It depends on which insurer is asking. You owe your own insurer a duty to cooperate under your policy, which can include giving a statement, but you can arrange the timing on reasonable terms and you can have a lawyer present. You owe the at-fault driver's insurer nothing, and you are free to decline a recorded statement entirely. Get advice before you speak on the record to either one.
Two insurers, two very different rules
After a collision you may hear from two insurance companies. Your own, and the one covering the at-fault driver. Your obligations to them are not the same.
Your own policy includes a duty to cooperate, and that can include giving a statement about what happened. The at-fault driver's insurer is a different matter entirely. You owe that company no statement, recorded or otherwise, and declining costs you nothing.
Cooperating with your own insurer, on your terms
The duty to cooperate is real. Ignoring your own insurer can put your accident benefits at risk, so silence is not the strategy.
But cooperation does not mean answering a recorded call the day after the crash, alone, from a hospital bed. You can arrange a reasonable time, you can prepare, and you can have a lawyer present.
You still need to notify your insurer of the collision and apply for benefits within the required timelines. Taking control of the statement does not mean going dark.
Why the early recorded statement causes trouble
Adjusters ask for statements early because early accounts are unreliable in a predictable direction. People in shock minimize. People on medication misremember. People being polite say they are fine.
Months later, when the injury has fully declared itself, that recording resurfaces. The version you gave while concussed or sedated gets treated as the accurate one, and everything you report afterward gets framed as exaggeration.
Guesses cause the same damage. An estimated speed or distance offered casually on a recorded line becomes a fixed fact you will be measured against.
What to actually say when the adjuster calls
To the at-fault driver's insurer, decline politely. Saying that you are not giving a statement at this time, and that further questions can go to your lawyer, ends the call without harming anything.
To your own insurer, confirm the basic facts of the collision and ask to schedule the statement after you have had advice. That is cooperation.
On any record, never guess and never estimate. Not your speed, not distances, not how you feel. Saying you do not know, or that you are still being assessed, is a complete answer.
Deadlines that apply to you
These are the dates that end claims. Check them first.
Tell your own auto insurer about the collision as soon as you reasonably can, and no later than seven days.
Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, s. 32(1)
Once the insurer sends you the application package, the completed application for accident benefits (the OCF-1) is due back within 30 days.
Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, s. 32(5)
Questions we get every week
No. You have no legal obligation to give the at-fault driver's insurer any statement, recorded or otherwise, and their file can proceed without one.
A flat refusal to cooperate with your own insurer can create real problems for your accident benefits. The answer is to arrange the statement on proper terms with advice, not to refuse it outright.
Not necessarily. An early statement can be explained and put in context, especially one given while you were injured or medicated, but tell your lawyer about it right away.
Yes. Cooperation does not require you to speak to the adjuster alone, and having counsel on the line is entirely proper.
Where this applies
Car Accidents
After a car accident in Ontario you usually have two separate claims running at the same time: accident benefits from your own insurer regardless of who caused the crash, and a claim against the driver at fault.
Read moreInsurance Disputes
Ontario insurers owe policyholders a duty of good faith in how they handle a claim.
Read moreAccident Benefits
Accident benefits are paid by your own auto insurer regardless of who caused the collision.
Read more