Driving to work or school, you are on a road or highway; all of a sudden you are in a traffic collision with another vehicle. Most of the time, you really do not know what happen, because it was quick and sudden.
You are in a fog; the next thing you may hear is a person asking you are you okay? Once you settle down, you give yourself a once over to make sure all of your limbs are intact and you have retained all of your faculties, you state that you are okay.
You get out of your car, assess the damage, you see that your vehicle may have sustained minor or major damage, you look for the other party involved in the traffic accident to figure out or determine what had happen, and who is probably the cause of the traffic collision.
In traffic accidents there are different ways of doing things, one way is not more important than the other, because all the information you can get is very important. From my experience about traffic accidents, you should proceed as follow;
- Check your physical condition.
- If there are injuries call emergency personal (fire, police etc.)
- Find witnesses.
- Do Not Make Any Statements to the other party as to what happen - advise insurance carrier or police only.
- Get other party insurance information, driver license, license plate (make, model of car).
- Call insurance company and report claim
- Get three estimates from body shops - also insurance companies have repair shops on record.
- Rental car - if you have rental coverage on policy - or asked the other party for rental coverage while vehicle in shop.
- Check your physical condition is very important, because when you are in a traffic accident, you senses are heightened, and you are in the flight or fight stage.
In this stage you may or may not feel any pain if you sustained any injuries, because your body senses may become very acute and monolithic. Sometimes someone has to point out that you have an injury. So first thing check your physical condition.
If there are injuries to you or any passengers you may have, call the emergency authorities at once, to get them rolling on their way to the accident scene. They are there to help you, anyone who is injured, also they can assist with attaining information as well.
- Find witnesses this is probably the most important thing to do, once you had an opportunity to check physical condition, check for injuries. Look for people who may have witnesses the accident, you have a very short time to do this, because these witnesses usually stay for a few minutes, then they proceed to wherever they were going.
Sometimes you may have someone come forward, give you their information. The majority of the times, people do not want to be involved unless they are asked to assist. Check the area for witnesses.
- Very important to remember is that you should not make any statements to any person around, that is not a police officer or your insurance carrier, as to what happen. Provide your insurance information to the other party is your only obligation under the law. Speak with your insurance carrier, let your insurance carrier, law enforcement authorizes figure out who's at fault.
- Get the other parties information such as; name, insurance carrier, driver license number, license plate number of the vehicle involved, get vehicle (make, model, year) if possible.
- Call your insurance carrier, report the claim, give them details of the traffic collision. If law enforcement asked for details, provide them with what you think may have happen, before and during the traffic collision.
- Getting estimates for three body shops, has diminished, because most insurance carriers have their own field adjusters who perform, many of the tasks that shops use to perform. The insurance carrier cannot force you to take your vehicle to their body shops for repairs, you are free to choose whatever shop you would like to have your vehicle repaired.
- Rental car service is provided if you have rental coverage on your policy, if you are at fault or not at fault for the traffic collision. If you do not have rental coverage on your policy and you are not at fault, for the traffic collision, you can advise the other parties carrier that you need a rental vehicle while your vehicle is being repaired.
The other party’s insurance carrier will pay the rental daily rates for you. But you have to ask for rental for this service to be provided. A lot of insurance carriers do not want to pay for this service, unless you asked them for rental to be provided. It's your right.
This is the basic way, How To File an Insurance Claim Traffic Auto Accident Claim.
