Even the most careful of drivers can become involved in an accident from time to time. It can seem a bit overwhelming to deal with the aftermath of such an event, what with the medical needs to attend to in addition to everything else. You have a car that will need to be repaired, time off work to consider, and a whole host of other items that become more difficult to attend to as a result of the accident. Regardless of whether or not the accident is your fault or not, you will want a personal injury lawyer working on your behalf. One of the questions that they can help answer for you is whether or not you need to notify your insurance company after an auto accident.
Insurance Companies Are Difficult To Deal With
The first thing you have to remember is that insurance companies can often be difficult to deal with. They are are often very nice when collecting your premiums month after month for years, but can be extremely unpleasant the moment you need to collect benefits. While you do need to let them know right away that you have been involved in an accident, it is better to allow your personal injury law firm deal with them directly.
Let Your Lawyer Answer the Questions
An insurance agent or company will have a lot of questions in the moments after an accident. You may or may not be in the best condition to be able to fully answer those questions in a way that will benefit you. Insurance companies are great at trying to distort the facts of an accident and look for any angle they can to cut down the financial claim that they eventually pay out to you. It is sad that this is true even if you are their own client. You can keep this from happening by having a lawyer be the point of contact every step of the way after an accident. Once you retain a lawyer, you can simply any and all calls from the insurance company to your persona injury attorney directly.
Steps to Take
If you have been involved in an accident, the first thing you need to do is to take care of yourself and your passengers first. If, and only if you are able to, you should collect as much information as you can from the scene of the crime. Begin by insisting the police be called. Even if the accident appears to be minor, you will want the police to come and write up a report. This report will be invaluable to your attorney moving forward. You will also want to make sure that you collect the contact information of the other driver, and any witness that are there as well. Do not make a big scene if they refuse to provide that information, but just do your best.
Take Pictures
If you are like most people today, you have a smart phone. Use that to capture as many pictures as you can of the accident scene. Do not worry if the picture is relevant or not, as that is the relative of digital film – it costs you nothing. Just take the pictures and then send them to your lawyer to sort through. This is often how the lawyer will determine how to proceed with your case and get you the financial compensation that you are entitled to.
Seek Medical Help
You will also want to get yourself checked out by a medical professional right away. Do not think that just because the accident was minor and you feel no pain to be an indication that you are not injured. Many car accident injuries do not manifest themselves until days or even weeks after the accident. You need to get yourself to the doctor and get checked out. Your lawyer will help you sort through the medical expenses.
In short, let the lawyer deal with the insurance company. This will allow you to focus on your own recovery. That is the most important thing. Contact a lawyer in your area today to schedule a consultation and get on the path to legal representation.
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