Car Accident Advice.
Car accidents are upsetting. If you have one it is your legal duty to report it to your insurer, regardless of whether you were at fault or not. In some cases, there might not be another party involved. Maybe you swerved into a bollard or scraped your car’s bodywork along a wall. In such cases, you only need your own details, such as your policy number, to report the incident.
However, if there is another driver involved you should ask him or her for their insurance details. This is so that your insurer and theirs can sort out the liability and come to an amicable financial settlement. Nevertheless, some drivers may fail to obtain these details. This might happen because you panic, because you don’t feel safe or because you simply forget. At Got2Insure, we understand that drivers can sometimes freeze in the moment. What should you do if you are in a car accident and no details are exchanged?
Dealing With the Absence of Other Driver’s Insurance Details
When you have been involved in a collision with one or more vehicles you should find a safe place to stop and exchange details. This means making a note of the make and model of the other car or cars involved, asking for the name of the drivers and taking down the insurance policy numbers and names of insurance providers. Exchanging contact details – a phone number or an email address – is also a good idea. If a driver involved in a car accident won’t give their insurance details, don’t panic. There could be a number of reasons they don’t want to exchange details although the law states that they should. Stay calm if they’re point blank refusing to hand over their insurance details. Getting angry could make the situation worse. Call the police in this type of situation. It is for them to handle, not you.
Of course, one thing you can do is to take a photo of the incident. Only do this when you are no longer driving unless you have a dashcam automatically recording images for you. Ideally, you’ll want to capture the face of the other driver and the licence plate of their car so that they can be identified. Failing this, ask anyone who is nearby if they saw the incident and get their contact details. They could be useful as witnesses. Make a note of everything you remember happening. This might be who manoeuvred and when or even the colour of the other vehicle involved, as well as any digits you can remember of their registration number. Write this down to refer to later.
What Should You Do If the Other Motorist Simply Drives Off?
Unfortunately, so-called hit-and-run incidents where drivers rapidly abandon the scene of an accident occur on British streets almost every day. The best car accident advice we can offer under these circumstances is to note down every detail you recall. Some insurers will not offer the level of cover you might need for a hit-and-run incident, so it is worth making sure your policy covers this eventuality. Look for a policy that specifically includes clauses about coverage for incidents when the other party flees the scene since some standard policies don’t have them.
What About Uninsured Drivers?
When you are in a car accident and at fault and the other driver has no insurance, you should still take action. You will still need to report the incident to your insurance company and admit to them it was you who caused the accident, even if the other person was driving illegally without insurance. If you are in a car accident when the at-fault driver has no insurance, then it is still important to collect their personal details. Note down the make, model and licence plate number of their vehicle and get their name, address and telephone number. You won’t be able to make an insurance claim against them – they’re uninsured, after all. Instead, they will need to be pursued in a civil action through the small claims courts to recover the money due to you from the incident. Call the police, as they may charge the other driver for driving illegally.
Looking for an insurance firm that will look after you if you are involved in an accident where no insurance details are exchanged? Contact Got2insure and find out about the advantages of our comprehensive car insurance policies.