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Car Accident FAQ – What To Do After a Crash in Texas

Being involved in a car accident is a stressful and confusing experience. Most people have never dealt with insurance adjusters, medical bills from accident injuries, or the legal process for recovering compensation. In the days and weeks following a car accident, injured victims have many questions about what they should do, what mistakes to avoid, and whether they need a car accident lawyer. This guide answers the most common questions we hear from car accident victims in Texas.

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What Should I Do Immediately After My Car Accident?

The actions you take immediately after your car accident can significantly impact your ability to recover compensation later. Here are essential steps every car accident victim should follow.

Write down the contact information of everyone involved in the car accident, including names, addresses, and telephone numbers. Get this information from all drivers, passengers, and any witnesses who saw what happened. Witness testimony can be crucial when the insurance company disputes who caused the accident.

After contacting the insurance company, write down the name, address, and telephone number of the insurance adjuster and the claim number assigned to your claim. Take detailed notes of every conversation you have with the insurance adjuster. They are taking notes of every conversation they have with you, and you should do the same to protect yourself.

Be very careful when you describe your injuries to your doctors and the adjuster. Be sure to provide a complete list of all body parts that are in pain. It is common for complaints of pain to increase over time from minor to serious. If you did not tell your doctor about that minor pain that now requires medical attention several months later, you are giving a gift to the insurance adjuster who will argue your injury is not related to the car accident.

Follow your doctors’ advice completely. If you need to take time off from work due to your pain, make sure that your employer documents your leave. Return to work as soon as you are medically able to do so. Insurance adjusters look for gaps in treatment or evidence that you were not following medical advice to argue that your injuries are not as serious as you claim.

Do I Have To Report My Car Accident To The Police?

In Texas, all car accidents involving damages of $1,000 or more, or causing death or injury to any person, must be reported. If you are involved in a car accident, you must check with everyone involved to make sure they are not injured. If anyone is injured, then the police must be notified immediately.

Even if nobody feels injured at the moment, it is generally a good idea to notify the police, particularly when there is serious property damage to the vehicles or there is any question about who is responsible for causing the car accident. A police report creates an official record of what happened and often includes the responding officer’s assessment of fault.