If you are injured, call 911 or ask someone else to do so. Check the well-being of your passengers. Notify your insurer and start the claims process. Be sure to move your body slowly to assess any injuries.
You should start with the head and neck, since injuries in these areas are the most serious. When you make small movements, if you find that you can move your head, neck and back, move on to other parts of your body. Visually inspect your legs and arms. Check for blood and a feeling of warmth or pain.
Look in the rearview mirror or any other mirror where you need to check for cuts, scrapes, bruises, or blood on your face or other parts of your body. Yes, you should call your insurance company after a minor accident. You should contact your insurer every time you are involved in an accident involving another driver, but it's even more important to call right away if the accident resulted in property damage or injury. The only time it would be worth skipping a call to your car insurance company is if you only damaged your own car, there were no injuries, and property damage is minimal.
Get out of the vehicle if you can and turn on the emergency lights. The first step you should take after a car accident is to determine if someone in your vehicle has been injured. If another car was involved, check the condition of the other driver and passengers. Once you've confirmed that everyone is safe, move the impacted vehicles to the side of the road, if possible.
Then, you can alert authorities, gather information, and start the claims process. Even in accidents involving a minor impact, you can suffer a serious and permanent spinal cord injury. Car accidents are extremely annoying for everyone involved, and it's easy for those involved to feel nervous, anxious, and disoriented. You don't have to call the police after an accident if no one was injured, the damage was minor, and everyone involved is licensed, insured and cooperating.
You should also obtain insurance information by requesting to see the insurance card for all vehicles involved in the accident. However, if the police do not respond to the accident, they must obtain the name, address, and telephone number of everyone involved in the accident, both drivers and passengers. Whether you decide to file a police report or not, it's always in your best interest to report a car accident involving another driver to your insurance company. Also note the date, time and place of the accident, along with the weather and road conditions and a description of the vehicles involved.
The vehicles involved in the accident must stay where they are, unless they interfere with traffic. Also, avoid accepting any immediate compensation from the other driver or promising that you won't involve insurance, since you don't know the full extent of the damage or injury. When you're involved in a single-car accident, you'll need to use your own insurance to pay for your expenses. If you are involved in a car accident, the most important concern you should have right away is your safety.
Fortunately, most of them only involve damage to property, that is, damage to the vehicle and not to the occupants. If you are involved in a minor car accident with no injuries and with minimal damage to either of the two cars, you can choose not to file a claim or report the accident to the police. If another vehicle is involved in the accident, make sure that the driver and passengers are also OK.
