Do I have to give the insurance adjuster a recorded statement?

Not to the other driver's insurer — California law imposes no duty to speak with an opposing insurance company at all, recorded or otherwise. Your own policy's cooperation clause does require reasonable cooperation with your own insurer. The Unfair Insurance Practices Act (Insurance Code section 790.03) prohibits deceptive claim handling on both sides of that line.

The distinction is whose insurer is asking. The at-fault driver's insurer is an adversary evaluating a claim against its policyholder; nothing in California law requires an injured person to give it a statement, recorded or not. Adjusters seek statements early because injuries are not yet fully diagnosed and casual phrasing about fault or symptoms can be used later to argue comparative negligence or minimize damages. Facts can instead be provided in writing, or through counsel, once the medical picture is complete. Your own insurer is different: auto policies contain cooperation clauses, and declining reasonable cooperation — including in uninsured motorist claims under Insurance Code section 11580.2 — can jeopardize coverage. Even there, a statement can be scheduled and prepared for rather than given cold. Insurance Code section 790.03 prohibits misrepresenting policy provisions and other unfair claim practices, and nothing an adjuster says about timing changes the two-year limitations period of Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.

Authority: Cal. Ins. Code § 790.03