If you are ever in a car wreck, always make sure to protect yourself. Then, call us for help as soon as you can.
If you’re not injured to the point of needing immediate medical attention, then here are the steps you should act on immediately (if you are seriously injured, allow the police to call the squad and have you transported to the closest emergency room by ambulance):
1. Get all information you can about the other driver (if you have an iPhone or Android with a camera, take pictures ).
2. Get the other driver’s license information, date of birth, state of the license and license number, make and model of the car.
3. Get important information from the other driver’s insurance card such as the named insured; verify the car identified on that card matches the one being driven in the wreck.
4. Take photos (if you can) of the vehicles involved and make sure to photograph the areas of damage from several angles.
5. If the impact occurred on a public road, CALL THE POLICE. In an accident report, the reporting officer attempts to identify the “at fault” vehicle and that could become important.
6. If you are injured OR if you think you might be injured, GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM to document that injury. Often the actual pain of a “soft tissue” injury may not materialize until 1-2 days later (a soft tissue injury is any injury that doesn’t involve a fractured bone).
7. Do not get confused about the phrase “no fault” insurance. Many people (and sometimes police officers) have misinformation about the significance of Kentucky’s no fault insurance law. Fault STILL MATTERS; “no fault” simply means that your own company goes ahead and pays your medical bills and lost wages (to a point) until fault is ultimately determined by agreement or a trial. Then your insurer can be reimbursed those expenses from the “at fault” driver’s insurance.
8. Do NOT submit your medical bills to health insurance. Submit them to your own auto carrier for payment under your no fault coverage (also called PIP coverage for Personal Injury Protection). There can be a big difference in the insurer’s right to be reimbursed (called subrogation) and it COULD cost you money.
9. PIP coverage is inexpensive and for that reason, carry more than the minimum required in Kentucky law ( that amount is $10,000 per person but $50,000 per person doesn’t cost much more.) However, agents are not trained to offer that extra coverage to you-you have to ask for it.
10. Call us for legal advice as soon as possible!!