WHAT YOU SHOULD DO AFTER THE ACCIDENT - Part 1

Step 7: Wait Before Calling Your Insurance Company

Your first impulse after leaving the accident scene is often to call your insurance company. Resist the impulse. Your insurance policy only requires you to report the accident within a reasonable time after the accident. Do not report the accident to your insurance company until you have had an opportunity to talk to a personal injury attorney, any personal injury attorney. Accidents are always unexpected; adrenaline is rushing through your body and you feel nervous, upset and agitated. You need to calm down and carefully take stock of what happened before speaking to your own insurance company.

The best strategy is to first discuss the facts of your accident with a personal injury attorney. Competition between personal injury lawyers for new cases is often intense. Attorneys never know when the next “big case” is going to call their office so most attorneys will be pleased to speak to you regarding your accident with no obligation on your part. Retaining a lawyer is always a matter of choice but it is the obvious and best choice if you were injured in an accident and expect to be fairly compensated for your injuries and damages.

If you hire an attorney do not talk to anyone about the accident without first consulting with your attorney. Let your personal injury lawyer do the work for you. Do not volunteer or agree to provide any information about the accident, your injuries or other damages unless specifically instructed to do so by your attorney.

Step 8: Reporting the Accident:

After speaking with an attorney an accident report should be made to your insurance company to start the claims process; typically the report is phoned in to a claims center. In most cases the call will be recorded. You may also receive calls from your own and other insurance companies asking for your recorded statement. If you have retained counsel, your lawyer can report the accident for you and respond to any requests from the other drivers’ insurance carriers. That makes your life easier and avoids unintended mistakes that might otherwise occur.

If you have not hired an attorney and elect to provide a statement to any insurance company, it is always a good idea to prepare yourself by first returning to the accident scene and locating the point of impact, taking careful note of street names, directions traveled, traffic controls, speed limits, number of lanes, and other road conditions and obstructions. If you were injured in the accident, make a list of your injuries that you can refer to during your telephone report or statement.

Step 9: Vehicle Inspections:

Never accept an offer to take your vehicle to an insurance drive in claims location without first obtaining several repair estimates from dealers or independent repair shops. Drive in claims appraisers tend to write low repair estimates with aftermarket parts unless confronted with higher estimates from reputable repair shops.

Your best course of action is to drive or have your vehicle towed to a local repair facility or dealer you can trust. If the insurance carrier is advised that your vehicle is not drivable or is not safe to drive, a property damage appraiser will be sent to inspect your vehicle at the shop or dealer of your choice. This is preferable to allowing your vehicle to be inspected at your home, place of work or at a drive in claims since your repair facility will have its own estimator available to negotiate the fairest repair price with the insurance adjuster.

Step 10: Total Losses:

Some vehicle accidents result in severe damage that cannot be repaired. In that case you are entitled to the reasonable replacement value of your vehicle based on the make, model, year, mileage, equipment and condition of the vehicle. Collision coverage does not pay for any contractual obligations you may have incurred by financing your vehicle. Unless you purchased “GAP” insurance to cover the difference between the balance on your loan and the actual cash value of your vehicle, you may find yourself in debt to your lender and have no vehicle to drive. A personal injury attorney may be able to negotiate a solution which allows you to purchase another vehicle with insurance proceeds and add that vehicle onto your current loan. That process is known as “substitute collateral.”

Insurance companies use specific data gathering companies to determine the retail and wholesale value of your vehicle. While the Blue Book and Nada guides are helpful in determining a general range of prices, insurance carriers usually do not use these sources for their final determinations of value. Although you should look at these guides, a more accurate source of information will be the for sale advertisements in your local newspapers along with the Auto Trader and other similar publications that feature auto, truck and motorcycles for sale. These “for sale” magazines can be found in any supermarket, convenience store or newsstand. To ascertain the most accurate information, call ads offering similar vehicles for sale. If the vehicle has been sold and the seller will divulge the selling price, you will have a good idea of the actual market value of your vehicle.