While you may know the importance of filing a police report if there was significant damage to the vehicles involved in the car accident or someone was injured, you may not want to bother when the property damage was minor and there were no apparent injuries. You may think that you can handle the situation yourself or work something out directly with the at-fault driver instead of involving the police or any insurance companies. However, this could be a bad decision that you later regret if you find you need to file a claim for compensation.
Reasons to Always File a Police Report After a Car Crash
While the police may decline to come to the accident scene in a minor collision, you always want to call them and report the accident. Here is why it would be a big mistake not to have the police investigate your crash:
- Additional injuries or damage to the vehicle. You could discover that your vehicle suffered more serious damage that will require expensive repairs or that you suffered injuries that were not immediately apparent. Back and spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and internal organ damage are just a few medical conditions that victims do not realize they suffered until symptoms appear days or weeks after the accident. If you failed to contact the police, you may lose important information that would have been in the police report that you will need when filing your claim.
- Denial of liability. If the driver admitted liability and agreed to pay you for your minor losses at the accident scene, he could change his story later and claim you were the negligent driver. This can be more difficult for a driver to do if the police were contacted and the officer included the driver’s statements as to how the accident occurred in the police report.
- False information. When you exchange contact information with the negligent driver, he could give you false information regarding himself and his insurance company. If so, you may have no ability to file a claim for compensation if you discover you suffered injuries. When you call the police, the driver would be less likely to provide misleading information.
Were you injured in a car accident caused by another driver? Let our experienced car accident attorneys take over the burden of investigating your accident, filing your claim, and negotiating your settlement so that you can focus on recovering from your injuries. Take advantage of our offer of a free consultation to get your questions answered and learn more about the value of your claim. Call our office today to schedule your appointment.
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