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What You Must Do Following a Car Accident

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Getting into a car accident is no small matter. Your problems and grief are compounded if someone was seriously hurt or killed. Regardless of the extent of the casualties, there are some things you must do immediately following a car accident.

1. Pull off the road.

If possible, pull off the road and as far off the shoulder as you can. Moving a car may not be possible due to damage and personal injuries. If the vehicles cannot be moved, ensure that oncoming traffic sees you. This may include asking other motorists to pull up, drop flares, turn on emergency signals, and stay with you until help arrives.

2. Check the condition of each passenger.

If the injuries are minor, then the urgency for medical help is not so great. Even so, you need to verify the condition of the people in your car as well as in the other cars. If you know first aid, then begin to apply it. Ask someone else to call for emergency assistance. The greater the injuries, then the more that time is of the essence. Ask for help from others who arrive at the scene. A medical practitioner can perform first aid and stabilize the injured.

3. Await the police.

Unless your accident is minor and is composed only of a fender bender, you’ll need to have the police on hand to file a report. That report should be available a few days after the accident, therefore obtain a copy to forward to your insurance company as quickly as possible. If you handle the accident without the police being present, then exchange all pertinent information, including driver’s licenses, registration, insurance information, and contact numbers. Write this information down, but if you don’t have a pen handy, taking pictures of the documents with your smartphone is another option. When talking with the police, never admit guilt. Simply explain your story and allow them to draw the conclusions.

4. Contact your insurance company.

Once all people have been stabilized and your report taken, contact your insurance company. If your car is not movable, you’ll need to call for a towing service too. Your insurer or your auto club should be able to send a wrecker. When talking to your insurance company, provide as much information about the accident as required. Your insurer will send out a claims adjuster to look at the car and make a declaration based on the damage. If there are personal injuries, you’ll be submitting those bills too. If you are not certain about how the process works, your insurance representative is there to help you. Ask questions and listen carefully for the answers.

5. Follow up.

Your work isn’t done even if after you receive a check from your insurance company. If the car is repairable, then you’ll need to take it to a collision repair shop to have it worked on. If possible, get at least three estimates. Compare the rates, check references, and go with the company with the best reputation. Certainly, price matters, but you need to get the job done correctly. If your car has been totaled, then you will need to shop for a new car. In the interim, your insurance company may have a rental car to keep you behind the wheel until you’re able to repair or replace your current model.

After Crash Considerations

When you have a car accident, you want to be made whole. Your insurer will help rectify the problem and will go after the other insurance company, if necessary. If the settlement amount does not suit you, then file an appeal with your insurer. In some cases, you may have to retain an attorney to ensure that your rights and financial position are protected.

Lastly, If you’re battling with personal injuries or someone you love has been hurt, then make sure you’re getting all the help required too. This is where a personal accident attorney may be able to intervene, to ensure that your disability claims and ongoing medical needs, as well as your financial losses, are addressed.

See Also — What You Need to Know About Rollover Accidents

Photo credit: Pixabay.com

What Does “No-Fault” Auto Insurance Mean?

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wrecked car
With no-fault auto insurance, car insurers pay claims up
to policy limits to customers regardless of fault.

In the context of auto insurance, the term “no-fault” simply means that car insurance customers will each get compensated for their own damages after an accident by their own insurance companies, without regard to who may be at fault for the accident. No matter who caused it, each driver is responsible for most of their own costs.

In return, insurance customers usually accept some restrictions on their right to recover additional money from the other driver via a lawsuit. Generally, no-fault provisions will apply up to a certain dollar amount of damages – typically $1,000 to $2,000.

No-Fault Laws

State legislatures write the laws governing insurance reimbursement and lawsuits, and many states have elected a ‘no-fault’ insurance system. As of this writing, the states which have enacted a no-fault auto insurance system to some degree are Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Utah. Each state has somewhat different laws governing the specifics.

The alternative system – enacted to at least some degree by other states, is a traditional tort system. Under the traditional tort system, people who suffer damages in an auto wreck are free to pursue damages from other drivers – and by extension, from their insurance companies through the courts. Establishing that one party or the other was “at fault” is a critical part of this process. But this process often requires lengthy and expensive investigations, inquests, and court proceedings. Victim compensation can be held up in litigation for months or years.

Example: You are driving near your residence in Florida and you get distracted. You run a stop sign. As a result, you collide with another car, causing $1,000 worth of minor cosmetic damage to the other vehicle, and $750 to your own. There are no injuries. You have a $500 deductible, and you file a claim.

Your insurance company pays you $250. That’s the $750 in damages, minus your $500 deductible.

Your insurance company does not normally pay the other drivers’ claim. The other driver, if insured, gets compensated by his own insurance company. There is no attempt to establish fault for the purpose of establishing liability (although if you make a habit of racking up claims, your insurer will probably adjust your premiums upward!)

Advantages of No-Fault Systems

The chief advantage of the no-fault auto-insurance system is its simplicity. Because smaller accidents do not require an extensive investigation to establish fault, insurance companies can process claims quickly – often compensating their customers in a matter of days, not weeks.

See Also — Vital Statistics: Car Accident Injuries

In theory, the system also reduces costs, since it eliminates much of the legal wrangling over the majority of accident cases. This translates to potentially lower premiums across the board, not just because of the efficiency, but also because drivers have lower limits on the damages they can be held liable to pay.

Disadvantages of No-Fault Systems

Theory and reality are two different things – and no-fault insurance systems have not been as successful in rolling back insurance costs as their proponents had originally hoped. The no-fault system tends to favor poorer drivers, at the expense of more responsible drivers because the costs of accidents are shared more evenly with the drivers who did nothing wrong.

Additionally, some people have abused no-fault provisions by using their auto insurance policies to substitute for medical policies, by combining an accident with insurance fraud. Critics of the system have argued that no-fault schemes hurt consumers by restricting their rights to sue for damages while not materially reducing their premiums.

Insurance Considerations

You don’t have to worry about figuring out your state’s requirements, because any insurance provider will do that for you. However, make sure you understand the potential financial impacts of an accident those relating to your own car, your own medical bills, and your potential liabilities so that you can choose a plan that’s right for you.

See Also — 7 Ways to Trim Car Insurance