Car Accident? Do These Three Things First.
1. Call Police.
If there is no police investigation and report, then if the other driver decides to lie about anything later on it’s just your word against theirs, and that is never a good situation. An officer will hopefully take written statements, photos of the scene, measurements, and make an accident diagram. All of this information is extremely useful if you later need to file a claim for your car repairs or personal injuries.
If you call but an officer cannot come out for some reason (for example, when the city is on accident-alert due to weather), then you can file an in-person or online report as soon as you are able to. This is not as good as having a police investigation, but it’s better than nothing.
2. Take Lots of Photos!
If you are able to safely do it, take as many photos of your car, the other cars involved, and the whole area of the accident. Besides calling a police officer, this is the best thing you can do to document the accident for use later with an insurance claim or court case.
3. Call an Ambulance or Go to An ER.
After an accident, a person’s adrenaline can be so high that it can mask or hide a lot of pain that you would ordinarily be feeling. If you are worried at all that you might be injured, the best and safest thing to do is to get examined and tested right away at an ER or Urgent Care.
Things that Are Not urgent
1. Calling an Attorney.
Despite the commercials you see on tv, calling an attorney after an accident should not be the first thing you do. For one, it looks bad. Second, it is not as important as the three things I mentioned above. In Colorado, you have 3 years from the accident to resolve your claim, so there is absolutely no rush to hire an attorney.
Plus, you should always do your due diligence and research before hiring any attorney and it’s not a bad idea to meet with more than one attorney before deciding which one to hire. So wait…do the 3 steps above first…then when you start to feel better give us or another local personal injury attorney a call.
2. Talking to The Insurance Company About Your Injuries or Treatment.
Of course you might need to talk to them about your car repairs and the accident itself...that's fine. But whether you're talking to your own company or the other driver's company, there is no good reason to discuss your pain or injuries with them until after you've finished whatever care you might need (i.e. physical therapy, MRI's, etc). It might take several weeks or even months before you know the full extent of your injuries, so talking about it too soon can get you into trouble. Even a simple "I'm doing fine," could be used against you by the insurance company later on. Instead, I'd recommend just politely saying that you don't feel comfortable talking about your pain or treatment until after you've been fully diagnosed and treated.
Questions? Call Gama Law Firm in Aurora, Colorado, and speak with an attorney for FREE about your case. There's no obligation to hire us and we'll spend as much time as necessary to answer all your questions.