What to Do After a Car Accident

What to Do After a Car Accident in St. Louis. Being in a car accident is more than an inconvenience. It can be infuriating and frightening, and can leave you with a lot of uncertainty about how you're going to deal with the rising medical bills and lost wages, and whether or not you'll ever get justice for the pain someone else caused. At Burger Law, our car accident attorneys fight hard for the injured in St. Louis and throughout Missouri to see them get the financial compensation they deserve and be made whole again. If a reckless or careless driver injured you, call a St. Louis car accident lawyer at Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT or fill out our online form.

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What to Do Immediately After a Car Accident in St. Louis: 5 Important Steps to Take

Accidents are always unexpected and scary, but it's important to keep a level head right after the accident happened. You should follow the five steps listed below to ensure everyone's safety and get the best results in your claim:

1. Assess whether you or anyone else is injured. The most important thing in a car accident is everybody's well-being and safety. Check to see if anyone is injured and how severe their injuries are. If you or anyone is significantly injured, call 911 immediately. If you can and it is safe to do so, render aid to anyone who needs it.
2. Get to safety. If anyone is severely injured, do not move them until emergency medical personnel arrive, and warn other vehicles of the accident. If you cannot move your vehicle, turn on the emergency lights and exit to go to the side of the road when it's safe. Otherwise, move your vehicle to the side of the road and out of the way of oncoming traffic so no one ends up in a multi-car accident.
3. Call the police. If you haven't already called emergency services, call St. Louis city or county police. Missouri Revised Statute §303.040 requires Missouri drivers to report any motor vehicle accident that results in personal injury, death, or over $500 in property damage. If you're unsure as to the extent of the damage or how bad your injuries are, err on the side of caution and call the police. Not only is it the law, but police in St. Louis are trained to assess fault in accidents, and their report will go a long way in proving your claim and holding the other party accountable. Your insurance company may also require you to Be honest about what happened, but do not accept blame.
4. Document the accident scene and collect evidence. Take pictures of all vehicles involved, any injuries you sustained and other parts of the scene, such as the road surrounding the crash. Lack of tire marks may help prove that the other driver was distracted and is responsible for the car accident. If the other driver was drunk, take pictures of the police arresting them.

   You should also exchange insurance information with the other driver. If there were eyewitnesses, get their contact information so your car accident lawyer will be able to take official depositions from them. It's also a good idea to write down everything you remember about the crash, as your memory will be freshest in the immediate aftermath, and you may forget seemingly insignificant details that later turn out to be important.

5. Get medical treatment. Even if you do not believe your injuries are severe, it's a good idea to go to a St. Louis urgent care facility after a car accident. With some injuries, you may not experience symptoms right away, and adrenaline can often mask pain after an accident.

What to Do in the Days, Weeks, and Months After a Car Accident in St. Louis

Once you've dealt with the immediate aftermath of an accident, it's time to go about getting compensation for your injuries. St. Louis insurance companies use a lot of deceptive tactics to try to pay you as little as possible. The St. Louis auto accident law firm of Burger Law recommends doing the following to maximize the value of your claim:

• Get medical treatment if you haven't already. If you did not go to urgent care, schedule an appointment to get checked out with your primary care physician in St. Louis. If you don't get treatment soon after the car accident, the insurance company may question why you waited so long to be seen if your injuries are compensable.
• Notify the other driver's insurance company. Make a claim with the at-fault driver's insurance company. If you were in a hit and run accident or the other driver is uninsured or underinsured, notify your own insurance company as well.
• Continue any necessary medical treatment. If your injuries require you to regularly see a chiropractor or physical therapist, make sure you go to every appointment, even if you think the price isn't worth it or don't like seeing a doctor. Not only will an experienced car accident lawyer be able to get you compensation for all of your medical expenses, but having higher medical expenses will increase the value of your noneconomic damages when your pain and suffering is calculated.
• Keep a record of everything. In order to get maximum value for your car accident claim in St. Louis, it's important to have complete and organized records of all of your medical expenses, mechanics bills, and any lost wages from time you had to take off work because of your injuries.
• Don't trust the insurance company. Even your own insurance company will use a lot of tricks to devalue your claim or avoid paying you altogether. They might tell you you have to make a recorded statement (you don't), that they can only pay for the first six weeks of treatment (they can pay for all of it), or that they don't need to compensate you for lost wages if you had available paid time off (that's not true). For all the tricks insurance companies use after a car accident, Burger Law knows how to combat them.
• Call Burger Law. An experienced attorney who fights back against bullies like resistant insurance companies is often the only way you can truly receive maximum compensation for your injuries. We have over 70 years of combined experience standing up for the injured and vulnerable in St. Louis and throughout Missouri. We know car accident claims and will be able to calculate exactly how much you are owed. Talking to us about your claim is free, so it's important to never accept a settlement offer before asking a car accident lawyer if it's really fair. We're also experienced trial lawyers, so if we can't secure a fair financial recovery in negotiations, we'll take the fight to a judge and jury.

St. Louis Car Accident Lawyers | Burger Law

You only have one chance to secure the compensation you truly deserve, so you need a St. Louis personal injury lawyer you can trust. We are the highest and most reviewed car accident law firm in the Midwest, and we always fight for our clients until there is nothing left to fight. If you were injured by a negligent driver, call a car accident attorney at Burger Law today at (314) 500-HURT or contact us online.