• How do I start a claim with the other driver's insurance company?
• Should I give a recorded statement?
• How do I obtain my police report?
• How do I get my car repaired?
• What if my automobile is considered a total loss?
• How do I buy back my "totaled" car?
• How do I obtain a rental car?
• I was a passenger in a car and the driver of that car was at fault--can I make a claim?
• What if the driver of the car I was in was drunk--can I make a claim?
• Am I able to make a claim if I get hit by a driver who flees the accident?
• What is the minimum liability insurance required in Texas?
• What if the at fault driver does not have liability insurance?
• What is uninsured motorists coverage and do I need it?
• What is PIP coverage?

How do I start a claim with the other driver's insurance company?
After an auto accident, you return home from the scene or the hospital and ask yourself "What do I do now?" You have a couple of options. You can call an injury attorney to help you or you can try and figure out how to get started on the claim yourself.

Assuming you chose to get moving yourself, you must first contact the at-fault party's insurance company and report the claim. You first must have the name of the responsible driver and the name of his or her insurance company. Hopefully, you also have the policy number, which makes things go much easier. All of this information is usually obtained at the accident scene, assuming all the parties are not in need of medical transport to a hospital. If you don't get the basic information at the scene (also, some people refuse to give it or they give the wrong information), then the best place to obtain it is from the police report if one was done by the local police. Police reports can usually be obtained a few days after the accident, and sometimes you can call and get the information from the police department even if the report is not final (see Obtaining a Police Report).

But what if a report was not done and for whatever reason you didn't get the other driver's insurance information? Then you must locate the other driver and request the information. At the Anderson Law Firm, we have an in-house investigator who routinely pursues and locates insurance information.

Most numbers for the insurance companies are easy to find on the internet, but we have compiled a listing of Insurance Company Phone Numbers. When you call the claim in, be ready for a long call as lots of questions are asked. At our law office, we make these calls ourselves and take this burden off of the client.

During this initial call, you should receive a claim number and establish an expectation of when you should hear back from an adjuster. You must stay on top of this and continue to call if you don't hear back in the time frame quoted.

Should I give a recorded statement?
After the initial claim is filed with the other driver's insurance company, a request often comes for a recorded statement, usually before the property damage is resolved. This recorded statement is supposedly used to help the insurance company adjuster determine if they are going to accept responsibility for the accident. Is your recorded statement important? You bet it is. Anything you say can either help or hurt your claim. We sincerely believe that you should not give a recorded statement without advice and guidance from a Board Certified personal injury attorney. Time and time again, we have seen accident victims hurt their case early on by giving recorded statements on their own. The adjuster who is asking the questions is a trained professional who knows how to ask questions and knows how to try to solicit information which will help his employer (the big insurance company) save money. After all, the insurance company is in the business of making money and the less they pay you, the more money they make. Do you really think the insurance adjuster is watching out for your best interest?

These statements sometimes take only a few minutes, but sometimes they are very detailed and last much longer. The adjuster usually asks about the accident and your injuries, which sounds reasonable. But they oftentimes follow scripts written in a manner to ask the same question different ways. We personally think some of the questions are very tricky and an injured person should be very careful on how they answer them.

How do I obtain my police report?
One of the most important pieces of evidence in any car collision case is the Police Report (also called Crash Report or Accident Report). Not all collisions will have a report prepared, but if one is indeed done, then it is the place to start the accident and insurance investigation. Even though they are not always entirely accurate, the police reports contain all sorts of useful information. The reports are usually available within 5 days after the accident, and much sooner in most cases. If the case involves a death, its disclosure can take longer.

Here at the Anderson Law Firm, we obtain the accident reports for our clients and make the initial report to the insurance company to get the claim started. However, if you are doing it on your own, you can obtain the report online if the city or county who investigated the accident subscribes to PoliceReports.US. This website charges $6.00 per report; and to find the report, all you need is the date of the wreck and one of the driver's names, or the report number. For a list of cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (including Tarrant, Dallas, Johnson, Wise and Parker counties) that make their reports available through PoliceReports.US, please click on Online Police Reports Available.

If the city where you had your wreck does not make the reports available online, then you must appear in person at the police station or mail them a check and they will mail the report back to you. The cost for each report is $6.00. I have complied a listing of all of the phone numbers for all of the police departments and sheriff departments in Tarrant, Dallas, Johnson, Wise and Parker counties. See list of the Police Department Phone Numbers.

If for some reason you are still unable to locate your accident at the local level, you can request a copy from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in Austin, Texas, by submitting TxDOT Form CR-91. TxDOT maintains an archive of all accident reports taken in the State of Texas for a period of 10 years.

How do I get my car repaired?
After the insurance claim is started, the other driver's insurance company will first perform a liability investigation to determine if they will accept responsibility for the auto accident. Once that investigation is completed and the insurance company accepts responsibility, or liability, then the adjuster will either have you take your car into a body shop or have an appraiser come out to wherever the car is (home, body shop or city auto pound) and appraise the damage that your vehicle sustained. The insurance company will either cut you a check for the damage or pay the body shop directly. During this time, they should authorize a rent car for you to drive. Sometimes the entire rental car issue can be tricky at best and oftentimes it is extremely frustrating.

What if my automobile is considered a total loss?
If your vehicle is considered a total loss (the cost to repair it exceeds the value of the car), then you will receive a check for the value of the car, plus sales tax, title and license fees. If you have a loan on the car, that loan must be paid off first, and you will receive the excess money. If your car is determined to be worth less than the outstanding balance on your car loan, then you will be responsible for the difference. If you purchased "gap" insurance with your loan, then that insurance will cover the difference. Oftentimes, there is a dispute as to how to calculate the value of your car. Websites that assist in this valuation process are NADA Guides, Kelly Blue Book, AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, and Edmunds.com.

How do I buy back my "totaled" car?
In the usual situation, you end up signing the title over to the insurance company when you receive the check for the total loss. If you want to actually keep your totaled car as well, you can do so, but a deduction will be taken from your check for the scrap value of the vehicle. This deduction varies depending on how much of the car can be salvaged and sold off as parts. If you do keep your car, then the car's title will now show that it is a salvaged vehicle.

How do I obtain a rental car?
Once the at fault party's insurance company has interviewed its client, completed its investigation and has agreed that they are at fault, then Texas state law requires that the insurance company authorize a rental car for a reasonable amount of time, until your car can be repaired and returned back to you from the body shop. Sometimes this authorization doesn't happen very fast and the person who is without a car is put in a bind. They are often forced to rent a car on their own and seek reimbursement, but that can be problematic.

If your car is considered a "total loss," then there is no obligation on the part of the other driver's insurance company to pay for a rental car. A "total loss" occurs when it costs more to repair the car then it is worth. However, the insurance companies often do pay for a rental, as it is not always easy to determine if the car is a "total loss."

If you have rental car coverage on your own car insurance policy, it is sometimes just easier to start the process with your company, as it usually goes quicker and smoother.

Sometimes it turns out that the other driver does not have insurance or that the other insurance company ends up denying liability. If either of these occurs, you will end up paying for the rental car on your own and you will end up footing the bill for the car repairs--unless you purchased the appropriate insurance coverage. If you have Uninsured Motorists Property Damage coverage, then your own insurance company will pay for your car to be repaired.

I was a passenger in a car and the driver of that car was at fault--can I make a claim?
Yes, you can. The law allows you to make a claim against whoever is at fault. There is nothing unusual about making a claim against the driver--even if he or she s a relative or your best friend. That is what liability insurance is about--paying for the damages caused by negligent acts.

What if the driver of the car I was in was drunk--can I make a claim?
Yes, it makes no difference. If the driver was negligent, you are entitled to make a claim if the accident caused you to become hurt. Drunk driving is a serious offense and accidents caused by drunk drivers often lead to very serious and disabling injuries.

Am I able to make a claim if I get hit by a driver who flees the accident?
You very well may. It depends on whether you have uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy. This type of insurance is not mandatory, but it is very good insurance to have. Texas law requires that there be actual contact between the vehicles before one's underinsured coverage will act as the other driver's insurance coverage. If you have this coverage, then you also have to show the other driver was at fault. If you can, then your own insurance company is responsible for compensating you for your damages, which includes your medical bills, lost wages and the inevitable pain and suffering that goes along with serious injuries.

What is the minimum liability insurance required in Texas?
It is mandatory under Texas law that all car, truck and motorcycle owners carry at least the minimum amount of liability insurance coverage. The current state law requires that each owner have at least $25,000 in liability coverage per person and $50,000 in coverage per accident. This type of insurance is used to compensate others if the insured driver is at fault in the accident.

What if the at-fault driver does not have liability insurance?
If you are in an auto accident where the other driver is at fault but he has no insurance, what sort of insurance applies to compensate you for your injuries? The Texas Department of Public Safety has estimated that 20% of the drivers on our Texas roads do not carry insurance at all. (We think that the number of uninsured drivers is actually higher). So what happens if the at-fault driver has no insurance? There are several questions we ask next. What was the driver doing at the time of the wreck? Was the driver in someone else's car? What's the driver on the job at the time of the accident? Sometime we find an insurance policy that applies, but lots of times we strike out. We then look to see if our client has uninsured motorists coverage (UM/UIM).

What is uninsured motorists coverage (UM/UIM) and do I need it?
This is a type of insurance that you pay for and it covers you in case you were in an accident where someone else is at fault and they don't have insurance. This type of insurance also applies when the other person does not have enough insurance to fairly compensate you. In such a case, you stack your underinsured motors policy on top of the at-fault driver's policy to come up the total amount of available insurance to compensate you for your injuries. You must sign a waiver when you first obtain your policy to deny this type of coverage, otherwise you have the coverage. This is a great type of coverage to have and we wholly recommend it to all of our clients.

What is PIP coverage?
Another type of coverage which may be applicable is PIP, which stands for Personal Injury Protection. This covers your own medical bills and lost wages and is paid to you regardless of who was at fault. It covers everyone in your car at the time of the wreck. In Texas, PIP is available in amounts from $2,500 to $100,000 depending on the insurance company. This type of insurance comes in very handy if you are in an accident, even if you have health insurance (and, believe it or not, some health carrier's do not cover bills if the treatment is related to an automobile accident).

You can make a claim on your PIP regardless of whether the at-fault driver has insurance. We recommend that all of our clients purchase this insurance. Sometimes our clients don't want to make a PIP claim as they are afraid that their rates will go up. By law, Texas insurers cannot raise your rates solely because of a PIP claim. We have never heard that making a PIP claim has this affect, so we always encourage our clients to let us make the claim on their behalf. The way we see it, the big fat insurance companies take your money year after year--let them pay you when you have valid claim.