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Your heart is pounding and your thoughts have screeched to an abrupt halt. It’s a moment out of time, but not in a good way. You have just been in an auto accident.
Everything happened so fast. You had no time to think. You could only react.
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Car accidents happen all the time. They can occur to anyone and anywhere. Sometimes it’s because you or one of your employees made a mistake and other times it is someone else’s fault. More than six million car accidents take place each year. Luckily, most of them result only in property damage to the vehicle. But one in three auto accidents results in personal injury to the drivers or the passengers. Of those, two out of ten car accidents cause fatal injuries.
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Follow These Four Steps After an Auto Accident
When you have a car accident, there are specific steps you can take in place to ensure that everyone around you is safe, follows the law, and start the car insurance claim process properly.
But things get disorderly fast after you meet with a car accident. Moreover, given the speed of traffic and the number of cars on the road, the probability of being in a car accident expands as well. To ameliorate the damage after an accident, it’s good to know ahead of time the best process to follow afterward.
So follow steps below. These will help you after you have a car accident.
1. Check Yourself for Injuries and Call the Police
The first thing to check is whether you or your passengers are injured. If anyone is injured then call the ambulance and wait. After you’ve been in an auto accident it can be difficult to think straight. But it is really important to evaluate what is going on. And the foremost thing you should do is to find out if anyone is injured.
Whether the accident is regarded as a minor fender-bender or a major collision, calling the police is critical. Some states legally require you to do this. The police officers who respond will fill out the official incident report and give you a Case ID number. You can later use this number to find the crash report online.
However, if the police couldn’t come to the accident scene, you should go to the nearest police station and complete a report there. When you file a claim with the insurance company, they may ask for a copy of the police report to begin the process.
2. Collect Important Information
Using the camera on your mobile phone, take a picture of important documents from the other driver. Alternatively, use a pen and a piece of paper. Take down the name, address, mobile numbers, and driver’s license number of persons who were there when the auto accident happened. If the name of the driver doesn’t meet up with the car registration or with the insurance paper, find out the person’s relationship with the owner of the vehicle.
Next, collect information about the color, license number, and the identification number of the vehicles. Get the other driver’s insurance policy number in case the other person doesn’t report it. See if there are witnesses who would be willing to share information about what they saw.
3. Document the Scene of the Auto Accident
Record every detail about the car accident with your smartphone. Take a video of the scene of the car accident, ensuring that you capture any skid marks or property damage.
Write down the street names and the direction each vehicle was traveling. If you can, draw a sketch of the accident scene. After you have documented the scene, share these details about your auto accident with the police and your car insurance company. Reporting the car accident is important. You and the other people involved must do this within two or three days after the accident.
Also, make sure to keep records of any medical or auto repair expenses that occur because of the accident.
4. Protect Your Rights
The most important thing you must do after you have an auto accident is to consult your attorneys. Your attorney can tell you about your rights and ensure that everything is handled in a fair and even-handed way.
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It Is Important to Know What to Do After an Auto Accident
Having a car accident can be bad. But knowing what to do after you or one of your employees have been in an auto accident can have a major effect on your finances as well as your physical and emotional health. By remembering the aforementioned steps, you can safeguard yourself legally.
