If you are in a car wreck, even if it is a minor accident:
- Make sure you are okay. Your health is first priority.
- Call 911 immediately if you can so there can be an official report – remember if the wreck is honestly not your fault do not say you’re sorry or this could latter be understood as fault. If you cannot, have someone else call them and request the police and an ambulance. You cannot be too careful.
- Take a quick picture with your phone – even if a car has come to a stop and the driver gets out they sometimes freak out and still leave the scene.
- Exchange info making sure they are who they say they are. Ask for a drivers license and not just take their word that they are “John Doe”. If they are illegal or a criminal at large, they don’t want you to have their real identity and may give you the name of whom the car they are driving is registered to for example. Also, if they give you a cell number, make sure you call it and it rings the phone if their possession.
- Take more pictures. It is always funny that if you have plenty of pictures of the damages, the insurance company never needs them, but if you don’t have pictures they are all the sudden a must.
- Don’t panic and say things you will regret. You may think you are okay at the moment. The adrenalin rush you have experienced with the car wreck can minimize your level of pain. But the reality is you are NOT OKAY. Minor car wrecks, even at speeds of 15-25 mph cause tension in your body, which you DO NOT experience under any normal circumstances in your life. Even minor whiplash type injuries which appear insignificant can cause permit damage.
- Stay on the scene until you are allowed to seek medical attention. It is always the best policy to get checked out just in case because of all the emotions and adrenal going through your system.
- Go to the ER immediately after the wreck. Even in the case there is no ambulance, have someone drive you there. The insurance may say you were fine if you drove yourselves. At the ER take a complete examination (please not here) by a DOCTOR, not a nurse or physician’s assistance. Retain all exams, reports, records and most of all INITIAL RECORDS. While doctors are required by law to keep their reports, they are NOT required to keep or give you your x-rays. If the doctor suggests not doing x-rays and waiting until you are seen by your personal physician, you should insist so you have proof of your immediate condition after the wreck.
- Go and see in PERSON a family doctor (not a chiropractor although you may feel like you need one) immediately within 24-48 hours of the wreck. Do this even though you may think you are okay because a whiplash type injury is progress and you may not feel it’s effects until days later. Retain a copy of their report, (especially X-rays for the reasons described above). If you don’t, the insurance or their defense may later say that you were fine after the wreck and something else caused your pain and suffering, for which they cannot be responsible. How do I know this? Because they did it to me, in court, in front of the judge and jury.
If you are experiencing a soft-tissue damage, go see a chiropractor. - Claim your copy of the POLICE REPORT.
- CALL a GOOD LAWYER. Within 24-hours of filing your claim with the insurance, you will get a call from an insurance adjuster for a statement. This statement will be recorded. Anything you say in it will be held against you until the closing of your case. I did not know this. I acted in good will and gave a statement, although 24 hours after the wreck I was not YET clear neither of my condition, nor of the condition of my vehicle. My advice to you is CALL a GOOD LAWYER and let them handle your case.
- Keep a positive attitude. Understand that insurance adjusters deal with people like you every single day of their lives and this is how they trick, treat and play the game. Your lawyer is concerned ONLY with his cut from the whole deal, not with your pain and suffering, regardless of what he/she said on the hand-dandy TV add, for which your settlement is now paying. This is how the system works and for now there is no better way. So man-up, set your mind, chin-up and start getting ready for the fight OR give up and live with it for the rest of your life.
