Had a car accident contact your insurance company if you have had a car accident even if it was a minor one you should inform your car insurance company as soon as you can you are obligated to inform the insurance company under the terms that are stated in your policy informing your insurance company is also a good way to start the accident settlement process or the defense process informing your insurance company when speaking to your insurance company you need to tell them that you've had a car accident to begin with it's likely that you will be speaking to an agent but you may be transferred to the company's claims department if you find that you will only be speaking to an agent make sure you give them the specifics of the accident how your vehicle was damaged and any injuries you sustained as a result of the accident you should also confirm with the agent that the information you gave them about the accident will be sent to the claims office you should receive a letter informing you that your claim has been received by the claims office if the letter does not arrive in the mail within two to four days you should contact the claims office yourself the next step once your accident has been reported your claim will be opened in your insurance company will begin processing and investigating the claim once this occurs you will need to do a few things one allow your insurance company to inspect your vehicle two if you have collision coverage you can file the claim under your own policy three allow your insurance to get an estimate for the cost of repairing your vehicle four check the fine print that's on your policy documents so you understand what is expected of you the investigation when your insurance company is investigating the accident you will need to fully cooperate with them this means that you should give the claims investigator accurate and complete details about the accident and who you think may be at fault you will also need to mention how badly your car was damaged if you were injured and how much medical treatment you had you may also want to take this opportunity to mention anything else that you think is relevant you may also wish to be aware that you should cooperate with any reasonable requests that the insurance company makes this means that if you don't want to give a recorded statement about the accident you don't have to and you also aren't expected to deal with many requests for information that you are not aware of or information that you have already provided examining your records it's highly likely that if you have been injured as a result of a car accident your insurance company will want to take a look at your medical records the medical records they may want to view include those that have been provided by your doctor emergency services chiropractors physical therapists an insurance adjuster may send you a form known as an authorization for release of records or something similar you will also be asked to sign the form and return it to them within a given time frame in some cases you may only be asked to send them a few files rather than your complete medical records cooperating with an insurance company can help to get the ball rolling help you deal with the aftermath of the accident and let you know where you stand in terms of monetary compensation if you have sustained an injury due to being involved in a car accident that was caused by another drivers please contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can as you may have a personal injury claim
