Auto Claims: What to Do & When to Call the Police

If you’ve been driving for quite some time, you’ve likely at least come close to having a minor accident, or what they call a “fender-bender”. (If you’re unfamiliar with the term “fender-bender”, it refers to a low speed accident involving a car’s bumper, also known as its fender.) Although most minor accidents result in minor damages, and, thankfully, few injuries, they can be a pricey headache for all involved.

In last week’s post, we touched on the importance of filing a report with your insurance agency and calling the police after an accident, but we’re going to dive a bit more into that today. Even if your accident is minor and the damages small, it can still be scary, which might cause you to have difficulty thinking clearly. In fact, because of the adrenaline caused by being in an accident, many will not know of the extent or existence of their own injuries until days later. If any physical injury is suspected, contact medical help immediately.

If the damages are minor and no injury occurred, you might be tempted to bypass the police report or skip the call to your insurance agency, but keep in mind that insurance policies require you to report all car accidents, even the minor ones. If you know with certainty that you were not at fault, file the claim immediately, rather than trusting the other individual to pay for the damages.

And if you were at fault? Many people avoid making claims to their insurance agency out of fear that, if they were obviously at fault, their premiums will rise, but not filing the accident could be even worse. If you were at fault in an accident, you will likely receive a ticket or citation; your auto insurance company will eventually see this ticket when reviewing your driving records and realize that you were at fault, which would lead to major increases to your premiums!

Just as many avoid contacting their insurance agencies after an accident, many might deem the accident too minor to call the police. Think again! There are a variety of reasons to call the police after an accident, one of which being to report the incident at the scene, immediately after it occurs, when all details are clear. This will help to support your argument over the process of filing a claim. Also, if you decide not to call the police, you risk having an uninvolved party, like the car behind you, report the accident, accusing you of leaving the scene, which could lead to major complications to your claim and overall driving record.

This brings us to our next point: the Contributory Negligence State Law. This law refers to situations in which individuals placing a claim have played an obvious role in the events leading up to their injury. For instance, if a pedestrian is inattentive and is hit after negligently stepping out into traffic, they have contributed to their own harm, which might result in the loss or rejection of compensation.

For more on this, be sure to tune in at 12:05 tomorrow (Wednesday, June 30th) to La Raza 106.1 FM in Charlotte and La Raza 98.3 FM in Greensboro/Winston Salem. We will be discussing auto claims, what to do in the event of a collision, and why it is so important to file a police report. We will also be offering information regarding the Contributory Negligence State Law so that you better understand this law and how it might be applicable to certain accidents.