What To Do Uninsured Driver Accident Settlement Statistics Motorcycle Accident Truck Accident Contact Us Accident Form Send Photos Pictures		If An Accident Happens Stop your car in a safe place close to the accident. Call for help then help the injured people. Alert other motorists by using flares, or hazard lights. Call 911 for an ambulance or contact the Police or California Highway Patrol if an injury or death occurs. Take notes on the accident and write down information about the other driver, car, witnesses, passengers, accident location and what happened. Ask to see the other driver's license, car registration and insurance. If the other driver says they do not have any one item with them, call a law enforcement agency immediately. It is your right to see the information and copy it down so you have record. Make sure you write down the license plate of the other vehicle and driver's license number, along with addresses, phone and work numbers. Always Cooperate fully with law enforcement officers. DO NOT ADMIT FAULT to other driver or anyone else. Speak with your insurance agent and/or lawyer before accepting any blame. Admitting blame will raise your insurance rates and could come back at you in other ways. If asked if you were at fault, say you do not know as it all happened so fast. Avoid the questions if it is repeated. Simply state I do not know who is at fault. It will have to be determined from the accident report. Know your legal rights. Someone might say, "I do not want to turn this accident into my insurance company and we can work out. I will pay for the damages". If you say yes, you are taking a chance that you will get paid for your car's damage, and limiting yourself in case any injury shows up later. It is always beneficial to contact a personal injury attorney if you have been injured in any way. Car accidents involve the unique provisions of Insurance Law. It is important to contact an auto accident attorney to cover yourself. Our web information is a guide for you to know what to do. A good attorney or law firm will consider and assess the coverage of several policies, including that of the other driver. In the event that you are in an accident as a passenger or hit by an insured motorist, it will be difficult to know what you need if you are not familiar with insurance law. If you have uninsured motorist insurance you are now going to deal with your insurance company adjuster. Keep in mind that once this happens it now becomes competitive; no different than if you were dealing with another driver's insurance company. Your own insurance company is going to want to cover damages and injuries and you are going to want to collect. They want to limit their expense and you are going to want to cover existing expenses and any possible on going expenses. You and your attorney need to consider and assess the coverage of several policies, including that of the other drivers involved in an accident. Combinations of insurance facts have to be reviewed to best suit a case. Knowledge of insurance is of particular value to passengers who are injured in other vehicles. A proper insurance analysis for your case will involve consideration of several policies, for medical bills and lost wages, coverage for residual damages, disability, past and future lost earnings, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of quality of life. It is essential that motor vehicle accident victims understand that the other driver's insurance company, as well as your company may have interests that are conflicting to your own. You should not speak to any representative from any insurance company without first being prepared or consulting with an attorney. What is said at this point is going to be recorded in a statement of facts. If you do not know what to say, hire an attorney even for consultation on a hourly bases to help you prepare. Once an attorney has accepted the case, the law firm will take steps, which will help prove liability (who was at fault), and accentuate your known facts. Normally the law firm will motion to "freeze" and preserve the evidence, which could vanish in time. This evidence may include any accident photographs of damage to the vehicles, roadway conditions and skid marks, as well as witness statements. Always keep copies and never give original information or pictures to anyone always make copies, including pictures. This insures you from not having lost information. During the case procedures which can take months and in some cases a year or longer, an attorney will conduct discovery in order to compile information from the accident scene or the opposition. During this time, the law firm you're using should make sure that you have the best medical treatment possible. You are going to need properly written medical recommendations or treatment documentation of your injuries and the effect on your life that the injury has caused. Always check out the reputation of any professionals that you get referred to by your attorney or your general medical doctor. Many medical doctors refer any serious injury and treatment to a specialist in the local area. Rural areas are sometimes limited and medical specialist's may be several hours away. In some cases in another state requiring additional hardship and expense to get the best treatment. With today's ever-increasing road accidents, one has to be watchful for the deliberate drivers who cause an accident to happen to collect insurance money. These drivers cause rear end accidents where they will pull in front of an unsuspecting driver and slam on their brakes causing the car they are driving to be rear ended by the unsuspecting driver. Some deliberate accident drivers work in pairs with another who witnesses the accident by telling the police what they saw, "the car in the rear hit the car in front." Some have been known to work with attorneys and medical personnel to gain large insurance settlements. If you suspect that this has happened to you, let your insurance company know and also any investigating police of CHP officer. Most adjusters will ask for proof of anything you claim as an expense. Be sure you keep receipts for prescriptions, household services like lawn-mowing or getting someone to cook or shop for you, car rentals, and so forth. Note the mileage between your doctor visits and home, plus any time you lose work, and the gross amount of wages you are loosing when you are getting treatment. Keep each of those receipts so you can document every expense. Copy the receipts and keep an accounting to give to the adjuster or your attorney. An experienced adjuster might try to make your claim seem unimportant. Without legal help from an injury attorney you may have no idea of the real value of your claim. We want to point out that not every adjuster is to be looked as a bad person. Adjusters have to do their job and you and the attorney you have on your side must be prepared to do yours. The insurance claim industry as a whole has a fair rating. However some adjusters and their methods can bring it down. The insurance adjuster may try to tell you that your claim is worth much less than it really is. It is his or her job to save the insurance company money by settling your claim for as little as possible. Many adjusters are fair, and others will make you or your attorney work for every dollar, especially if they get frustrated. Most will negotiate if you are prepared on your end. An experienced adjuster might try to make your claim seem insignificant. Without legal help from an injury or accident attorney you may have no idea of the real value of your claim.		After An Accident Don't deal with the injury on your own. No matter how small an injury, be sure to call your physician and set up an appointment to be examined. Get medical treatment. Report the accident to your insurance company. Do not make a statement at this time. Simply give them the date, time of accident and the other driver's information. You must report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles within 10 days if someone is injured or killed or if damage to either car is more than $500. Get a copy of the accident report. Contact the other drivers insurance company or your own. Make a claim with your insurance company and/or the other driver's to pay for your injuries and losses. Give them the accident report case number. Contact us to get price evaluation reports and any possible deductible credits. Email MVAA@accidentadvisory.org Seek out and get identification of any witnesses. If you are not injured write down their names and addresses, phone numbers, and interview them. Be sure to get the other drivers information and drivers license number. Ask for them to show you their vehicle registration and write down the registered owner, and legal owner. Also get their insurance card information especially the policy number and claims information. Personally look at them to see that the driver, insurance and registration all line up. If they do not, write down all the information, contact the police or Highway Patrol to come to the accident scene. If you have been injured, ask someone there to help you with the information. Have them ask the witnesses what they saw and make a note of phrases they used like "slammed into," "plowed," "speeding," or "s/he ran the red light," they failed to stop at the stop sign," the driver didn't signal for the turn. Make sure the person who helps you gives you their contact information. As well as people they spoke too. Make sure that you get the person who helps you contact information if you can before you leave in the ambulance. Schedule a doctor's appointment as soon as possible after the accident so the adjuster cannot question your injury. Insurance adjusters frequently ask attorneys, "If your client was in fact hurt, why did s/he wait so long to seek medical treatment?" We all can be reluctant to see the doctor for treatment when we're injured; many want to tough it out. Nevertheless if you're hurt, you need to pursue medical treatment immediately. Take pictures of your vehicle immediately after the accident. It is a good point to carry a camera loaded with film in your car at all times. Disposable camera's work great for this, be sure to get one with flash. These pictures will support supplied information about the severity of the collision associated with your accident. When the adjuster asks for proof of the accident, it is difficult to dispute a picture taken of your car at the accident scene. Pictures of the damaged vehicles will help tell your side of the story. If possible, take pictures of the other cars involved at the accident. In many situations, the seat belt straps will bruise drivers or passengers across their shoulder and chest, after several weeks these bruises heal. Take pictures of your injuries before they heal try to take them within the first 24 to 48 hours. In injury cases it could be months later, that an insurance adjuster might argue that the crash was not very serious. Pictures of your bruises and other injuries will help solidify your claim for injury compensation. Do not give the pictures to the adjuster to keep. You might need them later or your attorney might need them if you go to court. Keep notes about your injuries. In a few months, you might forget how it hurt getting out of bed, standing up or just to get dressed. An adjuster might try to make it seem like any description you give is an exaggeration. Be aware that they get paid to settle for the least amount they can. Write down your pain medications and what they were for if you get them from your doctor after an accident. Get letters from your employer and family describing how the injury has changed your life. These kinds of supportive written documents are extremely valuable when presenting the claim to the insurance claim adjuster or to a judge and jury in court hearing. Remember the insurance company is not on your side. Their objective is to keep as much of their money as possible by giving you as little as possible for your injuries. Who you choose as an attorney is up to you, just keep in mind that you need an experienced, hard-line law firm on your side. Don't go it alone. Being victorious in the case is only half the battle. Nonetheless a victory is more like a loss in the event that the recovery is small. All too often people don't realize that in a personal injury lawsuit, you have a right to recover for damages that have taken place, as well as those which will affect you in future years. Settlements are complex, combinations of insurance coverage and what benefits can be used to best suit your medical treatment and case. Insurance knowledge is of particular value to passengers who are injured in someone else's vehicle. Proper insurance analysis for your case will involve consideration of several policies, which may include, health insurance, MediCal-cal medical grants for bills. Extensive injuries that disfigure or burn injuries will need to cover lost wages, coverage for residual damages, disability, past and future lost earnings, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of quality of life. No one should try to defraud an insurance company. Yet this happens everyday. Insurance Fraud is a felony. The information that is revealed here is for your rights and should not be considered that in any way is MVAA or its panel members trying to get you to say or do things that are not reflective to your accident. Insurance is to cover losses, if you try to defraud an insurance company you could end up in jail or have to reimburse the company plus pay a fine and end up with a criminal record that will haunt you the rest of your life.
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