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The adjuster calling you two days after your Phoenix car wreck sounds friendly. That’s intentional. Their job is to close your claim fast and cheap, and the script they follow has been refined over decades. This article names the eight specific tactics Arizona adjusters use, shows you what Arizona law actually requires them to do under A.R.S. § 20-461 and § 20-462, and gives you the language to respond. No vague “be careful” advice, just actual plays and actual counters.
An insurance adjuster investigates claims and decides what the insurance company pays. That’s it. They are not neutral. They are not “just processing paperwork.” They work for the insurer, and at most major carriers they are evaluated, and sometimes bonused, based on how low they settle claims.
This matters because the other driver’s adjuster is not on your side, even if they sound like they are. Your own adjuster (if you have underinsured coverage, MedPay, or a first-party claim) owes you more duties than the other driver’s adjuster does, but both are paid by the same type of company, and both want the file closed.
Before we get into the tactics, one piece of housekeeping: if you haven’t yet, read what to do after a car accident in Arizona. The order of operations in the first 72 hours affects everything that follows.
The other driver’s adjuster usually calls within 24 to 48 hours of the accident. There’s a reason the call comes that fast.
At 48 hours out, you don’t know what’s wrong with you yet. Soft tissue injuries take 3-7 days to fully manifest. You haven’t seen a specialist. You haven’t had an MRI. You don’t know whether the tingling in your hand is going to resolve or turn out to be a herniated disc at C5-C6. And you definitely don’t know what your medical bills are going to total.
The adjuster knows all of that. They’re calling early because anything you say now, like “I’m doing okay, just sore,” can be locked in and used later to argue your injuries aren’t that bad.
How to respond: Don’t take the call live. Let it go to voicemail. Call back when you’ve had time to think, and keep the conversation to confirming basic facts (date, location, vehicles involved). Don’t discuss injuries. Don’t discuss fault. “I’m still being evaluated by my doctors and I’ll follow up when I have more information” is a complete answer.
Early in that first call, the adjuster will ask if they can record the conversation. They’ll frame it as routine: “It’s just so I can document the claim accurately.”
Here’s what most people don’t realize: you are not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. Your own insurer, under your policy’s cooperation clause, usually can require one. The other driver’s insurer cannot.
Why do they want it recorded? Because every recorded statement becomes a transcript, and every transcript becomes ammunition. Common traps:
How to respond: “I’m not going to give a recorded statement. You can send any written questions to me or my attorney.” That’s it. You don’t have to apologize or explain. They will push back. Hold the line.
This is the biggest one. Adjusters make their first offer before you’ve reached maximum medical improvement, the point at which doctors can say with confidence what your long-term prognosis is.
Why? Because before MMI, nobody knows the real value of your claim. Once you’ve hit MMI, the bill is knowable: past medical expenses, projected future care, lost wages, permanent impairment rating, loss of earning capacity. Before MMI, the adjuster can offer $8,000 on a case that’s actually worth $85,000, and hope you take it because you need the money now.
The pitch usually sounds like: “We want to wrap this up quickly so you can move on. Here’s what we can do today: $6,500. If you sign the release, we can have a check to you within the week.”
Here’s the part that should stop you cold: signing that release extinguishes every future claim related to the accident. Not just the ones you know about. Every one. If you sign at week six and discover a torn labrum at month four that needs surgery, the insurer owes you nothing. That’s contract law, and courts enforce these releases routinely.
Before you take any early number, read our breakdowns on whether to accept a settlement offer and how to respond to a lowball offer. The short version: almost never accept before MMI, and almost never accept the first number.
How to respond: “I’m not in a position to evaluate any offer until I’ve reached maximum medical improvement and my treating physicians have given me a final prognosis. I’ll follow up when I’m ready to discuss resolution.”
Some adjusters are gruff. The smart ones aren’t. The smart ones ask about your kids. They sympathize about the accident. They tell you about their own fender-bender last year. They say things like “I want to help you get this resolved fairly.”
This is a technique, not a friendship. The goal is to get you talking, about your injuries, your finances, your attitude toward the case, your plans. Every offhand comment is note-worthy. “We’re trying to save up for a house, so we just need this done” tells the adjuster you’ll take less to close fast.
How to respond: Be polite. Be boring. Answer the specific question asked, then stop talking. Silence is not awkward in a claims call, it’s neutral. Don’t fill it.
Arizona uses pure comparative negligence, which means your recovery is reduced by whatever percentage of fault is assigned to you. Even if you’re 99% at fault, you can still recover 1%. For a full explanation, see Arizona’s pure comparative negligence rule.
Adjusters know this rule, and they push it hard. In a rear-end collision where liability is essentially 100% on the other driver, you’ll still see the adjuster try to get you to 10-20% fault: “Were you looking at your phone?” “Did you brake suddenly?” “Were your brake lights working?” Every percentage point they hang on you reduces the settlement by that percentage.
This is why the police report, photos, witness statements, and, increasingly, dashcam footage matter so much. The adjuster’s fault theory is only as strong as the evidence they can cite for it.
How to respond: Don’t speculate about your own conduct. If asked “were you distracted,” the answer is “no” if that’s true, and “I’m not going to speculate about that” if you’re unsure. Gather your evidence: police report, scene photos, witness contact info, any dashcam or traffic cam footage. Push back with specifics, not emotion.
Some adjusters go dark. You leave three voicemails in two weeks. You email. Nothing. Then, conveniently, they resurface the week before Arizona’s 2-year statute of limitations expires and offer you 30% of case value, betting you’ll take it rather than file suit.
Arizona law actually constrains this behavior. Under A.R.S. § 20-462, an insurer must:
– Acknowledge receipt of a claim within 10 business days
– Accept or deny the claim within 30 days after receiving all necessary information
And under A.R.S. § 20-461, Arizona’s unfair claim settlement practices statute, insurers are required to act reasonably in investigating, processing, and paying valid claims. That includes failing to acknowledge communications, failing to conduct a reasonable investigation, and refusing to pay claims without conducting one.
How to respond: Document everything. Every call, every voicemail, every email. If an adjuster is stonewalling, a letter citing A.R.S. § 20-461 and § 20-462 often wakes them up. If it doesn’t, the delay itself may become evidence in a later bad faith claim.
At some point the adjuster will send you a medical authorization form, usually a broad one that gives them access to your entire medical history, not just records related to the accident.
Don’t sign a blanket authorization. What they’re looking for: any prior back complaint, any old X-ray, any chiropractic visit from 2014. Anything they can point to and say “this condition pre-existed the accident, so we’re not paying for it.”
This is called “arguing the pre-existing condition.” In Arizona, if an accident aggravates a pre-existing condition, the at-fault driver is still liable for the aggravation. That’s the “eggshell plaintiff” doctrine. But the insurer will still try to discount the claim based on anything old they can find.
How to respond: Never sign a blanket medical authorization. Provide records only for treatment related to the accident, and only for the relevant time period. If they insist on broader access, that’s a fight for your attorney, not you.
On larger claims, typically anything involving claimed soft tissue injuries over $25K or any claim involving lost earning capacity, insurers will hire investigators. They’ll sit in trucks on your street. They’ll film you loading groceries. They’ll pull your public social media.
You posted a photo at your niece’s graduation smiling? That photo is now Exhibit A that you’re “not really in pain.” You went on a planned vacation you paid for nine months ago? Defense counsel puts that in front of the jury.
How to respond: Lock down all social media. Set everything to private. Do not post about the accident, your injuries, your treatment, your attorney, or anything that could be mischaracterized. Assume you are being watched when you’re out in public. This isn’t paranoia, it’s standard defense practice on any significant claim.
Two statutes you should know by name:
A.R.S. § 20-461, unfair claim settlement practices. Prohibits insurers from: misrepresenting policy provisions, failing to acknowledge claims promptly, failing to investigate reasonably, refusing to pay claims without reasonable investigation, failing to affirm or deny coverage within a reasonable time, compelling insureds to sue to recover amounts due, and offering substantially less than what’s ultimately recovered.
A.R.S. § 20-462, timing requirements. Insurers must acknowledge claims within 10 business days and accept or deny them within 30 days after receiving all information needed to make the decision.
These statutes don’t by themselves give you a direct private cause of action in every case, but they set the standard of care. When an insurer violates them, that violation becomes evidence in a bad faith claim.
Under Arizona law, an insurer commits bad faith when it fails to handle a claim with the reasonable care required by the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The foundational case is Noble v. National American Life Insurance Co., 128 Ariz. 188 (1981), and the damages framework comes from Rawlings v. Apodaca, 151 Ariz. 149 (1986).
Bad faith claims are typically available to the insured against their own insurer (first-party bad faith). Examples that can support a claim:
Damages can include the contract amount, consequential damages (emotional distress, financial harm), and in egregious cases, punitive damages. That last category is why bad faith matters. It’s the one leverage point that makes insurers actually worry.
If you think you’ve been handled in bad faith, read our full breakdown on filing an Arizona bad faith insurance claim.
Everything above happens against the backdrop of Arizona’s statute of limitations: under A.R.S. § 12-542, you have 2 years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. If the adjuster is dragging their feet, that clock is still running. Once it expires, your claim is worth zero, and the insurer knows it.
No. You are under no legal obligation to speak with the other driver’s insurance company. Your own insurer, under your policy’s cooperation clause, typically requires you to communicate with them, but not the other side. You can route all communication through an attorney.
There’s no fixed deadline for accepting or rejecting an offer, but the underlying claim is subject to A.R.S. § 12-542’s 2-year statute of limitations. Adjusters sometimes attach artificial deadlines (“this offer expires Friday”) to pressure a quick decision. Those deadlines are negotiation tactics, not legal requirements.
Maximum medical improvement (MMI) is the point at which your treating physicians determine that your condition has stabilized. Either you’ve fully recovered, or further treatment isn’t expected to improve your condition. MMI matters because until you reach it, no one can accurately value future medical costs, permanent impairment, or loss of earning capacity. Settling before MMI almost always undervalues the claim.
Yes. Public social media posts are fair game, and many insurers actively monitor claimants. Photos, check-ins, and status updates have all been used to argue that injuries aren’t as severe as claimed. Private accounts are harder to access but can be subpoenaed in litigation.
An insurer acts in bad faith when it fails to handle a claim with reasonable care, including unreasonable denial, unreasonable delay, failure to investigate, or lowball offers not grounded in a legitimate evaluation. The legal standard comes from Noble v. National American Life Insurance Co. and Rawlings v. Apodaca. Damages can include contract damages, consequential damages, and punitive damages in serious cases.
That’s a judgment call, but the calculus is simple: if the adjuster hasn’t called you yet, you have time. If they’ve already called and asked for a recorded statement or made an early offer, the answer is usually yes. A free case review costs you nothing and gives you a read on whether you’re being played.
If you’ve been in a Phoenix-area car accident and the adjuster is already calling, get a read on your case before you say another word. A free case review with Jared J. Pehrson takes about 20 minutes and will tell you what the adjuster is actually trying to do, and what your claim is worth on the other side of MMI.
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By Jared J. Pehrson | Impact Legal Car Accident Attorneys
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