Someone that manages to walk away from a car accident might never need to file a personal injury claim. Still, he or she would certainly find it necessary to arrange for completion of repairs on a damaged vehicle.
Why a claimant must exercise caution when arranging for repair work?
The insurance company might try to suggest that the claimant was partly to blame for the accident. Some claimants arrange for the repairs to be completed at a reputable shop. Otherwise, the repaired part will not function properly for a suitable period of time.
Actions to take at the scene of an accident
• Talk with the other drivers; get their contact information; get the details on their auto insurance policy; get their license number. Provide those same drivers with your own contact information.
• Jot down the information on each of the damaged vehicles: their color, year, make and model; write down the number on the license plate of each vehicle.
• Seek out any witnesses; get their contact information.
• Take photographs of the damage on each vehicle. Take photographs of your own injuries.
• If your vehicle can no longer be driven anywhere, call your insurance company and arrange to have it towed to a yard that accepts salvaged vehicles.
Actions taken by your own insurance company
Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga will check to see if you have collision coverage. Your insurance can use your collision coverage to pay for repairs to your damaged set-of-wheels. Understand, though, that you will need to pay the deductible.
You may be able to get compensated for the amount of the deductible. That compensation would come from the other driver’s insurance company. Your insurance company will send you the claim paperwork. Fill it out and return it. If your claim is accepted, you should hear from the adjuster. The adjuster will arrange to inspect the reported damage. Following that inspection, the adjuster will submit an estimate for the cost of the repairs.
What can you do if you dispute the adjuster’s estimate?
If you question the soundness of an estimate put forward by the adjuster in your own insurance company, then you should expect to be invited to appear at an arbitration session. If you hope to get a fair ruling from the arbitrators at that session, then you need to walk into it with all of your supporting documents.
If you question the soundness of an estimate that was made by an adjuster in the other driver’s insurance company, then you have the right to sue that same company. If you do not know the process used for filing a lawsuit, then you ought to seek out and retain the appropriate lawyer. All that effort yields completion of some repairs.
