Is Your Insurance Company Monitoring You After a Car Accident in NJ?

Getting into a car accident in New Jersey is never fun. Whether you’re injured or just have some car damage to repair, a collision can impact your life for months, if not years, to come. Ideally, that’s why you have auto insurance — so the company can handle the finances while you focus on recovery. 

However, it goes without saying that insurance companies benefit from paying as little as possible for every claim, and some agencies go so far as to surveil you to see if you’re telling the truth about the damage. 

To help you navigate this tricky area, feel free to consult an experienced personal injury attorney. Or keep reading.

Understanding the Role of Insurance Companies

Following an auto accident in New Jersey that goes outside of our no-fault system, the insurance company must investigate the claim. This involves interviewing any witnesses and reviewing any documentation, such as photos of the vehicle damage you should have taken immediately following the crash. 

From there, the insurer determines fault. One person may hold 100% of the blame, or there may be a percentage at play. The company will either accept or deny the claim and in the event they accept, the company will determine how much to pay out. The insurance agency will offer a settlement check for whatever amount it believes is fair. 

Of course, just because an insurance company thinks the value is fair doesn’t mean it covers everything the injured party needs. The agency may have believed the party held more blame than what actually transpired or wasn’t as injured as claimed. And they might have believed that a court would side with them on that.

To get out of paying a truly fair amount, some companies may engage in surveillance to acquire their own evidence, and this can take many forms.

Types of Surveillance Used by Insurance Companies

Insurance agencies may engage with private investigators to acquire more details than what the claimant provided. This evidence can come from a vast array of sources.

Social Media Monitoring

Unless you put your settings private, anyone can see your social media information. For example, you may claim you sustained an injury, but someone working for the insurance may see you posting pictures of you engaging in a physical activity. The insurer may use this as proof you weren’t as badly hurt as you initially claimed.

Of course, posts can be misleading. And it’s always a good idea to make sure no one other than who you trust can see your Facebook account. And as you’re waiting for the settlement check, avoid accepting friend requests from anyone you don’t know in real life. 

Video Surveillance

An investigator’s words may not mean much. They may try to capture any activities you engage in on camera as direct evidence. Again, it’s possible to suffer a grave injury — physical and/or psychological — in a car accident but still feel fine to ride a bicycle or do other things outside. 

Police Reports

Insurance companies will likely use any conflicting details in a police report against you. For instance, your version of events may slightly differ from what the cops wrote down. This could be due to any number of factors, but the company will almost always use anything it can to pay less or nothing at all. 

Legal and Ethical Considerations

When speaking to the police or an insurance agent, there are certain considerations to bear in mind so that you don’t accidentally limit a potential payout, including the following:

• Be honest. Don’t exaggerate injuries. Stick to the facts and only talk about what you know.

• Don’t volunteer information. You only want to talk about what happened as it pertains to the car accident. Don’t talk about anything that wasn’t directly asked about.

• Document everything. Get photographic evidence of whatever you can. This includes bodily injuries as well as damage to all vehicles involved. Simply, document each and everything.

• Don’t discuss your personal life. There’s no reason to talk about your background or what you do for a living. No one needs to know about you as a person.

• Don’t apologize. Some may interpret apologizing as admitting fault, even if you aren’t to blame for the collision in the slightest. It may be a habit to apologize but try to avoid doing so when speaking to the police or insurance adjusters.

• Speak to an attorney. A car accident lawyer in NJ can help you understand how to navigate these interactions with the insurance company so that, monitoring or not, you come out with maximum compensation.

Protecting Your Rights

You deserve proper compensation after a car accident in New Jersey. It’s understandable that you want to know whether your insurance company is monitoring you after your New Jersey car accident, but it’s also important to set up a free consultation with an experienced lawyer from Rosengard Law Group. Contact us online or call us at 856-284-6446 to claim yours.

We’re here to protect your rights and offer guidance on how best to deal with insurance companies and fight for the full compensation you deserve.