After you have been in a car accident, there are many administrative details that you need to handle, no matter who was at fault. The days after the accident may involve medical treatment and many phone calls.

You must get the medical help you need and begin to engage in the administrative and legal process if you want to get the compensation you may be due when the accident was someone else’s fault. However, doing the wrong thing can also complicate the situation and potentially cost you money.

Your Policy May Require You to Call Your Insurance Company

There are many choices and decisions that you have to make after an accident. One of your first decisions concerns whether to report the accident to your insurance company when the crash was not your fault. You may be obligated to make this phone call by the terms of your policy. Even if you are not, you should still report the accident to your own insurance company out of an abundance of caution.

Nonetheless, your insurance company is not your friend. They are also taking notes about what you say, ready to turn your words against you if it suits their financial purposes.

In fact, hire a car accident lawyer to handle these communications for you. A lawyer can deal with adverse insurers, but they can report your accident to your provider to ensure you give them proper notice without saying the wrong thing.

An Attorney Can Help You in the Days After an Accident

An experienced car accident attorney can help you navigate the legal process and keep you from dealing with the details. Your lawyer can help you avoid the mistakes that trip up many car accident claimants and cost them money.

You do not want to do too much after a traumatic event. It is better to seek help from a professional with the capacity and experience to make an effective case on your behalf.

While you or your attorney may need to contact the other driver’s insurance to file a claim, there are reasons why you need to call your insurance provider. First, it may be necessary under the terms of your policy. You may have a legal obligation to report damages to your own vehicle. Otherwise, the insurance company may not provide you with any coverage, and they may hike your rates for failing to follow the terms of your policy.

You should report the accident to your insurance company because the other driver’s insurer will likely contact them. The two companies together will discuss the accident and determine who was at fault. If the two insurance companies do not agree on who was at fault, they might go in front of an arbitrator, who will make the decision.

You May Need Your Insurance Company to Pay

If you are waiting for the other driver’s insurance to pay your claim, it can be weeks or months before you see any money. Your own insurance company might begin to pay to repair your car and for your medical care in the meantime. If you get a settlement check for your accident damages, your insurance company can seek reimbursement for the money it has already paid.

You may also need your own insurance company. If the other driver has the minimum amount of auto insurance coverage, chances are that it may not be enough to cover your damages. You might need to file a claim against your insurance policy, assuming you have underinsured motorist coverage. This coverage is mandatory in some states, but it is wise for all drivers to carry it.

In case you need to file a claim with your own coverage, your insurance company should know about the accident. Then, it will be easier to connect your injuries to this accident when the time comes to file a claim.

What Your Insurance Company Needs to Know

When you speak to your insurance company, you should provide:

• The names of the drivers that were involved in the accident and their contact information
• The insurance carrier and policy number for the other driver
• The date and time of the accident
• Where the accident happened
• The name of the law enforcement officer who showed up at the scene and wrote the accident report
• The details of the damage to your car and any injuries that you suffered

You do not have to go into detail about the accident itself, nor should you. It may not be smart to discuss the accident with anyone other than an attorney when it is still fresh, and you may be emotional about it.

Your Insurance Company Is Not on Your Side

When you speak with your insurance, you must be careful with what you say to them. Do not make the mistake of trusting your own insurance company. Their interests are not the same as yours. Your insurance company might be in a position where they need to pay you money eventually if the other driver did not have a large enough insurance policy to cover your damages. You may need to rely on your underinsured motorist coverage to pay for the balance of your injuries.

Then, your insurance company will turn on you in a hurry. If they have any information they can use against you, they will not hesitate to do so. Your insurance company is the same for-profit business entity as any other company, and they are looking for a way to save money at your expense. Suddenly, the company that pitches itself to you as your reassuring friend in your time of being becomes your enemy really fast.

Be Careful About What You Say to the Insurance Company

Therefore, you should avoid the following mistakes when you are speaking with your own insurance company:

• Never admit fault in your car accident – Do not reach your own conclusions about what happened and relay them to the insurance company. While you should report the facts of your accident, you should let the insurance companies reach their conclusions about what happened based on the evidence your lawyer presents.
• Do not comment on or downplay your injuries – The insurance company may ask you how you are doing or if you are alright. You should not tell them that you are okay because they use this information against you when you seek compensation for your injuries.
• Do not editorialize when speaking about your car accident – Your description should stick to exactly what happened. Never try to guess the cause of something or say anything prefaced with “I think” or “I guess.”
• Do not get emotional about your accident – When you get emotional or lose your composure, you are more likely to say the wrong thing and make a mistake. The insurance adjusters know how to probe when they sense a weak spot in your case.

Do Not Say More Than Is Necessary on the Call

Once you say something, it can become part of the record that the insurer uses against you at a later date. It is hard to undo the damage that an errant statement can cause. The insurance companies do not care that you made it when you did not have a lawyer and have since obtained legal help.

Once you have given the basic details of the accident and the insurance company has enough information, you should end the call. They may try to keep you on the phone to learn more about the accident. However, you can politely say that you need to go or are not feeling up to speaking more.

Let Your Lawyer Deal With the Other Driver’s Insurance Company

While you need to be careful about speaking with your insurance company, you must avoid the other driver’s insurance company at all costs until you are ready to file a claim. In some cases, this is easier said than done. Usually, it is the other driver’s insurance company that comes looking for you. They want to get you on the record, making some type of admission that they can use against you when the two insurance companies try to determine liability.

In addition, the other driver’s insurance company may be looking ahead to the actual claim, even when they know their driver was at fault for what happened. They may want to get you on record downplaying your own injuries or saying that you are not that badly hurt. They will use this information against you when it comes time to pay you a settlement. For example, if you have given them information about your injury, they will act like it is an established fact, even if a doctor has not checked you out and diagnosed you yet.

Call a Car Accident Attorney Right After Your Crash

You should contact an attorney as soon as possible after the accident. It is always better not to try to deal with the insurance company on your own. You never know when an innocent-sounding question can trip you up into saying something that undercuts the strength of your case. In addition, it is stressful trying to handle the details of your claim on your own. You likely do not have the legal experience to deal effectively with the insurance company.

The longer you go without legal help, the higher your risk of making an error that will cost you money. You are better off hiring an experienced attorney as soon as you can and letting them handle the details and the communications with the insurance company. They know how insurance companies operate and how to keep you out of the pitfalls that can harm your case.

The Insurance Company Needs to Speak to Your Attorney

When you have hired an attorney, the insurance company will need to deal with them. Insurance companies treat you differently when they know that you have an attorney on your side. They realize that they cannot get away with the same behavior that they might try if you were handling your case on your own.

Unfortunately, many people think that they are better off when they try to represent themselves in their claim, but the financial results say otherwise. Some people even take the first offer that the insurance company makes, thinking that it is a final determination of their compensation.

One reason why you should seek legal help as soon as possible is that the services of an experienced attorney come at no risk to you. A car accident lawyer will not ask you to pay them a retainer as a condition of them working for you. They will not send you hourly bills while your case is pending.

Instead, your attorney’s services come on a contingency basis, meaning they only receive a payment if you win your case. If you receive a settlement or jury award, your attorney gets fees from the proceeds of your case. If you do not win your case, your attorney does not get fees for their time and efforts. Even after paying your attorney a portion of your financial recovery, you will usually still be much better off than if you tried to handle your case on your own.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by allowing a personal injury lawyer to handle all of your insurance communications from the beginning of the claim process.

Schedule A Free Consultation