How to Protect Your Rights After a Car Accident

The aftermath of a car accident can be chaotic and confusing, but it's important to make sure you protect yourself and preserve your legal options. Whether you wind up negotiating a car accident settlement with an insurance adjuster, or putting together a car accident lawsuit in court, here's how to give your case the best chance for success.

Get Medical Attention Right Away

If you feel any hint of injury or discomfort in the hours and days after a car accident, go straight to the emergency room or to your doctor. This is obviously a smart move health-wise, but it's also in your best interest if you end up making a car accident injury claim. The condition you were in right after the accident can serve as a baseline as your medical treatment proceeds. Ask for any records, diagnoses, reports etc. generated during your first post-injury visit (hopefully the health care provider can send you digital copies). Your initial treatment report is something that will be extremely useful to have on hand.

Get a Copy of the Police Report

If a law enforcement officer came to the scene of your car accident, chances are a "police report" was put together in connection with the crash. You can and should get a copy of this report, since it might include important details and diagrams related to the accident, the names of witnesses, and sometimes even the officer's findings about how the crash might have happened.

You can usually get a copy of the police report by calling the non-emergency number of the responding officer's law enforcement agency, and giving them details like the date and location of the accident. You'll probably need to pay a small fee to have the report prepared and sent to you.

Create a Medical File and Save All Records and Bills

As you continue receiving treatment for your car accident injuries, get and save copies of all your medical records and bills. Even the most minor car accident injuries can generate an intimidating amount of paperwork. Insurance questionnaires, medical bills, explanation of benefit letters and various other administrative documents are generated after most appointments.

To make things easier, create a file and save a copy of all these documents. Keeping an ongoing record of your treatment serves two purposes: it creates a narrative of your injury and medical treatment, and it tracks all expenditures related to that care.

Take Pictures

Photograph your car accident injuries, no matter how minor they might seem. Injuries change in appearance over time, so it's important to preserve proof of how they're progressing or healing. Make sure the photos are time-stamped (whether they're digital or hard copy). Photographs are very, very helpful when explaining your injuries to a jury. While expert medical testimony and medical records can be helpful, nothing makes an impression like a photograph.

You should also take pictures of damage to your vehicle, and even return to the scene of the accident to photograph anything that might help you prove that the other driver was at fault for the crash.

Keep a Diary of Your Car Accident Injuries

Record how you're feeling and how your life is being affected throughout every stage of your injury, treatment and recovery after your car accident. Sticking to this process forces you to pay attention to how the accident and its effects have impacted your life. This often results in more informed, focused visits to the doctor. Doctors can key in on any issues you have noticed, creating a record of even the subtlest changes in your condition.

Keeping a diary also helps you document any mental health issues you might be experiencing because of the accident—including stress, sleepless nights, anxiety, and depression. If you focus on keeping a record of your overall condition, these problems could lead to an actual medical diagnosis, which will bolster any claim for damages you make, including one for pain and suffering stemming from your injuries.

Don't Miss Doctor's Appointments

Keep all your scheduled medical appointments, and don't allow gaps in your medical treatment. Your case will be weakened if you skip even one trip to the doctor's office or physical therapist. The insurance adjuster will argue that you can't really be hurt all that badly if you don't feel the need to keep an appointment. Any settlement offer the insurance company makes to you will reflect that skepticism.

Watch What You Say to the Insurance Company

Suppose you're filing a car Insurance claim with the other driver's insurance company. In that case, you can expect the person handling your claim (usually called an "adjuster") to try a variety of "delay and deny" tactics that are meant to get you to accept a low settlement.

Don't give the insurance company any reason to devalue your claim, or any chance to catch you in an inconsistency. If the insurance adjuster presses you for information, it's fine to say you don't feel comfortable answering at the moment, or that you don't have all the information necessary to respond. You'll need to provide basic information about your claim and about the accident, but "yes," "no," or "I don't know" responses are usually best. Don't offer any details that aren't requested, and don't hesitate to say you're simply not willing to discuss certain aspects of the accident or your injuries "at this time."

Above all, don't make a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company. The insurance adjuster is trained to ask seemingly-innocent questions designed to harm your case. Even a simple greeting of "How are you?" can hurt your case if you reply "I'm fine." The other driver's insurance company has no legal right to ask you for a recorded statement, and if they do ask you for one, you can simply and politely refuse.

Consider Talking to a Lawyer

It's certainly possible to handle a car accident claim on your own, if the case is fairly straightforward and you're comfortable hanging in there until you get a fair result. But sometimes it's a good idea to put your case in the hands of an experienced legal professional, especially if your injuries are serious or the other side isn't coming to the table with a fair settlement offer.