I Was in a Car Wreck, Now What?

You are just driving home from work or picking up your kids, or maybe just running an errand and a driver who is not paying attention hits your car and causes a wreck. Now, what do you do?

While this simple scenario can lead to complicated issues, there are a few things you can do early on in the process in order to put yourself in the best position to have a favorable outcome should you decide to move forward with litigation against the person who caused the car wreck.

• Make sure you call the police so they can come out and do an accident report. Outside of the police having the ability to take statements, the accident report will also be able to provide you with the other driver’s home address and insurance information.
• Be careful speaking with the other driver as to the cause of the car wreck (Unless they want to admit it was their fault). The other driver may try and twist your words later.
• If you are in any pain, go see a doctor as soon as possible even if it does not hurt that bad immediately after the wreck. Far too often pain that seems minor at first gets progressively worse as the days or weeks go by, and what you thought was just a sore neck turns out to be a more serious issue. If you wait to see a doctor, insurance companies love to use the gap in treatment between the time of the wreck and you going to the doctor against you in order to try and say you actually injured yourself sometime after the wreck.
• If possible, take photos of your vehicle and yourself if you have any cuts, scrapes, or bruises.
• It’s ok to go ahead and call your insurance company and let them know you were in a car wreck especially if your car is not drivable and you need a rental. However, be careful of giving a detailed statement to any insurance company without representation.

While the above is not an exhaustive list and every car wreck has unique issues, doing these things can help you navigate some of the early issues that can arise and hopefully help ease some of the stress of the unknown.