It is best for your Personal Injury Lawyer in Halifax to contact your own insurance company within the 72-hour period that follows a given accident.
Importance of efforts at contacting own insurer increases in certain circumstances
It increases in cases where someone has been injured as a result of the collision or where there is a chance that someone who was involved in the collision might decide to file a claim against any of the other individuals that were involved in the same accident.
It increases in cases where an insured driver has decided to file a claim against one or more of the other drivers.
What should you do if the other party has urged you to refrain from contacting the insurance company?
It is never a good idea to go along with such a suggestion. There is always the chance that the same driver might suddenly feel that he or she has good reason for filing an injury claim. He or she might even consult with an hire an injury lawyer.
Once your insurance company had learned about the other driver’s actions, it would wonder why you had not reported the incident. As a result, it would look like you had chosen on your own to ignore the terms of the contract between the policyholder (you) and the insurance provider.
Understand, too, that a request to an accident victim, regarding a suspension of any plans to contact his/her insurance company would demonstrate an effort to counter the purpose of the claims process. No person has the right to injure someone else, without paying a price.
Even though it might look as though you have escaped any injury, you could still develop slow-to-appear symptoms. No accident victim should be asked to ignore that possibility. The existence of that possibility underscores the reason that smart victims hire a personal injury lawyer.
Is it wrong for an accident victim to remain silent, when asked to refrain from contacting his/her insurance company?
No, silence could mean agreement, but it would not be a definite sign of agreement. The victim would have every right to contact his/her own insurer, after arriving back at the place where he/she was residing.
Unfortunately, the victim might not have the name of the other driver. Ideally, a memory of the other driver’s vehicle should be in the victim’s mind. Smart victims would know enough to record the vehicle’s license plate number.
Should a victim’s conscience bother him/her, after making such a call? No, the conscience of the other driver did not seem bothered by the effort to go against the claims process. That is why it always pays to contact your insurer within 72 hours of any accident that has resulted in damage to your vehicle.
