Experiencing a hit and run accident is a terrifying thought, whether you’re the victim of such an occurrence or the party at fault. Thoughts might race through your head — Is anyone hurt? How will I pay for vehicle damages? Will I need legal representation?
In such cases where English might not be your primary language, you may face additional stress, wondering if you’ll need a Spanish-speaking car accident lawyer to help you in court, among other concerns.
Regardless of your individual circumstances, though, you’ll need to take some quick action following a hit and run accident, and knowing what to do ahead of time will aid you in taking the necessary steps. Here’s what you need to know if you ever find yourself in such a scenario.
Pull Over Safely And Call 911
When struck by another vehicle, your safety is paramount and comes before everything else. Thus, your first move should be to pull over to a safe area, and, if you or any occupants in your vehicle are injured, call 911 to request medical assistance.
You’ll also want to summon the police, since failing to do so (and not getting a police report) may result in your insurance company denying your eventual claim, or dragging out the process to a greater degree.
Record Evidence
Once you’re in a safe location, you’ll need to make notes of everything you can remember about the accident and the vehicle that fled the scene. You’ll need to relay this information to the police (so they can locate the driver of the other vehicle), and it will also help you during the insurance process. At minimum, you’ll want to get:
- The make and model of the other car
- Their license plate number
- The color and year of the car
- When and where the accident took place
- The direction the driver headed in
- Photographic evidence of your vehicle damage
Once you’ve got all that, you’ll also want to see if you can find any witnesses to the hit and run incident who might be able to corroborate what took place. It’s also possible that an outside observer took down information about the accident that you weren’t able to, and can fill you in on some of the details you missed.
Contact Your Insurance Company
With all your other ducks in a row, you’ll need to contact your insurance company to begin a claims process. Provide them with whatever information you can, and hopefully the process won’t be too arduous.
If your insurance coverage is extensive enough, they might also aid with towing your vehicle and helping you get a rental car for the time being, but again, that’s dependent on your level of coverage.
For now, though, the most important thing is making sure you, and anyone who was traveling with you is safe. Take time to clear your head, tend to your injuries, and start recovering from this unfortunate incident.
Contact a Car Accident Attorney
Regardless of your injuries or damage to your vehicle, it’s always in your best interest to contact a car accident attorney that has experience with hit and run accidents. There will be many factors to determining if you have a case as well as other things you should consider as you move forward in your healing.
