By Omid Rejali, Esq.
Many times when you are involved in a minor san diego car accident the police are not called or you may feel that a police report is not required because you were rear ended.
Unfortunately, I have seen time and time again when even when you have been rear-ended the insurance company for the at-fault party will come up with the wildest theories to put you at fault. For example, they may say that you backed into their insured.
Here are my suggestions when a police report has not been obtained.
1) Document everything immediately:
As soon as you get to a safe place, perhaps that night or the next day, document everything that happened on a piece of paper, on your phone, or on your computer. This information is critical because the closer to the time of the accident that you documents the events, the more fresh it is in your mind.
2) Contact your local police agency and make a police report
Based on the information that you have documented, you can then contact your nearest police agency and make a traffic collision report. They will take your information down and based on what you have provided to them will create a traffic collision police report.
3) If possible, have the driver of the other vehicle draw on a piece of paper how the accident took place
To record how the accident happened from the at-fault parties view point have them draw on a piece of paper and explain how they believe the incident took place.
4) If there are any witnesses make sure you get their information
If any witnesses witnessed the san diego car accident take place, make sure you get their name, phone number, and email address. The witnesses can be critical to proving how the events took place.
Insurance companies will go to great lengths to not pay money for the harm they have caused, including placing their own insured in harms way by exposing them to an excess verdict (more on this in a different blog). In a recent case, the insurance company for the at-fault party took 100% responsibility for the San Diego car accident initially, and once they found out that our client has life-long injuries chose to change their story.
Keep these points in mind and if you have any questions, feel free to call us. We are happy to help.
Thank you for reading my blog.