You Caused an Accident and Now Your Insurance Company Is Calling. Do You Have to Answer?
You’ve been in an accident, and you may have been at fault. The other driver is making a claim. Your insurance company is reaching out with questions. Every instinct might tell you to stay quiet, don’t say anything that makes things worse. But here’s what most people don’t realize: going silent on your insurance company can be one of the most costly mistakes you make, financially and legally. Attorney Joe Bowers breaks down exactly what you’re obligated to do, why it matters, and what’s at stake if you don’t.
Your Insurance Policy Already Requires You to Cooperate
It doesn’t matter which insurance company you’re with or which policy you have, there is a cooperation clause in every single auto insurance contract. This is not a suggestion buried in the fine print. It is a binding contractual obligation.
When a loss occurs, you have a duty to communicate with your insurance company and cooperate with their investigation. That means taking their calls, answering their questions, and providing the information they need, whether that’s right after the accident, or months later as the claim progresses.
This applies even when things feel uncomfortable. Even when you’re not sure what you did wrong. Even when you’re worried that cooperating might somehow hurt you. The obligation is there regardless.
What Happens If You Ghost Your Insurance Company
If you stop responding, if you refuse to take calls, ignore letters, or simply disappear from the process, your insurance company has the legal right to deny and disclaim coverage. That means they can say the contract has been violated, and they are no longer obligated to do anything on your behalf.
What does that actually mean for you? It means they won’t hire a defense attorney to represent you. It means they won’t pay any judgment or settlement that results from the accident. And in cases involving serious injuries, those amounts can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that would then come directly out of your pocket, your savings, your home, your future income.
The purpose of your insurance premiums isn’t just to protect the other person. It’s to protect you. If you invalidate your own policy by failing to cooperate, you lose that protection entirely.
You Already Have a Defense Attorney
One thing that surprises a lot of people: if you had valid insurance at the time of the accident, you already have a defense attorney. Insurance companies either retain outside law firms or operate their own, and those attorneys are assigned to defend you the moment a claim or lawsuit comes in. You’ve already paid for this through your premiums.
If no one ever sues you, you’ll never meet this attorney. But if a lawsuit is filed, and these can come years after the accident, that attorney steps in to represent your interests. For that to work, you have to cooperate. If you refuse, they cannot defend you, and the consequences fall entirely on you.
There May Be More Insurance Coverage Than You Think
Here’s something that trips up both accident victims and at-fault drivers alike: you may not know where all of the available insurance coverage is.
Consider this scenario: you borrowed a friend’s car and caused an accident. The primary insurance for that accident is the policy on the vehicle you were driving, your friend’s insurance. But if you also carry your own auto insurance policy, that coverage most likely applies as excess insurance. That means it can stack on top of the vehicle’s policy to cover the loss.
This matters enormously in serious accident cases. Attorney Bowers’ office routinely digs deep into the background of a claim to find every available source of insurance, coverage that an unrepresented accident victim would have no way of locating on their own. The insurance company handling the claim has no incentive to go looking for additional policies that might require them to pay more. That’s why having the right legal team on your side changes outcomes.
If There Are Questions About Additional Coverage, You May Have to Prove It Under Oath
In significant injury cases where the at-fault driver’s policy limits have been reached, attorneys like those at Bowers Law will formally demand that the driver, and potentially the vehicle owner or other relevant parties, disclose every insurance policy that could possibly apply to the claim.
If the at-fault driver claims there is no additional coverage, they may be required to sign a notarized, sworn affidavit stating that under penalty of perjury. This is not routine paperwork. It has serious legal consequences.
If you sign that affidavit and it turns out you lied, if there was additional coverage you failed to disclose, you can be sued personally for fraud. And because the liability stems from a fraudulent act, it is highly likely that a judgment against you will not be dischargeable in bankruptcy. You cannot file for bankruptcy protection to escape a debt rooted in intentional deception. Courts have consistently held that fraud-based judgments survive bankruptcy proceedings in most circumstances.
That means your car, your home, your wages, all of it, can be pursued to satisfy a verdict that you are personally on the hook for, with no insurance backstop and no bankruptcy escape hatch.
The Temptation to Hide Coverage and Why It Backfires
A lot of people instinctively want to keep additional insurance policies out of the picture. They don’t want their rates to go up. They don’t want to deal with another claim. They figure if nobody knows about it, nothing will happen.
The problem is that good law firms know what to look for. They will request records, dig into policy histories, demand disclosure, and get it under oath when necessary. The likelihood of additional coverage staying hidden is far lower than most people assume.
And the math doesn’t work in your favor. Yes, your rates will probably go up if your insurance pays out a claim. That’s a real cost. But it is nothing compared to a six-figure personal judgment against you that follows you for years, survives bankruptcy, and can attach to everything you own.
Cooperate. Be forthcoming. Let the insurance system work the way it was designed to, to protect you.
If You’re the Injured Party, the Same Principle Applies in Reverse
Everything discussed above about digging for coverage applies to accident victims too. If you were hurt by someone else’s negligence, you deserve to know about every policy that might compensate you, the at-fault driver’s auto coverage, any excess policies, coverage on the vehicle they were driving, and more.
This is one of the core reasons why handling a serious injury claim on your own is so difficult. The insurance company has attorneys, adjusters, investigators, and decades of experience settling cases for as little as possible. You have none of those resources. When you’re represented by a law firm like Bowers Law, the playing field levels out. They know where to look, what to demand, and how to fight when the insurance company won’t pay what a case is worth.
Free Insurance Review
Starting August 1st, Bowers Law is bringing back their insurance review contest. Every month through the NFL season, one person who submits their insurance policy for a free review will win tickets to a home Ravens game the following month.
The review is completely free. Attorney Bowers reviews your Maryland auto insurance policy, tells you what he likes, what he doesn’t, and what he’d recommend, with no sales pitch, since he doesn’t sell insurance. And for every submission during the month of August, Bowers Law will donate $5 to Voices of Hope, a local Cecil County nonprofit. There is no cap on donations.
Submit your policy at marylandinsurancebook.com, anything submitted in July counts toward August’s drawing.
Have Questions? Bowers Law Can Help.
At Bowers Law, we help Maryland accident victims navigate these situations from the moment of impact through resolution of their claim. Whether you’re dealing with a coverage dispute, an injury claim, or questions about what your policy actually covers, contact us for a free consultation. And if you have a topic you’d like covered on the podcast, reach out directly at info@bowerslawmd.com.
The post When Should You Communicate With Your Insurance Company Following an Accident? first appeared on Bowers Law.
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