In big cities like San Antonio, Texas, fender benders occur on a regular basis. That’s why you need a comprehensive auto insurance policy from a company like Access Insurance Services, who serves the greater San Antonio area, to protect you from these incidents and make sure you, your vehicle and the other parties involved in the accident are covered when these inevitable fender benders occur. However, sometimes these very minor accidents turn into cases of major fraud, where the party who you collided with sues for medical damages or lost wages from work due to their injuries. This fender bender fraud can be avoided if you do a number of things at the time of the accident, however and some of the best ways to avoid this fraud are listed below.
ASK WITNESSES FOR STATEMENTS
After you have both pulled your cars over to the side of the road, ask witnesses for statements about the accident, if there were any. If there were other people in your vehicle, make sure you get statements from them as well. These are independent parties who can easily disprove a fraud claim, namely about who was at fault.
CALL THE POLICE
No matter how minor the fender bender accident may seem, call the police, so they can show up on the scene, write a report and get statements from both parties. If there is a claim that is fraudulent, the police will have to show up in court to give their own testimony and this will usually disprove fraudulent accusations due to their positions as public servants, in the court’s eyes.
TALK TO THE OTHER PARTY AFTER THE ACCIDENT
Once you have both safely pulled over, ask the other party if they are alright. If they say they are, make sure you record that statement in some way, as this is very helpful for disproving claims made later that they were hurt in the fender bender.