Why You Shouldn't Tweet After a Car Accident

If you’ve been in a bad car accident, the road to recovery can take a while. If you make this common mistake after your accident, you're going to delay it further.

If you’ve sustained some major injuries, you need to be able to prove that these injuries are taking a toll on your life for the insurance companies to compensate you for your losses, like medical bills and wages you’re missing from being unable to work. Keep in mind that the insurance company is not your friend. It has an incentive to argue that you are not injured so that it can save money. As such, it will go to extreme lengths to prove that you are exaggerating your injuries.

The first place they’ll check: your social media feeds.

How Insurance Companies Use Your Social Media Posts Against You

Maybe you attended a party after your accident. Maybe you tweeted about how great a music festival was. Maybe you uploaded an Instagram story of yourself dancing at a club. If you’re tagged in a photo or post a photo of you doing anything physical or active, the insurance company will point to this photo as evidence that you’re not really THAT injured.

“If you were injured so severely, would you really be partying?” they love to claim.

While it’s true that injured people are allowed to party and have fun, even if they have legitimately severe injuries, the unfortunate reality is that these activities can hurt your case. Saying you’re in constant pain and then doing keg stands just isn’t a good look.

And the insurance companies won’t stop there. They’ve been known to follow victims around, filming them and taking photos, all to prove that you’re lying about your injuries.

What Should You Do?

Act as if you’ve got eyes on you 24/7 until the case is resolved, especially if you’re out in public. It’s not fair and it feels unnecessary, but it’s the best way to defend yourself against bad faith insurance practices.

Set your social media feeds to private, and make sure you have to approve any photo of yourself that is tagged. If someone tags you in a photo, remove the tag immediately. To be extra safe, ask your friends not to take photos of you while you're socializing.

Your lawyer probably has experience with clients who accidentally harpooned their own claims. Ask them for more information about how to preserve the integrity of your specific claim.

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