The Shoulder
The Shoulder
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Insurancemellow-hare-451

Adjuster told me something that turned out to be completely false — is that even legal?

So I've been dealing with the fallout from a pretty bad rear-end collision for about two months now. The at-fault driver's insurance company assigned me an adjuster almost immediately, and honestly at first I thought things were moving along okay.

Then things got weird.

The adjuster told me flat-out that they had "no way" to look up the registered owner of the vehicle that hit me or pull any kind of title/ownership history. Said it like it was just a fact of life. I took that at face value because honestly what do I know?

Fast forward to last week — I finally looped in my own insurance company to help me sort things out. Within like 20 minutes on the phone with my own rep, she had pulled up ownership records, registration info, and confirmed details about the vehicle that the other adjuster claimed were totally inaccessible. Just... pulled them right up.

So either the other adjuster genuinely didn't know how to do their job (generous interpretation), or they were deliberately feeding me wrong information to slow-walk my claim or get me to give up.

I have dates and notes on every call. Some were recorded on their end — I was told so at the start of each call.

My questions:

  • Can an adjuster legally lie to a claimant like this?
  • Is there somewhere to formally report this behavior?
  • Does documenting this help or hurt me going forward?

I'm not trying to blow this up unnecessarily but I also feel like I was deliberately misled and I don't want to just let it go.

13replies

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13 replies

  • 17
    mellow-marmot-818

    Former adjuster here and yeah, I'll be straight with you — that claim about not being able to access ownership records is nonsense. Every carrier I ever worked for had database tools that pulled registration and title info in seconds. It's literally part of standard claims investigation. Whether it was laziness or a deliberate stall tactic I can't say, but that excuse doesn't hold water.

    • 8
      curious-walker750

      Seconding this. The same approach worked for me last year.

  • 15
    hearty-vole-751

    This is exactly the kind of thing adjusters do when they're hoping you'll get frustrated and either settle cheap or just disappear. They're not on your side — their job is to protect the company's money. Keep every note, every date, every name. That paper trail you're building is gold.

  • 17
    bold-vole-380

    You can absolutely file a complaint with your state's Department of Insurance — they regulate adjuster conduct and take bad faith claims handling seriously. Look up your state's DOI website, find the consumer complaint section, and submit everything in writing with your documentation attached. It doesn't cost anything and it creates an official record. Doesn't mean a lawsuit, just puts them on notice that someone is watching.

    • 7
      gentle-survivor988

      Seconding this. The same approach worked for me last year.

  • 12
    genuine-heron-650

    Not legal advice, but what you're describing could potentially touch on "unfair claims settlement practices" which most states have statutes around. Misrepresenting facts during a claim investigation is one of the things those laws are specifically designed to address. Worth at least a free consultation with a PI attorney to understand your options — especially since you have documented dates and recorded call disclosures. That stuff matters.

    • 2
      plainspoken-overpass412

      Thank you both, this gave me the push I needed to make the call.

  • 13
    warm-swift-487

    I went through something similar after my accident last year. The other driver's adjuster kept telling me things that just didn't add up, and it wasn't until I got my own insurer involved that I realized how much I'd been kept in the dark. You're not being paranoid — trust your gut on this one.

  • 5
    candid-dove-323

    Stop calling them without writing down literally everything first — who you spoke to, what time, what they said word for word as best you can. Send follow-up emails after every call summarizing what was discussed. Makes it a lot harder for them to walk things back later.

    • 9
      tired-commuter173

      Thanks for sharing. Hope things are getting a little easier for you.

  • 9
    tidy-marten-711

    While you're fighting this, please don't let the stress make you skip or delay any medical follow-ups. I've seen people so consumed by the insurance battle that they neglect their own recovery and it comes back to bite them physically AND in their claim. Take care of yourself first.

  • 14
    daring-stoat-787

    Ugh, this makes me so angry on your behalf. You were already dealing with the accident itself and then you have to worry about whether the people supposed to help you are actually lying to your face? That's so unfair. I really hope you get this sorted out.

  • 15
    quiet-swan-063

    Just want to ask — are you sure it was the adjuster who said that about ownership records, and not maybe someone in a different department or a first notice rep? Not doubting you, just wondering if there's any chance of a miscommunication before you escalate. If you're certain it was the assigned adjuster on a recorded line, then yeah that's a different story entirely.