About Car Accident Claims

Car accidents are usually bad experiences for everyone involved. These unfortunate circumstances can be compounded when the parties disagree on the events leading up to the accident and on who is at fault. This is why car accident claims exist. They allow the insured parties to air their grievances with their respective agents, and to file claims against the other party's insurance company, requesting that the they be compensated for their client's negligence.

Function

A car accident claim is filed when a person involved in the accident wants to be compensated by the other party's insurance agent for the damages that were caused in the accident if he believes the accident was not his fault. This claim will cover any physical damage incurred during the accident, as well as any personal damage to the people inside the vehicle.

Time Frame

Car accident claims should be filed as soon as possible. Once your vehicles have been cleared off the road, insurance and personal information has been exchanged and you have made your way back home or to a safe location, you should then contact your insurance agent to give your statement and provide them with the other party's insurance information. The quicker you are able to begin this process the better, since your recollection of the accident will still be fresh in your head. Most people file their initial claim on the day that the accident occurs. If you seek medical treatment at a later date and time, you can always call your insurance agent back to begin the process of adding that additional claim.

Features

Once a car accident claim is filed and your insurance is notified, you can then proceed to have your vehicle repaired at a designated auto shop. Once your car has been received by the shop, an employee will want to engage in a "walk-through" with you, in which you can identify what damage you believe your car received from the accident and what damage or flaws existed prior to the accident. You will face the same type of questioning when seeking medical attention. Medical personnel will want to know about any pre-existing conditions or injuries, as well as what new maladies have sprung up since the accident in order to determine what physical injuries you suffered as a result of the accident.

Considerations

Often, both parties will file car accident claims against each other. This occurs frequently unless the cause of the accident is clear and agreed upon by both parties. One should note, however, that filing an accident claim does not necessarily mean that your claim will be granted in full. Once both parties give their statements to their insurance agents and those agents compare their versions, along with the damages to the vehicles, fault will usually be assigned to one party, whose claim will then be denied by the other party's insurance agent. Even if the accident is ruled in your favor, you may still not receive compensation for everything you are claiming. Professionals will examine the facts of the accident and the vehicular damage to determine what damage and injuries they believe were legitimately caused by the accident, so it is not advisable to claim additional repairs in the hopes of getting previous dings repaired for free.

Benefits

There are a few things you can do to help your case when you're filing a car accident claim or at least allow the investigation to go more smoothly. Talk to anyone who may have witnessed the accident and get the version of events as she saw it. Take down the names and phone numbers of anyone who confirms your sequence of events. Call the police or highway patrol once everyone is safely to the side of the road and request that the officer take an accident report. A police report can greatly benefit a claim and cut out much of the he-said-she-said jargon that comes with a majority of accidents. Note, however, that a party can dispute the police report's assignment of blame in court. Take pictures of your damage and the other person's to prevent the other party from tampering with his vehicle before your insurance agent has a chance to examine it. Try not to talk to the other party involved in the accident, especially if he seems agitated, paranoid or otherwise unstable. You should note, however, any weird behavior that he displays if he appears under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Bring any concerns you may have to the police officer's attention once he arrives. Most importantly, never admit blame at the site of an accident.