What steps to take after you’ve been involved in a car crash

Being involved in a car accident can be stressful but you will quickly find out if you insurer is any good. These are the steps to take if you’re ever involved in a crash.

You never know how good an insurer is until you go to make a claim.

Let me explain why.

It was 7am on Monday morning, I’d just finished a tough session at the gym and was driving home.

I was feeling on top of the world and was just thinking it was going to be a great week.

But I quickly had the wind taken out of my sails.

I was stopped at a give way sign, waiting for a car to pass when I felt an enormous thud.

A car had run right up my backside.

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Given I was stationary I knew I wasn’t badly hurt, and nor would the other driver be, I was more worried about my car.

I was frustrated at how someone could blindly run up the back of me when I was giving way.

Clearly the driver wasn’t watching.

I turned off my car, got out and the female driver apologised profusely.

The damage wasn’t too bad, but like any car accident when you think it isn’t that bad it ends up costing thousands of dollars to replace panels and do a paint job.

There was a few scratches and dents and a small part of my rear panel had fallen off.

My car is only a couple of years old so I wanted to make sure it was fixed.

I quickly jumped into insurance mode, following all the right steps which including taking photographs of the accident scene and the driver’s licence plate — she was driving a taxi — and asked to see her driver’s licence.

I took a photo of this too.

When you’re involved in a car crash it’s important you document all the details so you have it ready when you make an insurance claim.

She promptly asked if I would hold off from making a claim through my insurer, she’d prefer to pay for the damage to my car herself.

We exchanged phone numbers and I said we’d sort it out and off I went.

But when I got home I thought I’d ring my car insurer and report the damage.

And this is when I quickly worked out my insurer is good.

The man on the phone, let’s call him Steve, was fantastic.

Steve made me feel reassured everything would be OK and my car would be fixed, at no cost to me.

It was a painless process to report the claim, pass on all the details and he warned me, if the other driver tried to reach out to tell her to deal direct with the insurer.

And this it was I did, I messaged her to say I’d lodged a claim, gave her my insurer and claim number and said deal with the insurer direct.

She then phoned me to plead I didn’t follow through with the claim, her excess was going to cost her $1500.

Sorry honey, but that’s why I have insurance.

My insurer said they’d give me a hire car free of charge while my car got repaired.

It’s times like this that you want you’re insurer to step up and help you when you need it.

@sophieelsworth