Are you concerned about what to do after an accident, significantly higher insurance rates, and accident forgiveness? Do you want help getting your vehicle repaired at a proper repair shop since an accident occurred? Experiencing a car accident can be traumatic, especially if you suffer injury. But you mustn’t panic. Instead, remain calm, and let police respond if possible. Next, after the tow truck and ambulance arrive, take some steps that could protect yourself and your personal injury claim against insurance adjusters and others.
Expertise, Authority, and Trust Helped Us With This Piece?
We reached out to Ehline Law and their lead car accident attorney in Los Angeles, Michael Ehline (He’s Licensed in Texas and California.). Based on his well-known expertise, authority, and trust in battling insurance professionals, we have put together the following step-by-step guide to help you protect your car crash case. We hope this will increase your chances of recovering financial compensation from insurance companies.
What to Do If You’re in a Crash: Steps You Should Follow after a Car Accident
You should take certain steps after a car accident to ensure your safety and protect your insurance claims, starting at the damaged vehicle location, including the following.
Check for Injuries
An accident can leave you with injuries that can deteriorate if you don’t take proper action. If you’ve suffered severe injuries and are in pain, it’s best to call out for help and let them notify the emergency services for medical assistance. If you’re able to move around, go on to the next steps before seeking any provider offers.
Get to Safety
If you’re injured but can move around, you must check on other people involved in the accident, whether they’re your friends, family members, or the other driver and their occupants. If anyone is seriously injured, call emergency services immediately and throw out road flares and reflective emergency triangles if you have them.
The sidewalk may not be the safest place, so make sure you are far enough away from traffic, emergency flashers, and the other driver to avoid a stressful secondary collision from blocking traffic.
Call 911
Roadside assistance is key! Whether it is a minor collision or a major accident vehicle damage, it is essential to call 911 and report the incident and the other driver to law enforcement authorities. When an officer arrives at the accident scene, they will fill out an accident report after talking to the parties involved and assessing the cause of the incident. The police report is essential when pursuing a personal injury claim against the at-fault insurance company.
In cases involving minor collisions, at times, the police may not be able to arrive in time. If so, the victim must head to the nearest police station and report the accident. If it was a hit-and-run accident, hopefully, you can give the cops their license plate number, type, and description of the vehicle involved assailant when the police arrive.
Wait for Help
After an accident, you may feel confused and not sure what to do. In some cases, the driver panics and decides to flee. Doing so will jeopardize your personal injury claim and turn a car accident into a hit-and-run. Every state requires parties involved in a collision to stay at the scene of the accident, offer help, call the police, and exchange insurance information.
While waiting for the police or emergency help to arrive, switch on your vehicle’s hazard lights and move your car to the side of the road, away from incoming traffic. If you have a road flare, you can use it to warn other drivers of the accident so that they can slow down and avoid further collisions.
Exchange Information
Exchanging vehicle, contact details, and insurance information are important as it is often required when filing claims with the insurance company.
The following is critical information all parties should exchange, regardless of fault:
- Full name of the party
- Contact information
- Insurance company name and the insurance policy number
- Driver’s license numbers
- Vehicles registration or license plate number
- Vehicle details (model, color).
It is important that you do not admit to fault or discuss how the accident happened. The other party can use these details against you to reduce or deny your claim. Let the insurance company assign a claims adjuster to review the evidence submitted.
Document the Accident
Take photographs and record video of the accident scene with your handy cell phone camera. Fresh evidence is highly valuable to a case and is future-proof of what happened in the investigation. Injured victims must gather evidence right after the accident by taking pictures and videos of the accident scene, the motor vehicles involved, nearby road or traffic signs, injuries sustained, and other relevant details. When the police officers arrive, note down their names and badge number and request a copy of the police report.
If there are witnesses, go to them and take their contact details. Generally, accurate witness statements can add a lot of weight to a case and strengthen any diagram or statements about the crash scene. This is evidence no insurance professional can ignore.
Seek Medical Help
After the accident, you must see
k medical attention immediately at a safe place like the emergency room. Sometimes injuries can take some time to appear. Challenges like this can worsen matters, leading to infections, more medical bills, and other medical complications. It can also jeopardize your auto insurance claim as the insurance can argue that the delay in medical treatments resulted in your injuries and not the car accident.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney
It would help if you spoke to an experienced personal injury attorney. The auto insurance company will ask questions to get you to spill information that could hurt your case, and an attorney can guide you in responding to such questions and begin the claims process. During your free consultation, you will be asked to provide repair costs, medical expenses, and a detailed description of any drivers involved.
If you have an exotic vehicle, your lawyer will ask about the current market value and any vehicle upgrades out of pocket, as well as the police report number. Take pictures of property damage before the car is repaired. Give your lawyer a copy of your insurance card and license as well.
Make sure you are just as prepared as insurance companies are to fight during this claims process. Your lawyer may ask you to take more videos and pictures of bruises during the healing process for use in court later.
Call the Insurance Company and Notify Them of the Accident
Now that you have the knowledge to tackle the insurance company, it is time to start the claims process. Whether it is your vehicle or a rental car, contact your car insurance company first to report the automobile accident before reaching out to the other driver’s insurer.
The at-fault party’s insurance will require you to file a claim and submit the evidence to support your case.
Do You Need a Personal Injury Attorney for the Insurance Claim Process?
When you file a claim with the other driver’s car insurance company, they assign an adjuster who will work on your case. The claims adjuster will assess your case and most probably lowball a settlement offer and tell you that it’s the best offer they can provide, considering the circumstances of your case.
Sometimes, they’ll pin the blame on the victim and downright reject the claim. Having an experienced personal injury attorney on your side can increase your chances of recovering compensation.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Top Car Accident Lawyer
Although we think Ehline Law is a superior personal injury law firm, this is because we know they have successfully resolved 3,000 individual injury cases since 2005. They can help you win and even receive accident forgiveness using multiple angles to win. They can also advance costs and other expenses on your behalf. They’ve also recovered in excess of $150 million for their injured clients and know how to negotiate with the insurance company to get you a fair settlement. However, we are not making an en, endorsement, and we encourage you to use tools besides easy-to-manipulate review sites. Look for a former military vet, like a Marine.
The intangibles offered by troopers are exactly what a seriously injured person needs to win big. If you’ve suffered injuries in an accident in California or Texas, you can contact them at (833) LETS-SUE for a free consultation. So stay calm, as you may be able to seek compensation in a fault-based or non-fault-based claim with your insurance company. Even if there are low policy limits, many insurers, even the government, may share responsibility. So you must hire the right lawyer to deal with state law and other parties involved. We hope this important information was helpful to your and your loved ones at the scene of an accident and beyond.
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