Insurance and Car Accident Claims

After an accident, placing an insurance claim can be very confusing. At some point, you will have to deal with the insurance companies and agents for your company and the other driver’s company. Filing the claims and dealing with adjusters can be hard if you do not know what to do. Here are a few things you should and should not do when it comes to insurance claims.

Do

Do contact your insurance agency as quickly as possible after the accident. The agent for your insurance company is the most important person to contact after the accident.

Do read your personal insurance policy, and ask questions if you do not understand. You should know your own coverage limits for bodily injury and vehicle coverage limits.
Do take pictures of the damage to cars involved, and get names or phone numbers for all people involved, as well as witnesses. Also get insurance information for the other drivers involved in the accident.

Do keep record of all the names and numbers as well as all phone calls between yourself and the insurance companies. Save your bills and receipts for the repairs to your vehicle or medical treatments you incur.

Don’t

Don’t admit you are at fault, but always be honest with insurance adjusters without giving opinion. Always state the facts and do not make assumptions. Determining the liable party will be done by looking at circumstances and investigating the accident.

Don’t write anything out for insurance companies, including your own if you don’t understand your own policy or any of the claim. Also, don’t let the statute of limitations run out on your accident by waiting too long to file a claim. Insurance companies will ask that you file any claims within certain time frames after an accident, so be sure to file within the specified time frame or your claim could be turned down.

Don’t take everything said by an insurance agent as fact. Insurance companies will try to give accurate estimates, but don’t accept estimates without doing research on your own. An insurance company will try to give you less than what you are actually entitled to in order to keep costs down. Take your vehicle to at least three shops and get estimates on paper from all of them. The insurance company will generally try to pay the lowest of the three estimates.

The Mobile accident lawyers of Burns, Cunningham & Mackey, P.C., have experience litigating wrongful death, medical negligence, spinal cord injury, and other personal injury cases, in addition to business litigation cases.