After an accident, there are a lot of things that happen in a very short period of time, and you will be expected to take care of them all on your own — at the same time that you are coming to terms with the injuries that you have sustained and the pain that you are experiencing at the moment. One of these things may be that your car is towed, at which point you will have one more complication to take care of in these early days following a serious accident.
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If your car has been towed from an accident, there is a reasonable expectation that your injuries were severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, either in an ambulance or after being picked up by someone else. Regardless, you will need to make sure that a few things happen in order to maximize your possibility of getting a fair and comprehensive settlement. These steps can be difficult to handle on your own after catastrophic or serious injuries, though, so working with an attorney right from the start is one of the best ways to make sure that you are covering all of your bases and ensuring that you are taking the right steps to cover your own bases in the future.
If You Have Been In a Car Accident, Contact Fasig | Brooks For an Initial Consultation Today
Before you start to worry about all of the things that you need to do (of which there will be many) after your accident, remember that the two top priorities should be addressing your medical needs above all else, and contacting a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible so that you can get professional guidance through the duration of this process. When you are trying to go through this alone, it can quickly become complicated and overwhelming, which can in turn cause complications or hinder your physical recovery. By hiring a lawyer, they will be able to take on a significant amount of the work for you and will be able to provide you with guidance for the rest. This way you can simply focus on your recovery and your needs instead of having to juggle all of the insurance, accident, and lawsuit documentation, information, and deadlines that would otherwise be your problem.
Read more below about what to do if your car gets towed after a car accident, and contact us as soon as possible for a free consultation so that you can move forward with the representation of an experienced, aggressive, and proven car accident attorney to fight for the money that you rightfully deserve.
Checklist To Follow If Your Car Is Towed After an Accident
After an accident, having your car towed can just feel like one more setback in an already complicated situation. Follow these steps to make sure that you are giving yourself the best chance of recovering fair compensatory damages if the other driver caused your accident, and contact a lawyer as soon as possible to get help through this process.
Get Photographs Of the Car
Getting pictures of your vehicle at the scene of the accident will give you more of an ability to show the severity of the accident as it related to you. Once the car is sitting in a tow lot, it won’t be surrounded by broken glass, leaking fluids, and another context that will help to indicate how serious of an accident it was. This is why it is important that you or someone else at the scene of the crash take pictures of your car. Additionally, taking a video with your cellphone and explaining what you are looking at can be extremely helpful, since no matter how vivid the experience is in your mind, these memories will fade and details may become muddy as you work through the many different complicated steps in this process. The more reminders you can give yourself, the better.
Get Pictures Of the Accident Scene
In addition to taking pictures of your car at the scene of the accident, make sure that you take pictures and videos of the entire accident scene as well. This can help add additional context to the situation and will give your lawyer a better idea of what it was like to be on-site in the moments after the accident. Make sure that you get pictures and video of your vehicle along with the other car(s) involved, and the overall layout of the situation. Was the accident at an intersection? Make sure that you get pictures and/or video of all roads that intersect, and any other details that are of note, such as a traffic light that didn’t have power, a merge that the other driver failed to yield at, and anything else that will help to paint a comprehensive picture of the situation.
Get Contact Information For the Tow Company
It might seem obvious, or it may seem like something that you might not have to worry about at all – either way, remember that it is absolutely essential that you get the information about the tow company so that you know where to find your vehicle after. Otherwise, you may find yourself sitting on hold with the police department or trying to track down this information in other roundabout ways that can just add to the frustration that you may already be feeling as you try getting your priorities in order following your accident. If you are in an accident in a populous area, there may be many tow companies who are on call for the area that your crash was in, so it might not be as simple as calling the only tow company in town.
Tell the Tow Driver Where To Take Your Car If Possible
If you have a trusted mechanic that you already work with, it will be a good idea to tell the tow driver to take your car directly there. Otherwise, you may end up paying for storage costs in the tow company’s lot, which can get expensive quickly. If your car goes directly to where it will need to be anyway, you can save yourself the storage costs as well as the hassle and cost of getting it towed a second time. Once to your mechanic’s shop, they can begin to inspect the vehicle and compile all of the relevant information for you and your insurance company, such as the cost of repairs and whether or not the vehicle should be considered totaled. Anything you can do to save yourself additional steps in the future will be a major help.
Get Your Important Belonging From the Car
Once your car is towed, it will be difficult to get your possessions and valuables out easily. If possible take a moment or ask someone else to go through your vehicle and take out all of your personal effects that you will miss over the coming days or weeks. This should include your registration in case you need to provide information such as your VIN number or other important dates or numbers that you may not otherwise have easy access to (although your insurance agent should have this information on file). In addition, make sure that you get your wallet, cellphone, house keys, and other things like that so you can avoid these additional frustrations over the next few days while you wait to find out what will happen next.
Call Your Insurance Agent
Your insurance agent will want to know right away that you were in an accident and will be able to give you some advice on what to do in the coming days – as well as let you know what they will be doing to help you out through this process. Let them know that you plan to speak with an attorney before you take any major steps so that they can give you the time you need to get partnered with an experienced legal professional. Let them know where your car was towed, especially if it went to your mechanic’s shop so that they can reach out with things like repair estimates and get information about whether they should expect to be repairing or replacing your vehicle depending on the condition.
Hire an Attorney
The legal process following an accident – especially one that the other driver is responsible for – will get complicated quickly, and this is especially true when you need to work with their insurance company to recover fair compensation. Insurance companies focus almost solely on limiting the amount of money that they pay out in claims against their customers, and your situation will be no different. When there is an attorney handling this process from the start, they will be able to make sure that every statement, piece of evidence, or documentation that they submit to the other insurance company is done with the goal of maximizing your chances of getting the money that you deserve, not just the money that the other company wants to pay.
Fasig | Brooks Is Here To Help After Your Accident
The team at Fasig | Brooks is available for a free consultation as soon as possible so that you can start looking towards the future with confidence. The early days after an accident (especially an accident that caused you serious harm) are overwhelming, which is why we will be proud to take on your case and give you the peace of mind that you need in order to prioritize your personal life and your recovery above all. While you are making sure that you are doing what is necessary to get your life back on track after this significant accident, we will be working tirelessly to fight for the money you deserve.
If your car has been towed after the accident, it is likely that either you have suffered significant injuries that required an ambulance ride to the emergency room, that your vehicle was damaged beyond driveability or both. Regardless of why your vehicle was towed, this is an indication that the crash was serious, and that you need help to work towards the outcome you deserve.
The first step is to schedule your consultation today so that we can begin to gather the relevant information and begin our own claims investigation alongside the investigation that the insurance company will be performing. Keep in mind that no matter how friendly the insurance agent assigned to your case may be, they will be working on behalf of their boss – the insurance company – to pay you as little as possible. Instead of worrying about saying something that causes problems for your claim, let us handle the entire process so that you can focus on moving forward and prioritizing your health and family.
