Thousands of accidents happen monthly and if you find yourself as a part of this statistic, you’re not alone, so don’t worry.  Since people don’t get into accidents every other day, some drivers have no idea on what to do once the accident is done with.  I compiled a quick list on what you need to do in order to file an automotive insurance claim.

File a police report - When the accident happens and if it’s too late now, make sure that you filed a police report.  If you did, great, if not, you’re going to be in trouble because you’re going to be missing that big piece of accident.  Anytime you get into an accident, it’s important that you involve the police.  This is going to be your outside party that views the situation to see who was at fault.

Get info - After the accident, you’ll want details from the drivers of the other cars.  Whoever was involved, make sure that you grab all their information off their driver license.  This will make the process easier.  Grab a phone number, name, address, and license plate number of the vehicle.

Take pictures - The more evidence you have, the better it is for the insurance company.  Since most cell phones have cameras on them, you can simply take a picture of the accident on the spot.  This way, you can draw out what exactly happened.  Take a picture of the surroundings, the people involved, the cars.. everything!

Call your insurance company - When the accident is done with, call the insurance company as quick as possible.  You’ll want to file this claim as soon as possible to allow the company to get together the appropriate paper work.  From there, the agent will guide you on what you’ll need to do next.

If you’re not at fault, you will still want to contact your carrier.  The chances are that the other carrier will pay all the costs such as your deductible.  This way, you won’t have to pay any costs at all seeing it wasn’t your fault at all.  Every carrier is different so refer to your terms and services for more information.

Adjuster comes - After you file your claim, you’ll either have to bring your car to a location (if you can drive it) or chances are an adjuster will come to your home to look at the damage.  The adjuster will make notes of all the damage and will take pictures for the insurance company.  From there, the adjuster will give you more information on what will happen next.

Claiming an insurance claim is a pain, I know but the reason you have to have so much evidence is because of the growing number of fraudulent claims.  To prevent these, the insurance companies go more into detail.  As long as you’re honest and follow these tips, your insurance claim process shouldn’t be a problem at all.