Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere. It is very important what you do after a car accident - both to ensure that health emergencies receive the best care and to ensure that you are fully reimbursed for the damage caused. Use this guide for guidance if you are involved in a car accident.
Your complete guide to making a claim after a car accident
Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere. It is very important what you do after a car accident - both to ensure that health emergencies receive the best care and to ensure that you are fully reimbursed for the damage caused. Use this guide for guidance if you are involved in a car accident.
The first thing you should do is secure the scene of the accident. This means switching on the hazard warning lights, putting on a high-visibility vest and setting up the warning triangle. The distance is 50 meters in built-up areas, 100 meters on rural roads and 200 meters on the highway. Afterwards, provide first aid if anyone involved is injured. If the injuries are more serious, do not hesitate to call an ambulance immediately. Take photos of the accident scene to preserve evidence. If other people witnessed the accident, ask them for their contact details so that you can name them as witnesses in case of doubt. Finally, do not leave the scene of the accident under any circumstances!
As a rule, you should always call the police after a car accident and have the damage recorded by the police. The police will come to the scene of the accident and record all relevant data about the accident in the accident report - this includes, for example, the location of the accident, the time of the accident and the people involved in the accident. It is important to note - the police do not clarify the liability issue! Although police officers often provide an initial assessment of liability by naming the allegedly at-fault party in the first place in the accident report and, if necessary, fining them. However, who is liable for the damage will be clarified at a later time and not by the police.
In exceptional cases, the police may be dispensed with, for example, in the case of minor damage and if the person who caused the damage clearly states that he or she acknowledges the blame. In this case, you should ask the person who caused the damage to confirm in writing that he or she acknowledges the blame and take a photo of the acknowledgement of blame together with his or her identity card. In the case of major damage, if people are injured or if liability is uncertain, then call the police in any case.
The insurance company of the person who caused the damage is obliged to compensate the injured party for the damage incurred. It is important to note, however, that the injured party is obliged to provide evidence to the opposing insurance company. This means that the injured party must prove which damage has occurred and in what amount. For this purpose, the injured party has the right to a neutral expert opinion from a trusted motor vehicle expert. This expert will make a neutral appraisal of the damage and determine the amount of the damage. He will also check whether the damage is plausible. However, it is often the case that the opposing insurance company would like the injured party to obtain a cost estimate or commission an expert from the insurance company. Why you should not do that, you can read here. You have the right to have your own neutral assessor if the damage exceeds 1000€, because then it is above the so-called minor damage limit. Nevertheless, you should always contact a neutral car expert first. Because how can you evaluate yourself when a damage is greater than 1000€? Competent and neutral appraisers, like all partner appraisers of Unfall Navi, tell you immediately if you have the right to a neutral appraiser.
Do you have to pay for the surveyor yourself? No, as the injured party, the costs of the expert's report are borne by the insurance company, because they are part of the damage incurred.
The insurance company of the person who caused the damage must bear the damage of the injured party. If you are the injured party, the insurance company of the person who caused the damage will pay for your damage. The person who caused the accident must report the damage to his insurance company immediately. Often, the person who caused the accident informs the injured party at the scene of the accident with which insurance company he is insured. Then the injured party knows who to contact for settlement. If the settling insurance company is unknown, then do not worry. It is always possible to find out which insurance company is liable via the so-called central call of car insurers.
After the damage has been reported, the opposing insurance company checks the liability and the damage - for this purpose, it needs the expert opinion, among other things. According to current case law, the insurance company has 6 weeks to settle the claim. However, if there are valid reasons, such as an unclear liability issue, this time can be significantly extended.
Insurance companies are commercial enterprises and therefore do not want to pay out unjustified damages under any circumstances. This leads to two main scenarios. On the one hand, the insurance company checks for a long time in order to eliminate the smallest doubts about liability and not to pay unjustifiably. On the other hand, the economic success of the insurance company is greater if they pay the lowest possible compensation. Unfortunately, so-called reduction strategies are regularly used, in which the claims of the injured parties are systematically reduced, often unjustifiably. In addition it is tried to realize damage control potentials, in which the insurance refers to own partners to furnish the achievements clearly more favorably. BUT, the injured party is in no way obliged to save money in the settlement of his claim in the interest of the other party!
Insurance companies handle thousands of claims every day and are absolute professionals. Injured parties, on the other hand, have a car accident every 7 years on average and are accordingly laymen in the field of claims settlement. Most of them do not know simple basics, such as the fact that they are entitled to a lump sum of €25 in costs simply because of the stressful situation after a car accident. When it comes to more complex topics, such as the fact that cost estimates do not include a reduction in the value of the vehicle, most claimants are completely ignorant. This difference in knowledge between the insurance company and the injured party has been recognized by the legislator. Therefore, after a car accident, the injured party not only has the right to a neutral appraiser, but also to professional legal counsel. A lawyer or legal service provider will formulate your complete claim in the so-called letter of claim in a legally secure manner and thus claim the damage from the insurance company. If there are unjustified reductions or if the rights of the injured party are otherwise restricted, the legal professional will ensure that these attempts by the insurance company remain unsuccessful. With your legal professional on your side, you are sure to get your compensation! Read here why Accident Navi is the perfect legal professional after a car accident.
