Should my personal injury firm handle requests from the other driver's insurer about vehicle damage?

Why Should Your Firm Review the Insurer’s Request?

A request for photographs may appear routine, and the insurer may have a legitimate need to evaluate the property damage. However, vehicle photographs can become evidence in both the property-damage claim and the bodily-injury claim.

The location and extent of damage may be used to evaluate how the collision happened, the direction of impact, and the forces involved. Photographs may also show deployed airbags, damaged seats, broken glass, vehicle contents, prior damage, or other details that affect the insurer’s evaluation.

For that reason, an existing client should generally send the request, the adjuster’s contact information, the claim number, and the proposed photographs to the firm. The firm can then confirm who should respond and help prevent incomplete or inconsistent communication.

Does a Personal Injury Firm Automatically Handle Property Damage?

No. A lawyer’s responsibilities depend on the representation agreement and communications between the lawyer and client. Some personal injury firms coordinate all contact with the liability insurer. Others represent the client only on the bodily-injury claim and provide limited guidance about vehicle repairs, total-loss paperwork, rental expenses, or other property issues.

Ask the firm these specific questions:

• Does the representation include the vehicle-damage claim?
• Should all requests from the other driver’s insurer be sent to the firm?
• Will the firm transmit the photographs, or should the client send them after review?
• Has the insurer already received photographs from an inspection, repair facility, towing company, or appraiser?
• Should the vehicle remain available for inspection before it is repaired, sold, or moved to salvage?

Even when property damage is outside the firm’s representation, the firm may still need copies of the photographs because they can matter to the injury claim.

How to Preserve and Organize Vehicle-Damage Photos

Vehicle evidence can disappear quickly after repairs or salvage. Preserve the original, unedited photo files and make a backup before providing copies. Do not crop, filter, annotate, or delete photographs because they appear unhelpful.

If the vehicle remains available and photographs have not already been taken, useful documentation may include:

• Wide views of all four sides of the vehicle.
• Closer views of each damaged area.
• The point of impact and any transferred paint or debris.
• The interior, including deployed airbags or damaged components.
• The license plate and vehicle identification information.
• Damage to the other vehicle, if those photographs were lawfully taken.
• Repair estimates, towing records, storage notices, and total-loss communications.

Keep the insurer’s request and record what was sent, when it was sent, and to whom. If an adjuster asks for a written or recorded explanation with the photographs, forward that request to the firm rather than adding an informal description of the collision.

Why the Photos May Affect More Than Repair Costs

North Carolina allows contributory negligence to be raised as a defense. If the defense proves that an injured person’s own negligence helped cause the collision, the defense can create serious problems for the claim. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-139, the party asserting contributory negligence generally has the burden of proving it.

Vehicle photographs may support or challenge competing descriptions of the impact. Evidence should therefore address both what the other driver did wrong and why the injured person acted reasonably. Coordinating the response helps the firm place the photographs in context with the crash report, witness information, scene evidence, repair records, and other available materials.

Be Careful With Property-Damage Settlement Documents

Sending accurate photographs is different from signing a release. Before signing a property-damage settlement, title document, total-loss form, or release, determine exactly which claims the document covers.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-540.2 generally provides that settling a motor-vehicle property-damage claim does not, by itself, admit liability or end a bodily-injury claim. An agreement may create a different result if its written terms expressly settle all claims arising from the collision. The firm should review any release that could extend beyond vehicle damage.

Do not assume that an insurer’s payment decision establishes fault for the injury claim. Property damage and bodily injury may be evaluated separately, even when they arise from the same Durham car accident.

How This Applies to the Insurer’s Photo Request

Here, the other driver’s insurer has contacted an existing client and asked for photographs showing vehicle damage. The practical next step is to forward the complete request to the personal injury firm and ask whether the firm wants to provide the photos or authorize a direct response.

The client should also give the firm the original photographs, any repair estimate, and information about the vehicle’s current location. If repairs, disposal, or salvage are pending, the firm should know promptly because the physical condition of the vehicle may be difficult or impossible to document later.

The request should not simply be ignored. At the same time, the client does not need to send an improvised collision narrative, discuss injuries, or sign broader paperwork merely because the adjuster requested photos. The response can remain limited to the requested vehicle documentation unless the firm advises otherwise.

A Practical Checklist Before Responding

1. Save the adjuster’s email, text message, or letter.
2. Forward the request to the firm with the claim number and response date, if one was provided.
3. Preserve the original photo files and make a backup.
4. Gather repair estimates, towing bills, storage notices, inspection reports, and total-loss letters.
5. Tell the firm whether the vehicle has been repaired, moved, sold, or scheduled for salvage.
6. Ask who will send the photographs and whether any explanation should accompany them.
7. Have the firm review releases or settlement documents before signing if their scope is unclear.