Who’s paying? Should you claim on your insurance after a crash?
Being in a car accident is a nightmare. Your pride and joy is all bashed up and somebody has to pay. Of course, you maintain that the accident wasn’t your fault. There’s no way that you did anything wrong, so the other driver should pay. Unfortunately, the reality is, that you might have been at fault as well. So, who’s paying for the damage? The obvious thing to do is to claim on your insurance, but it might not be the best option. Think about what you can claim for, and whether it’s going to be worth it in the long run. If you’ve been in an accident, and you don’t know what your next step should be, here are a few things you should think about.
What to do after a crash
The first thing to do after a crash, is check that you’ve still got all your limbs. Get out of the car and make sure that you’re ok. Then go and check the other driver. You’re probably fuming with them because they’ve just wrecked your baby, but you should still make sure that they’re alive nonetheless. Obviously, call an ambulance if anybody is hurt, but if it was just a little scrape, it’s probably fine. Your next step should be to take some photos of the damage. It will help with your claim, and it might make it easier to work out who’s fault it was.
What can I claim for?
Your first thought is going to be your beloved car, sitting at the side of the road with its bashed up bumper. It will need to be fixed, and your insurance can pay for it. Have a look at your policy and see what it covers. If you don’t have an extensive policy, your insurance might only cover damage to the other drivers car, so you’ll be relying on their insurance to pay your costs. If you have a better policy, you should have no trouble paying for the repairs. But you might also be able to claim for any personal injuries that you have. One of the most common things that people claim for is whiplash. Whiplash is damage to the neck that is often caused by the impact of a car crash. There are a lot of cases of people going to the doctors and complaining about a sore neck, in the hope of getting a big payout, so you might have to prove yourself. But if you do actually have some pain or discomfort, go and get yourself checked by the doctor.
Is it worth claiming?
Of course it is! You want your car fixing and you’re not paying for it yourself! Well, maybe it isn’t that simple. If you have completed defensive driving traffic school online, and you have a good no claims bonus, then your insurance costs are probably quite low. Depending on the level of damage, it might not cost you that much to fix it. You might feel cheated paying for it yourself, but it could save you money over the coming years. If you claim, you will lose your bonus, and the price of your insurance is likely to shoot up. If the extra insurance costs outweigh the costs of repairing the car, you should just bite the bullet and pay for it yourself.
** This is a collaborative post
