After a Texas car accident, an insurer can use ordinary claim-handling moves: requesting records, asking for a recorded statement, making an early offer, and pointing to your share of the blame. Texas law polices some of them. Insurance Code chapters 541 and 542 forbid specific unfair settlement practices, and Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 33 sets how shared fault reduces what you can recover.
The short version
- The statutes name the conduct. Section 541.060 lists unfair settlement practices, including refusing to pay without a reasonable investigation, and § 542.003 lists unfair claim settlement practices.
- Who may sue differs. Section 541.060(b) says the list does not give a cause of action to a third party asserting claims against an insured covered by a liability policy, so check whose insurer is involved.
- Fault arguments follow a formula. A claimant recovering with more than half the responsibility is barred; at or below half, the award is reduced by the claimant’s percentage (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012).
- A release is final, so an early offer is priced before anyone knows what treatment will cost.
- TDI takes complaints but states that it cannot determine fault in an accident or damage amounts.
What claim-handling practices does Texas law prohibit for insurers?
Two Insurance Code provisions list them. Section 541.060 covers unfair settlement practices, from misstating coverage to paying nothing without investigating. Section 542.003 lists unfair claim settlement practices, including slow replies to claim communications and failing to adopt reasonable investigation standards.
Negotiating hard is part of the insurance business, and not every insurer “tactic” is illegal. The law targets a narrower set of behaviors, and reading them in the statutes’ own words shows where the line is. Both texts below were read on the Texas Legislature’s chapter 541 page and its chapter 542 page on 16 October 2026.
| Move | What the statute says | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Slow handling | Failing to acknowledge pertinent communications “with reasonable promptness”; failing to adopt reasonable standards for prompt investigation | Ins. Code § 542.003(b)(2)-(3) |
| No settlement effort | No good-faith attempt at a prompt, fair and equitable settlement once liability is reasonably clear | § 541.060(a)(2); § 542.003(b)(4) |
| Unexplained offer or denial | No prompt, reasonable explanation to the policyholder for a denial or compromise offer | § 541.060(a)(3) |
| Release after a partial payment | Enforcing a full and final release after only a partial payment, unless it compromises a doubtful or disputed claim | § 541.060(a)(6) |
| Denial without investigating | Refusing payment without a reasonable investigation | § 541.060(a)(7) |
| Lowball offers that force suit | Pushing a policyholder into suit with an offer far below what the suit later recovers | § 542.003(b)(5) |
Do these protections apply to the other driver’s insurer?
Not in the same way. Section 541.060(b) says the list creates no cause of action for a third party whose claim is against an insured covered by a liability policy. Your own insurer owes you duties under the policy; the at-fault driver’s insurer owes its duties to its own policyholder.
A claim you make on your own PIP, medical payments or uninsured-motorist coverage is a first-party claim, and the statutory remedies in chapters 541 and 542 are written for it. A claim against the other driver, which his insurer handles, is a third-party claim. Texas Department of Insurance guidance reflects the split: the prompt-payment deadlines are for your own insurer, and a company paying on the other driver’s behalf is still expected to deal honestly and work toward a prompt, fair resolution (TDI, Auto insurance guide).
For a policyholder who is wronged, § 541.152 allows actual damages, court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees, and up to three times actual damages if the trier of fact finds the insurer acted knowingly. How these two kinds of claim differ in practice is the subject of our guide to insurance claims and lawyers, and uninsured-motorist coverage is explained in the UM and UIM claim guide, which matters after a hit-and-run.
Is delaying a claim a practice the law addresses?
Yes, for claims on your own policy. The Insurance Code sets steps and deadlines for the insurer on those claims, from acknowledging the claim to accepting or rejecting it to paying it. A delay by the at-fault driver’s insurer is judged differently, because that insurer is not paying a claim on its own policy.
The steps in the statute are: § 542.055(a) has the insurer acknowledge the claim, begin investigating and request items from you by the 15th day after it receives notice; § 542.056(a) has it accept or reject in writing by the 15th business day after it receives all items, statements and forms it requires; and § 542.057(a) has it pay by the fifth business day after it gives notice that it will pay. TDI’s guide lists the same three steps: tell you it got the claim within 15 days of notice, decide yes or no in writing once its requested paperwork is in, with a 15-business-day limit, and issue payment within five business days of agreeing to pay.
Because the clock is its own subject, we keep it in a separate article: what to do when an insurer stalls a Houston injury claim walks through each deadline and which claims it measures. Here it is enough to note that a long silence from a third-party insurer is a negotiation problem rather than a missed statutory date, and that documenting every call and letter helps in either case.
The same keeps true of requests that look like delay. An insurer can legitimately ask for items; § 542.055(b) permits additional requests “if during the investigation of the claim the additional requests are necessary.” What makes a request suspect is when it is open-ended. Our article on medical records and the insurance adjuster explains how to read the authorization behind such a request.
What should I expect when an insurer asks for a recorded statement?
A recorded call where the adjuster asks about the crash, your injuries and your background, with your words preserved exactly. Sections 541.060 and 542.003 do not address recorded statements. For a claim on your own policy, § 542.055(a)(3) lets the insurer request “statements” it reasonably believes it needs, and your policy’s terms may speak to cooperation.
TDI describes the adjuster’s role this way: the adjuster “may inspect the damages, look at police reports, talk to witnesses, or ask for more information” (TDI, Working with an insurance adjuster). A recorded statement is one way to ask for more information, and it is the one that creates a verbatim record. Questions can cover speed, phone use, prior injuries and what you told the officer at the scene, topics that connect to fault and to damages. The article on what to know before the adjuster call covers how to handle the first conversation, and a copy of the crash report lets you check your recollection against the officer’s record.
Whether a particular insurer can require one, and what follows if you decline, turns on which insurer is asking and what your policy says. That is a question to bring to an attorney before the call, not after it. The privilege that protects what you tell your own lawyer is explained in attorney-client privilege after a crash; it does not cover a statement to an adjuster.
Why does a quick settlement offer carry risk?
Because a release is final, and an early offer is set before anyone knows what treatment will cost. If a policyholder’s claim is partly paid, § 541.060(a)(6) bars enforcing a full and final release for only a partial payment, unless the payment compromises a doubtful or disputed claim.
Early money is attractive when bills are arriving. The risk is that an injury still developing, such as a spine injury that later needs surgery, will not be reflected in a figure set in the first weeks. Our guide to what a Houston car accident claim may be worth and the list of damages types show which categories a fair figure has to include. If a payment is later made in installments, structured settlements compared with lump sums explains the trade-offs.
When a policyholder receives an offer to compromise a claim, § 541.060(a)(3) requires the insurer to promptly provide “a reasonable explanation of the basis in the policy, in relation to the facts or applicable law” for it. Asking for that explanation in writing costs nothing. Section 542.003(b)(5) separately treats an offer far below what a later suit recovers, made to force the policyholder to sue, as an unfair practice.
Can the insurer say I share the blame for the crash?
Yes, and Texas law gives the argument weight. Texas’s proportionate-responsibility statute bars recovery once the claimant’s share passes 50 percent; below that, the award drops by the claimant’s share. A judge or jury decides how much responsibility each person bears.
The fault percentage is a figure the insurer has every reason to push upward, since each point comes straight off the recovery. The statutes are on the Texas Legislature’s chapter 33 page: § 33.001 is the bar, § 33.012(a) is the reduction, and § 33.003(a) tells the trier of fact to apportion percentages among the claimant, the defendants, each settling person, and every responsible third party the court has designated. For a worked explanation, see how comparative negligence works in Texas.
Evidence usually decides the argument. Photographs, a police report, witness accounts and vehicle damage all bear on who did what; our articles on the photographs worth taking at the scene and why witnesses matter explain how to gather them. Crashes with several vehicles raise the stakes, as liability in multi-car accidents and the T-bone crash article show. The basics of fault in civil cases are in our tort law overview.
Can an insurer argue my injuries did not come from the crash?
Yes. An insurer may ask whether an injury was already there, whether treatment was necessary, and whether the crash caused it. These are factual arguments rather than statutory violations, answered with treatment records, physician opinions and a timeline that links the crash to the first complaint.
A gap in treatment or a prior complaint to the same body part can become the centerpiece. The answer is usually medical: what the chart showed before, what it showed after, and what a treating doctor says changed. We explain the method in proving that a crash made an earlier condition worse. A request for your medical history can be where this argument starts; read the authorization closely before agreeing to anything broad.
What can I do if an insurer denies or mishandles my claim?
Ask for the reasons in writing, then weigh the options TDI lists: talk to the company, use appraisal for disputes over the amount on your own policy, file a written complaint with TDI, or go to court. TDI warns that its help may be limited: it does not rule on fault or damage amounts.
On a claim under your own policy, § 542.056(c) says a rejection notice “must state the reasons for the rejection.” TDI’s guide tells consumers the same: a company that denies a claim “must tell you why in writing.” Its “Resolving problems” section lists the routes above, adds that appraisal “can’t” be used “to resolve disputes with another person’s insurance company,” and says claims under $20,000 can go to Justice Court (TDI, Auto insurance guide, updated December 2025).
Houston readers are not alone in finding claims handling a sore point. On 10 September 2026 KPRC reported that in the Texas Department of Insurance’s “Speak Up, Texas!” campaign, claims handling, repairs and service were raised in 22.6% of auto insurance responses, behind affordability and rate increases at 35.8% (KPRC 2, Click2Houston). The campaign drew 65 responses focused on auto insurance and 62 on both home and auto, so it is a snapshot of what participants said rather than a measure of how insurers behave.
If a disputed claim ends up in a lawsuit, Harris County runs a free-standing mediation office for it. The county’s Dispute Resolution Center lists “Insurance Claims – including subrogation” and auto personal injury among the disputes it mediates after filing, but only where the pleading or disputed amount is $100,000 or less and no more than three parties are named (program page read October 16, 2026).
How does Maida Law Firm respond to insurer tactics?
Start by gathering the insurer’s letters, any denial or offer, and the dates of each contact, then set them beside what the claim file shows. Those papers are what a lawyer asks to see first.
The Houston car accident page and personal injury page describe the claims behind those papers, how long a case takes sets expectations on timing, and the firm’s FAQ page answers shorter questions. Before hiring anyone, compare five questions to ask a personal injury attorney and what an accident lawyer costs. For the first days after a wreck, the checklist page and the FAQ for Houston drivers help. You can contact the firm here.
Frequently asked questions
Can I refuse a recorded statement to an insurance company?
On a claim against the at-fault driver, that insurer never contracted with you, and chapters 541 and 542 do not mention recorded statements. On a claim under your own policy, § 542.055(a)(3) lets the insurer request statements, and the policy’s terms may require cooperation. Check which insurer is asking before you answer.
How should I respond to a lowball settlement offer?
Ask the insurer for the basis of the offer in writing, then compare it with your bills, future treatment and lost income. For a policyholder, § 541.060(a)(3) requires a reasonable explanation of a compromise offer. A release is final, so wait for the full cost of treatment before accepting.
What can an insurance company legally ask in a recorded statement about an accident?
Neither chapter read for this article lists permitted questions. Adjusters may ask about the crash, speed, phone use, injuries and prior medical history. On your own policy, § 542.055(a)(3) lets the insurer request statements it reasonably believes it needs. Ask what the questions cover before agreeing.
Why does my insurance company want a recorded statement?
To obtain your account of the crash in your own words as part of its investigation. TDI says an adjuster may look at police reports, talk to witnesses or ask for more information, and a recorded statement is one way to ask. The recording preserves exactly what you said, including any uncertainty.
Should an attorney be present when I give a recorded statement to an insurance company?
You may bring one, and talking to an attorney before the call lets you learn which insurer is asking and what the policy requires. An attorney can also review the crash report and your records beforehand, so the statement matches the evidence.
How does an insurance company use a recorded statement in a lawsuit?
A recorded statement is a word-for-word record of what you said earlier. If the case is filed, the insurer’s side can compare it with later testimony and use differences to argue about fault or about the cause of your injuries. That is why the statement’s accuracy matters.
About the authors
Sam A. Maida, Jr.
Owner and Managing Attorney
Sam A. Maida, Jr. has represented injured Texans in the greater Houston area since the firm opened in 1993.
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Bernard G. Johnson III
Litigation Managing Attorney
Bernard G. Johnson III is a board certified trial lawyer licensed in Texas since 1996 and a graduate of South Texas College of Law.