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What To Do If You’re Involved In A Car Accident

(And what not to do)

Even if you are the most careful driver in the whole wide world, there are no guarantees that you won’t be involved in some sort of car crash. You can never be sure about what the other driver is going to do . . .

Car Accidents happen every single day of the year, very often to people who are careful drivers and have never been involved in an accident in their lives, so it’s important that you have some idea of what to do if you do find yourself in such an unfortunate situation.

• Report it - always report your car accident to the law immediately, so that a law enforcement officer can attend and complete any appropriate forms.
• Never negotiate a “private settlement” between yourself and the other parties involved in the accident.  If you do this bit of “on the side” dealing you can easily find yourself out of pocket and if there is no official record of the accident happening it’ll all boil down to your word against the word of the other driver.  If you don’t involve the law then you’re really leaving yourself wide open for problems in the future.
• Ensure that the investigating law officer makes a complete record of any insurance information right there on the crash report. It’s up to you to make sure that he/she does a good job, after all, it could be you who will suffer if they don’t.
• Inform your car insurance company immediately after the accident. Most insurance companies will allow a specified time which should be written on your policy. If you can’t contact them immediately then do so as soon as is possible, and definitely within that specified time period.
• If it becomes apparent (or you even suspect) that the other person involved in the accident has insufficient insurance, or no insurance at all then you must inform your insurance company of your suspicions. They have lots of resources at their disposal to be able to check out this type of information and act accordingly.
• Never confront anyone at the scene of the accident, even if they are the ones at fault. You really don’t know who you are dealing with, they might be violent for all you know. It’s a much better idea to let your car insurance company deal with everything, it’s what they’re there for and they’ll know just what to do.