Picture this: it’s late at night and you’re driving home after a long day at work. You’re only a few miles away, and all you can think about is getting home as soon as you possibly can. Because of this, you aren’t paying as much attention to your surroundings as you should be. As you drive through an intersection, a car runs a stop sign and crashes into you.
The good news? Nobody was hurt in the crash. The bad news? There are now two damaged cars in the street that need attending to.
So, you do what you’re supposed to do: you talk to the other driver, you take pictures of the damage to the vehicles and you swap insurance information. Throughout this process, the other driver seems like a nice person. They’re really apologetic and they seem to want to do whatever it takes to make things right with you.
After you exchange insurance information and take all the photos you need, they ask you if there’s anything else you need to do. It’s late at night, it’s been a long day, and the both of you just want to get home and put this instance behind you.
Unfortunately, there is one thing left to do: you need to call the police and get the scene documented.
Why People Don’t Call the Police After a Car Crash
If you’re in a car crash, there are plenty of impulse feelings that may make you avoid calling the police.
First and foremost, you’re probably a bit frazzled after the crash. You might not have your wits about you, and you might forget to call the police to get them involved. Maybe you’re afraid of the consequences that would come from getting the police involved in a car crash, even if you weren’t the one at fault.
Sometimes, you know that calling the police is the right thing to do, but the situation at hand makes it feel inconvenient. It could be late at night and the dispatch told you that police wouldn’t be able to make it to the crash for another hour or so. You could be in a situation where the weather is bad and it’s uncomfortable to sit around and wait for the police. Many people avoid calling the police to the scene just because of the inconvenience of it all.
Other times, it might just be awkward to call the police. What are you supposed to do if the other person is begging you not to call the police, stating that it could get them in trouble or ruin their life? They could seem like a nice person – apologizing profusely for the crash and admitting in that moment that it was their fault. Nobody wants to feel like the bad guy by getting the police involved in a situation like this, right?
Why You Need to Call the Police After a Car Crash
It may be awkward, it may be inconvenient and it may feel unnecessary, but if you weren’t at fault in a car crash, you should always get the police involved as soon as you can.
When the police arrive at the scene, they’ll act as the eyes and ears of the crash. They’ll listen to both drivers about what happened in the crash so that they get both sides of the story. Doing this will help them put together a comprehensive police report that will include the full story of what happened, the damages induced by both vehicles and the information of both drivers.
Why does this matter? It matters because a police report is an unbiased, official document that you can use to prove to an insurance company that you weren’t at fault, which will save you time and money when it comes to getting your full settlement claim.
Without this official documentation, you run the risk of the other driver changing their story about what happened in the crash. If the claims process turns into a game of “he said, she said,” then it’ll be much more difficult for you to get the settlement that you deserve.
People are fickle. They might say that they’ll tell their insurance company the truth in the moment, but they might change their story once given the opportunity. But, if you have an official report from a police officer stating exactly what happened at the scene of the crash, you’ll have a leg up in the process.
It may be inconvenient in the moment to call a police officer to the scene of the crash, but the inconvenience is nothing compared to having to pay for your own car’s damage because you didn’t have an official police report to aid you in the claims process.
Need Help After a Crash? Call Matos Law Firm!
If you were injured in a car crash in Colorado and need help getting your life back on track, don’t call your insurance company – call the Matos Law Firm. Our team of car accident lawyers in Denver will help you to get the settlement check that you deserve from the insurance company. They aren’t looking out for you, but we are. Give us a call today – 720-91-CRASH (720-912-7274).