No matter how experienced you might be as a driver, a car accident can rattle you to your core. If you don’t know how to deal with this challenge, it can affect your health, your finances, and your overall well-being in the long run. Also, not knowing what to do after a car accident can affect one’s ability to file insurance claims or get injury compensation following a crash.
Also, you need to look after yourself by ensuring that you identify any injuries you may have sustained following the car accident.
While it may look easy to handle, you need to be prepared to avoid missing out on essential aspects that can either affect your ability to file your insurance claim, get an injury compensation, or stay on the right side of the law, just in case, also without compromising your health.
To make sure that you know how to deal with a car accident, here are a few essential tips on what to do after an auto collision.
Essential Things To Do After a Car Accident
Here are some important tips you need to follow after an auto collision.
1. Stay calm
Right after experiencing a car accident, it’s common to feel an adrenaline rush. But it’s crucial that you stay calm. When you consider that what you do next can impact your physical, mental, and financial health, you can easily get through the essential steps. Being in control of your thoughts is the key to making anything you do stand the test of time, which works in this case as well.
2. Don’t flee the accident scene
Whatever you do, do not flee the scene in any case. This not only saves you from incriminating yourself and putting more liability over your shoulders but also helps you recover your losses and get the medical help that you need. For example, if your windshield is damaged, your insurance provider may need detailed accounts from the scene before running your claim through auto glass software.
3. Check for injuries
While being in control of your thoughts and staying on the scene, quickly check yourself and your passengers for injuries. If the injuries aren’t major and if another car is involved, you may also want to check the other driver and see if anyone in their vehicle is injured. You can also use a vehicle accident kit to treat or manage injuries until emergency services arrive.
4. Get to a safe space
If your car accident took place in the middle of the road, you need to move your car to the side or put up emergency signs that tell traffic to move around you. This prevents further harm while making sure that you can get through the next important steps without any obstructions. Many car accident kits have reflective signs that you can put up easily.
5. Call law enforcement
In some states, it is necessary to call law enforcement for every accident. Besides, when you move forward with filing a claim with your insurance company, they refer to the police report. But be careful about what you say. For example, if you take CBD and even if you are aware of cannabinoid effects on your health, telling the police can be misconstrued as you being under the influence.
6. Contact emergency services
While you may not need to call emergency services for minor injuries, you might need to do that if anyone’s injuries are major. This helps you get first aid on the scene while also arranging a ride to the ER. This also paves an easier path to get a medical report that you may need in order to file an insurance claim or a personal injury claim.
7. Get the other driver’s contact information
If another driver is involved in the accident, make sure that you exchange your contact information with them. This includes your name, phone number, address, driver’s license number, and the car’s license plate number. In some locations and situations, you may also want each other’s insurance details to file your claims. In case taking this information is difficult, you can use a contact management app.
8. Take photos
Taking photos of the scene of the accident is a highly critical step in gathering evidence. This can save you from being held at fault while also streamlining the insurance claims process. If you don’t have major injuries, you can complete this step pretty easily. You can also take videos and store them in your cloud drive. This helps you build a strong case for insurance and legal claims.
9. Speak to the police
Once police arrive at the scene, take your time speaking to them. Make sure that you do not assign blame to yourself because this can go into your police report and make insurance claims more difficult in some cases. With that being said, be honest with the police and remain factual about the accident. You can get a copy of the police report later on to dispute any errors.
10. Get a medical checkup
Even if you feel fine at the time of the accident, you should get a medical checkup. This can help you identify internal injuries that could later be a source of a bigger problem. It can also help make it easier to tie these injuries to the accident when you are filing for claims. While a telehealth platform can help diagnose some problems, you might want to go to the ER or urgent care.
11. Contact Your Insurance Provider
Many insurance providers make it necessary for you to call them within 2-3 days of the accident, while others make this timeline even shorter. If you don’t have an insurance policy at the time of reading this guide, you can look for a list of insurance companies that could help you find coverage. This step initiates the process to get compensated for your losses.
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In some cases, you might need legal assistance. But in others, it’s not necessary. More often than not, learning these steps can help you navigate the maze of dealing with an accident. Remember, it’s about your safety, medical attention, as well as legal/insurance concerns.
