check what it does to your deductible and your policy's rules on recovery before you sign anything with the other side.