Right After an Accident

First Steps Following a Motor Vehicle Accident

In order to protect your ability to recover for personal injuries or property damage in a car accident, truck collision, or motorcycle accident, follow these steps right after the accident. Then call the John J. Mattey Law Offices in Englewood for the legal help you need.

1. Obtain Necessary Information. Make sure you get the following information from the other driver: name, auto insurance carrier, driver's license number, and license plate number. Be sure as well to verify the name of the driver against his or driver's license ID photo. Provide the same information to the other driver.

2. Identify Witnesses. The people who saw the accident can help support your version in court if necessary. Get each witness's name, address, and telephone number. Our investigator will be in touch with them soon.

3. Cooperate With the Police. If a police officer or state patrol trooper shows up at the accident scene, provide information as requested, but just answer the questions. Don't volunteer extra information or make elaborate answers or explanations--they could haunt you later. If anyone was hurt in the accident, stay at the scene until emergency vehicles arrive and you're cleared to leave.

4. Do Not Cooperate With the Other Driver's Insurer. Some auto insurance companies get their investigators to accident scenes with remarkable speed. Decline any invitation to give them a statement, no matter how sympathetic they might seem. And by no means should you agree to provide a recorded statement. Decline the request politely, and say that you would prefer to deal with the insurer through your own attorney.

5. If Necessary, Get Emergency Treatment. Whenever you suffer injuries in a car accident, get the emergency medical help you need. If you're not sure that you are hurt, get checked out anyway.

6. Be Careful With Accident Related Expenses. Don't assume that some insurer or another will give you a blank check for repair bills or storage. You have a duty to mitigate your damages under Colorado law. In other words, you have to take reasonable measures to limit your losses, not run them up. Get repair estimates before you commit to the work, and don't put your wrecked car into expensive storage.

Whether your main concern is damage to your car or your own injuries, you will need experienced legal advice to protect the value of your auto accident claim. Contact Denver car accident attorney John Mattey for a free consultation about your rights.