Am I required to speak to the other side's insurance company after an accident?
If you are involved in an accident and the other person has insurance and reports it to his or her insurance company, it is quite likely that the insurance company will contact you, especially if you were completely or partially responsible for the accident. If the other party’s insurance company pays out any money for damages to their insured’s car, and you are responsible for causing the accident, the other party’s insurance company will want to “subrogate” or get some or all of their money back from your insurer. If they pay out any money for medical bills, some insurance companies subrogate for that, as well. They will likely want to take a statement from you to clarify the facts and determine liability.
You do not have a contract with the other party’s insurance company so, technically, you are not required to speak to them. Your own insurance company may encourage you to do so, however, in order to resolve the claim more quickly. If you do not want to speak to them, you should contact an attorney to protect your interests. Your attorney may deal with the other insurance company on your behalf, but at some point in the process, unless you want the matter to wind up in court, if you were at all responsible, or you want to convince them that you weren’t, you will need to tell the other party’s insurance company what happened.
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