Tips for Dealing With Insurance Companies After a Car Accident

A car accident is one of the worst experiences you can endure. There’s the trauma of the terrifying crash and often frightening injuries. Then, during the weeks and months that follow the distress continues as you navigate a complex car accident claim against insurance companies who prioritize their profits over paying out on claims.

Insurance companies hire adjusters whose job is to find ways to devalue or deny claims. An experienced car accident attorney can anticipate these tactics and counteract them with evidence to protect your best interests. Before you deal with insurance company car accident claims, it helps to understand the common methods they use to protect their profits at your expense and how to protect yourself.

Protect Your Interests By Collecting Evidence at the Accident Site

One of the best tips for dealing with insurance companies after a car accident is to begin at the site of the accident. Of course, critical injuries could keep you from doing anything but waiting in place for help to arrive, but if you can use your camera to document evidence, it can help you with your insurance claim later. After calling 911, if there’s an uninjured passenger or helpful bystander nearby, they can use your phone or theirs to document evidence by doing the following:

• Take photos and videos of the accident scene
• Photograph the damaged vehicles and/or obstacles
• Take photos of anything relevant to the accident’s cause such as an intersection, traffic lights, skidmarks, or debris
• Take photos of any visible injuries to prove they occurred in the accident
• Add the contact information of the involved drivers
• Add the contact information of any eyewitnesses to the accident

Getting the name and number of eyewitnesses can be critical to an insurance claim for damages like property damage, medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering after an accident, especially if the collision wasn’t captured on traffic cameras.

Tips For Dealing with the Insurance Company During Your Car Accident Claim

Once you alert your insurance company to the accident they’ll assign an adjuster and begin investigating your claim. If you’ve experienced serious injuries with permanent effects like a disability, loss of limb, organ damage, or disfigurement, Florida allows you to file a lawsuit against the negligent driver so their insurance must cover your damages. It’s always best to hire a skilled car accident attorney and then direct all communication with the insurance company to your lawyer. Keep the following tips in mind after a car accident in Florida:

• Always go to the hospital for a complete examination and treatment of your injuries immediately after an accident, either with EMS or by arranging transportation
• Have the doctor make a detailed medical report listing every injury, treatment recommendation, and prognosis as evidence that your injuries occurred in the car accident and will cause financial damages
• Carefully follow your doctor’s treatment plan and attend every appointment
• Keep copies of all medical bills and invoices
• Keep receipts for any related expenses
• Get a copy of the police report of the accident

Never accept a fast settlement offer from the insurance company. This is almost always far less than you can get from a carefully constructed car accident claim. Often they make a lowball settlement offer in exchange for you signing away your right to a lawsuit before you know the extent of your damages.

You should never permit an insurance company to record your calls. Often, they use your remarks out of context against you.

Finally, refrain from posting anything on social media after your accident until you’ve settled your injury claim. Insurance companies may look for “evidence” that you aren’t as injured as you claim. That photo you post of yourself grinning on the field at your child’s soccer game may be used against you even if you were smiling through your pain.

An experienced Florida car accident attorney is your best ally after a car accident when dealing with insurance adjusters. Talk to our car accident lawyers in Sarasota and Bradenton today at (941) 954-4000 or reach out online.