Liability Dispute and Inter-Insurance Company Arbitrations

[augustquestions]

I was in a minor car accident, where my insurance company and I believe the other driver to be at fault. The insurance company for the other driver has contested this however.

My insurance company told me the next step is interinsurance arbitration between my insurance company and the other insurance company, and my insurance company said they will go after the other company for payment on damages to my car (so my deductible will be reimbursed, and my insurance company will be reimbursed for everything else). My insurance company has been pleasant to work with so far and they seem optimistic about our case.

I haven't given a statement to the otherinsurance company yet, but in order to secure evidence for arbitration, my insurance company asked for a recorded statement, which I gave. They also asked me if I would like to release this statement to the other company. I hesitated, but my insurance company told me that the other company will have all this at the arbitration anyway, so I agreed to let them release my statement to the other company. I figured it would be better to give a statement with my own company rather than the other driver's company (since so far, my insurance company has been friendly and helpful whereas the other company has been really curt, unhelpful and not transparent at all), and also, I assumed that my insurance company was acting in their best own interest (not just mine), since if the arbitration is in our/my favor, they can get reimbursed for costs, too.

Did I do the right thing? All the articles I read online tell me to NEVER give my statement to the other driver's insurance company, but my adjuster thinks that it will be no problem and has actually encouraged me to provide information/statement to the other company. What do you guys think? And what is this interinsurance arbitration like?

[Mr. Knowitall]

As your insurance company said, their opponent would get the information anyway. They weren't asking for your consent because they believed it would harm their side - they did so to try to expedite the resolution of the arbitration. You say they're fully covering you one way or the other, so I'm not seeing a risk to you.

Note, this is not what people mean when they say "Don't give a statement to the other driver's insurance company." You're giving the statement to your own insurance company.