Do You Have to Give the Other Insurer a Recorded Statement?

No. You have no duty to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company. The cooperation clause in your auto policy binds you to your own insurer, and the other company has no contract with you. It still wants your account before it decides whether to pay you, so decline the recording and send the facts in writing the same day.

A recorded statement is a phone interview the adjuster records and keeps in the claim file. You have three answers to a request for one: decline, answer in writing, or agree to a short call on terms you set first.

Your insurer can require a statement. The other insurer can only ask.

Your own policy is a contract, and it spells out your duty in a cooperation clause: anyone seeking coverage must cooperate with the insurer in the investigation, settlement or defense of any claim or suit, and must sit for an examination under oath, which is formal sworn questioning, when the insurer reasonably requires it. When your own adjuster asks for a recorded statement, give it. Refusing has teeth. In a claim for underinsured-motorist benefits, where the insured had turned down two requests for a recorded statement, a Maryland appeals court held that his refusal to sit for an examination under oath was a material breach, so the insurer owed him no benefits. In Texas, your insurer must nonrenew your policy if you fail to cooperate with its investigation, after a written notice naming the claim, and that holds even when the other driver reported the claim.

The other driver's insurer has no such hold on you. Your claim against the other driver's liability coverage is a third-party claim: you have no direct contract with that company, and its primary obligation is to its own policyholder. You are under no obligation to record a statement for it.

That company pays on facts, though, and it says little about payment until its investigation is finished. In New Jersey, no law sets the information you must give it, yet the other insurer has 45 calendar days from notice to settle a vehicle damage claim and 90 days for an injury claim, and that time can be extended if you fail to cooperate. In Utah and New Jersey, a claimant who fails to cooperate fully can have the claim denied altogether. Giving the facts in writing is how you decline the recording and keep your claim moving.

Pick your answer: decline, write, or a short call on your terms

Decline

Say no and stop there when you have no claim against that insurer, as when its driver blames you (see the first case below). If you have a claim against it, pair the refusal with a written account.

Answer in writing

Pick this when you want the other insurer to pay for your car or your injuries. You choose every word, you keep a copy, and the insurer gets what it needs to decide fault. Send one page by email with the claim number in the subject line:

Claim [their claim number], accident on [date] at [time], [street and city]. I was driving [direction] on [road] in my [year, make, model]. [What happened, in the order you saw it, in two to four sentences.] Police report number: [number]. Attached: [photos of both cars and the scene], [repair estimate]. My insurer is [company], claim [number]. I am in treatment for injuries from this crash and will send accident-related records when treatment ends. Please send any further questions to this email address.

Leave out the injury sentence if you were unhurt. Leave out anything you did not see yourself.

A short recorded call on your terms

Pick this if you would rather talk than write. Agree only after the adjuster confirms these terms by email:

Topics: how the crash happened and the damage to your car.
Length: a fixed limit, such as 15 minutes.
No medical questions: no talk of how you feel, your medical history or how long you will be treated.
A copy: the recording or a transcript sent to you after the call.

On the call, answer only what you saw and heard. Say "I'm not sure" instead of guessing at speeds or distances.

What to do today

Identify the caller. Get the adjuster's name, company, claim number and whose claim it is: the other driver's liability claim, or a claim against you. If both drivers have the same insurer, a request on your own claim falls under your cooperation clause, and a request on the other driver's claim gets the three answers above. Call back through the number on the insurer's website.
Tell your own insurer. Call your adjuster or the claims line, give them the other company's claim number and say a recorded statement was requested.
Send your written account. Email the one-page account above with photos and the police report number. Save the sent copy.
Get call terms in writing first. If you choose the call, email the terms and wait for the adjuster's yes before you pick up.
Keep a log. Write down every contact: date, name, what they asked and what you sent.

If your situation is one of these

If the other driver says you caused the crash: decline and send the adjuster's details to your own insurer. Your liability coverage pays to repair the other driver's car if you caused the accident, so your insurer answers that claim. Send any lawsuit papers to your insurer the day they arrive.
If you rode as a passenger in the other driver's car: that car's personal injury protection (PIP) or medical payments coverage, if the policy carries it, pays its passengers' medical bills. The cooperation duty starts when you file on that coverage: you become a person seeking coverage under that policy, so its cooperation clause binds you and you give the statement on that claim. Find out first whose PIP you claim. In Florida, a passenger who owns a car that must carry PIP claims from their own insurer, not the insurer of the car they rode in.
If you were hurt: keep injuries out of any recorded talk with the other insurer until your doctor has a treatment plan. Expect a request for a medical authorization. Sign nothing that opens your entire medical history; collect the accident-related bills and records yourself and send those. Before you sign a release, talk to your doctor about any future treatment you might need, because the release ends your claim for this accident.
If the other insurer stalls or denies after you send the facts: file under your own collision coverage if you carry it. Your insurer pays for the repair minus your deductible, then tries to collect from the other company. If the other company pays, you will probably get your deductible back.

What you can get and the pressure you have

Your own collision coverage: a repair paid now, and usually your deductible back once your insurer collects from the other company.
Claim-handling deadlines: in New Jersey, the other insurer must settle vehicle damage within 45 calendar days of notice and injury within 90, or send you its reasons in writing, updated every 45 days until it pays or denies. For vehicle damage it must also contact you within 10 working days. In Utah, the other insurer must give you a substantive answer within 15 days of your request for one.
A complaint to your state insurance department: find yours on the NAIC insurance department map. In Texas, the Department of Insurance (TDI) takes complaints against your own insurer, not another person's insurer, so Texas drivers use collision coverage or justice court. In New Jersey, a vehicle damage dispute with the other insurer goes first to that company's internal appeals panel, then to the Insurance Claims Ombudsman for review; send a written complaint to ombudsman@dobi.nj.gov, and call 1-800-446-7467 with questions.
Small claims against the at-fault driver: Texas Justice Court hears claims up to $20,000, and so does Utah small claims court.
A lawyer: call one when you are still in treatment for injuries, when lawsuit papers or an examination-under-oath notice arrives, or when the other insurer offers a release before your treatment ends.

If the claim goes quiet after you send your account, the claim delay guide shows how to get a written status, and a demand letter to the insurance company puts your numbers and a deadline on paper. If the other driver's coverage is too small for your damage, use the property damage limit guide.

What comes back

Once your written account is in, the other adjuster sends any follow-up questions in writing, which you answer the same way, and then makes a liability decision. If no decision arrives, your collision claim is the next move.

Say this to the other insurer today: "I'm declining a recorded statement. I'm emailing you my written account today; send any follow-up questions to that address with your claim number."