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Suz,

Ask your vendor what they want.  They should provide a list of questions they want you to ask. 

~M~

Thanks Meg. =)

I already pieced together one from an auto damage recorded statement sample I found online and just made it into what it appears this vendor wants. They didn't really want to give me anything specific so I hope I get what they need. If not, I've done the best I can. =)

From my starting days at Safeco (circa 1978). Use this:
S Scene setting
A Approach
S Sight
R Reaction
I Impact
P Post impact
I Injuries
SASRIPI

Sometimes defense attorneys will provide a list of typical questions for adjusters to use.

You can also take notes during the interview on additional questions you want to ask.

For example you ask the passenger:

"How fast was the car going?"

answer: "I don't know because I was watching the other car we were racing"

You can ask right away about the racing OR you can write a little note; keep going with your original list of questions, and come back later to the racing questions.

It is OK to loop back to the same topic several times. It is OK if you forget what somebody said and you need to ask twice. It is OK to be confused and ask for clarification. I get confused all the time by what people say.

It may help to think about what the interview is trying to establish- the dirver's liability, someone elses' liability, the extent of injuries, etc.

You should be able to find a car accident depostion on the internet- you will probably find maore examples of questions than you need.

You can ask open ended questions, like "Can you tell me what you saw?" "what happened after that?"

Write down notes of points you want to go back to later.

A good question is "Is there anything else you would like to tell me?" Another one "Is there anything I forgot to ask about?"

Sometimes it is good to let the person ramble on- you might get some good info you weren't expecting.

Don't forget proper housekeeping questions:

Age, DOB, home address, are you aware we are recording this interview? Do we have your permission to interview you and record it? Is there any reason such as alcohol, drugs, or medications that would prevent you form answering my questions? etc etc

If the person describes a physical feature on site, you an feed the details back for clarification. For example if the person says " The motorcycle hit the light pole right over there"

you can say"OK we are standing right now next to a yellow fire hydrant in front of ACME Hardware. We are looking across the street at Joe's Diner. I see a green lamppost right in front of the door to Joe's Diner. Is that the lamp post you are referring to?

If you are conducting a recorded interview over the phone you may want to familiarize yourself with the accident scene first. Or use Google Earth. Google Earth will show the turn lanes etc.

Try this:

WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY

Who was in the car, Who was a witness, WHO gave you the alcohol, WHO was at the bar where you were drinking

WHAT did he say? What happened first?

When When did you leave the bar? How many minutes before the fire trucks arrived?

Where What lane were you in?

etc etc

If you know a friendly attorney he might give you good ideas on questions.

I do a lot of recorded interviews for usually only for property claims, not car accidents. So I really don't know the best questions for vehicle claims.

Here is a lw firm website with a bunch of sample depositions including the deposition of an insurance adjuster:

ttp://www.millerandzois.com/Sample_Depositions.html

Wow!  Thanks Leland. =)   This R/S is for a property claim in which the insd (contractor) did some work on a house and supposedly drove nails through copper pipe in the ceiling.  Leak occurred and claimant filed claim.  I have to get R/S from claimant and witness (plumber that repaired damage).  Like I previously posted, I think I have pieced together a good script to use and I will definitely use your advice as well.

This is kinda late. Don,t take an assignment that you cant do as well as MOST... Never take an assignment that you are not qualified to work.
You will get there some day, it just takes a lot of days.The vendor has a lot to loose and should have ask you about your comfort level.

Just a reminder to those who have completed the Vale Property Course, there are 40 or 50 excellent pages of information concerning taking statements in the Investigation portion of the Vale Property Coverage notebook. You may not remember it because it was skipped over pretty rapidly during the course. Nonetheless, the information is very good. Check your own notebook or borrow one from a friend.

Posted By suzukini on 08 Nov 2010 06:07 PM
Hi everyone.

I have just been given my first assignment to take a R/S from the claimant and witness by an independent company.  Does anyone know where I can find a sample R/S that I can follow?  I used the search engine on this site but did not see anything I could use.  I also tried to look under the documents on claimspages.com but nothing there either.  A google search yielded more lawyer websites telling people how to avoid R/S than actual insurance websites.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

Suzukini,
Well congrats on that oh so important first assignment !!

A recorded statement is a fairly casual endeavour and your vendor should have the basic questions to follow.
A more formal recorded statement is an EUO ( examination under oath) and again your vendor should also have a template, so don't worry too much, you are going to do fine.

Once again, congratulations my friend !!

Robby Robinson

Thanks Robby.  This is actually just my first R/S asssignment, been doing other work for 3 years. =)   It wasn't too bad, really just asked the questions that the vendor had already written in the log notes and let the claimant and witness ramble on.

Ray, I would never have taken something I felt uncomfortable with.  I was just concered about this because I know some companies have their own specific script to stick to and others don't.  I wanted to be sure I was asking the right questions.  I definitely wouldn't have accepted this assignment if I felt I couldn't do it properly. 

Again, thanks to you all for your help and support.  This community is worth its weight in gold. =)

Well this want go over very well with all the people who have training schools or books for sale. A person wanted to get a recorded statement outline and ask for help. Nothing wrong with that; but that is a legal problem for the carrier where the buck stops.

All investigations are discoverable if one side wants to find out what was said. Hundreds of thousands of statements taken to "document a file investigation" are just "fodder to justify a service bill". Lawyers cost more than adjusters and this is why some IA,s are ask to take a recorded statement; but, for it to end up in the hands of a person who is about to take their "first" (without training) is not deceptive trade practice. It,s gross misconduct on the carrier who hired a vendor to find someone who would "try their best" on their first attempt.

There is a carrier in Ca that wants a recorded statement on every water leak. I have done many of those and none have gone to litigation.I also do a lot of recorded interviews for smoke claims. A lot of recorded interviews are fairly routine. Ray has a point however, the type of recorded interview you would do for a vehicle accident with bodily injury is much higher stakes, and probably shouldn't be done by someone with no experience. But even the most seasoned adjuster had to have a first time.

Yes , but a simple thing like driving a car requires more than a 3 day school.No doubt everone was new at one time and most were trained for at least 3 months by an insurance carrier, before they took the first recorded statement.

Claims pages has samples of recorded statements

Ray, Based on the adjuster's comment that "I have just been given my first assignment to take a R/S from the claimant and witness..." indicated to me that this was the first recorded statement assignment and not the first claim assignment. I may be mistaken on that but that's how I read the article. In my opinion, the adjuster should have had a real live human being to seek advice and guidance from, not a web site (regardless of the august wisdom and experiences present). Perhaps this is the way the New Breed of adjusters who grew up on the internet see the solution to a problem: trust the web and go from there.

ClaimsPages.com used to have several example scripts for recorded statements on their sight. I have used them several times and just tweeked them to the claim at hand.

JWG