In a car accident who files the claim?

If You are in a Car Accident Who Files the Claim?

In this article we will answer question who files the claim after a car accident. Since we are a personal injury law firm in Miami who handles cases throughout the state of Florida, as well as in the state of Illinois and in Washington DC, this article will focus people who are asking this question after they are involved in an accident caused by someone else’s negligence and sustained personal injuries.

First and foremost, if you are in a crash you should call law enforcement to report it before calling any insurance companies and trying to make a claim. Florida Statute 316.065 requires drivers to report a crash to local law enforcement if it involves injury or death, or at least $500 in property damage.

If the crash doesn’t meet that requirement, drivers must submit a written report to the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles within 10 days. The form can be found by clicking https://www.flhsmv.gov/. Ensuring a crash is reported may assist down the road in documenting important facts and evidence that can become important later or they may be forgotten. Obviously, if the car crash involves serious injuries, fire rescue should be called.

Who should call the insurance company to submit the claim.

If you hire a personal injury lawyer, they can call to report the claim to the insurance companies on your behalf. But if have not hired a lawyer yet and are not sure if you are going to, understand that you should always report your car accident claim for property damage or injuries to your own insurance company. The reason for this is an insurance policy for your car is a contract and that insurance policy contract requires you to report promptly to the insurance company if there is any damage to your or yourself or to others people or property. Otherwise, if you don’t report the accident, they may be able to find a way to deny your claim for lack of compliance with your duties under the insurance policy. Most people are reluctant to report an accident to their own insurance company, especially if it is a small claim with no injuries and minor property damage.

This is usually because they do not want it to count against them on their insurance record, causing their insurance premium rates to rise. But if there is a lot of damage that you know is going to be much higher than your deductible or if there are injuries involved, you need to report it to your insurance company to make sure they do not void the policy for lack of cooperation or a lack of prompt reporting when a claim is made. If you were seriously injured in an accident and want to understand who files the claim, you should definitely contact a personal injury lawyer like Perkins Law Offices to help you properly report the claim to the insurance company and to make sure you don’t say anything that could jeopardize your rights or the claim value.

Which insurance company should I call, mine or the other driver’s?

Since this article is written from the perspective of a personal injury lawyer who sues on behalf of injured car accident victims, the short answer is the accident should be reported to both your own insurance company and the other involved driver’s insurance companies. If you were seriously injured, you should let your personal injury lawyer report the claim for you if you have not done so already. The personal injury lawyer can call and get claim numbers assigned and can try to determine what insurance coverages are available, including uninsured and uninsured motorist protection, stacking, PIP, Med Pay, rental car coverage, gap insurance, comprehensive or collision coverage and umbrella coverage. If you are making an injury claim you want your injury lawyer talking on your behalf. This is because an insurance company for the other driver who may have caused the accident, will be looking to take a recorded statement and ask you questions that if answered improperly can destroy or minimize your claim value.

This is even true when you call your own insurance company. You have to be very careful about who you talk to and what you say. This is because many drivers that cause an accident have no insurance or inadequate insurance to cover your damages and losses from the accident, whether it be the property damage injuries, or both. Therefore, if you have uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage on your own insurance policy, your own insurance company will stand in the shoes of the underinsured or uninsured driver. Essentially, your insurance company becomes adverse to you even though you paid premiums for this extra coverage. They become skeptical and critical of your injuries and because they have to pay for them.

An insurance company is always trying to save money and cares about profits over people. They are not in business to help you even though they may have slogans claiming “you are in good hands”. Therefore, if you were injured in the accident and you are making a claim for injuries against another insurance company or even your own insurance company, you need to have your personal injury lawyer talk to the insurance company for you. Your own insurance company might want to ask you for a recorded statement or an examination under oath if they doubt your injuries or how you say the accident occurred or to cut off your PIP benefits.

Your accident lawyer can help prepare you how to answer questions properly to avoid issues and defenses down the road that you might not suspect. Like they say in criminal cases it’s better to remain silent and have the lawyer do the talking. When you need to comply with your own insurance policy which is written in a confusing way, your personal injury lawyer need help explain your duties and will coach how you to best answer the questions regarding your personal injury case.

Who files the claim with the insurance company?

The answer to who should file the claim will depend on the type of accident and the type of claim being made. it is imperative that if you sustained an injury in the accident that you get your personal injury lawyer involved at the very beginning. A personal injury lawyer can help you preserve key evidence, get medical treatment and can report the claim to any and all insurance companies involved. But sometimes you have not hired a lawyer yet and it is OK for you to report the claim to the involved insurance companies in order to get a claim number to start the process. Also, if you were concerned about getting your property damage fixed as quick as possible, or getting a rental car, you can report the accident to your insurance company and discuss the property damage only, leaving the injury side to the personal injury lawyer.

You can also simultaneously call the other parties insurance company if they cause the accident to report it in order to schedule an appointment for them to inspect your damaged vehicle. However, make sure you are speaking to a property damage adjuster and not an injury adjuster. Sometimes the insurance company will have only one adjuster for all aspects of a car accident claim claim and may try to trick you into speaking about your injuries. Even worse, when they may try to settle your property damage claim to your vehicle, they may try to get you to sign a release agreement that includes any personal injury claims. So you have to be very careful of what you sign and what money you accept from an insurance company or even your own insurance company. This is why if there are serious injuries involved you should always hire a personal injury lawyer like Perkins Law Offices to guide you through the process.

Should I file the insurance claim or wait for the other person involved in the act to report it to their insurance?

If you were involved in an accident and you want to get your property damage to your vehicle fixed or report an injury from the accident, do not wait for the other driver to call and report the claim to their insurance company because they may never do so. Think about it, most people are reluctant to report to their insurance companies because they do not want their insurance rates to go up even though that is unwise because the insurance company can potentially not cover the claim because of lack of cooperation. It’s always a good idea to report the accident to the at fault parties insurance. You may want to hold off on calling your insurance company right away because if it is an obvious liability against the driver. Sometimes their insurance company will take responsibility quickly and you don’t have to use your own insurance. But that is not the norm.

Most insurance companies drag out this process and do not make decisions quickly, even if it seems obvious. You will most likely have to process the claim with your own insurance company to speed it along. Additionally, the at fault driver’s insurance company will contact your insurance company anyway so you might as well report it and tell them your side of the car accident story immediately. Of course, if there are injuries involved, you should contact personal injury lawyer Alexander Perkins to make sure you the right things are reported to the insurance companies. Perkins Law Offices has been representing victims of accidents who are seriously injured for over two decades. We have dealt with all of the insurance companies and know their tricks.

Call Perkins Law Offices at 305-741-5297 or email perkins@perkinslawoffices.com for a free consultation today. We never charge a retainer fee or any hourly rates. We work on a contingency fee agreement, which means we don’t get paid unless we win and nothing comes out of your pocket.

Alexander J. Perkins, Esq.

Trial Lawyer