The First Step To Take After A Car Accident

Knowing the first step to take after a car accident can be crucial to getting essential medical and legal help and protecting your rights to compensation in the future. Here is an overview of some of the important steps you should take in the immediate aftermath of car accidents in Alabama.

Car Accident Procedure Checklist

Following these steps after car accidents can help you protect your rights to compensation. Contact our attorney at Joe Reed & Associates, LLC, serving the Montgomery and Birmingham areas, to learn more about your rights.

Step 1: Call police and wait for them to arrive at the scene.

Immediately after a collision, make sure you call the police, report the accident and wait for them to arrive at the scene. Police will conduct their own investigation and may collect crucial evidence, and they will ultimately issue an official report regarding the incident. These reports can be very helpful in the future because they:

• Can contain important information regarding possible witnesses to the accident
• May be helpful in establishing which motorist(s) were negligent and at fault in the accident

Step 2: Get the other motorists’ information.

If or when other motorists have been involved in the car accident, be sure to take down their names and contact information. Additionally, for each driver involved, you should also get:

• A driver’s license number
• The make, model and license plate number of their vehicle
• Their insurance information (namely, their carrier and their policy number) 

Consider using your cellphone to collect this information so that you can text or email it to yourself and, therefore, preserve an electronic record of it for easy reference in the future.

Step 3: Take pictures of the damage.

Using your cellphone with this step can also make it easier to gather evidence after a car accident. As you take pictures of the damage caused by the accident, do your best to get as many photos as possible of:

• The damage to your vehicle
• The damage to other involved vehicles
• Any damage that may have been inflicted on nearby objects (like light posts, signals, signage, lane dividers, etc.)
• Any visible injuries that you and/or your passengers sustained 

These pictures can be essential to strengthening your case in the future, as they can prove your claims about who was at fault and the extent of the damage and injuries that were incurred from the collision.

Step 4: Report the accident to your insurance company.

Within a few hours to a few days after the collision, make sure to call your insurance company and report the car accident. Insurers will want to know as much about the accident as you can tell them, including when and where the accident occurred and who else may have been involved in it.

However, when reporting an accident, be sure that you don’t accept any blame for the accident and only report the facts of the incident. Admitting even partial blame for having caused the accident – even if you misspeak and don’t mean to do so – could hurt your claim down the line.

Step 5: Call the Montgomery and Birmingham car accident lawyer at Joe Reed & Associates, LLC.

The most important step to take after a car accident is to call our attorney, Joe Reed. Even if you are unable to carry out any of the above steps (because you have been injured or you are simply too distressed to do so), calling us can ensure that you will have:

• An aggressive, experienced advocate defending your rights
• Superior representation at every step of your case
• The best chances of obtaining the full amount of compensation that you deserve

Our lawyer has been successfully resolving car accident cases for more than 25 years, giving us the experience, dedication and legal knowledge necessary to help you obtain the best possible outcome to your case.

Contact Us Today

To discuss your case and learn more about your rights, set up an initial consultation today by calling 334-834-2000 or emailing us using our contact form. Initial consultations are free in most cases, and evening and weekend appointments are available for your convenience.