• Protecting yourself in an accident
• How do I get a rental car?
• What if the other driver is not insured?
• Underinsured motorist

If you are involved in an automobile accident, these guidelines may help lessen your legal risk and help assure your health and safety.

The first consideration must be for the safety of everyone. In any accident situation, stop at once. Get yourself and any others you can to a position of safety. But do not move anyone with a back or head injury unless you absolutely have to.

Check to see if the occupants of your car or the other car are hurt, and call paramedics as needed. Call the police in any accident situation. This is generally the safest thing to do, even when damage is apparently minimal. Get the names and badge number of police officers who respond to the scene.

Do not make any statements about who you think was at fault. Do not admit blame to the other parties or witnesses. Liability is a legal question to be settled only after all the facts have been gathered and studied. Give your name, address, date of birth, car license, driver's license number, and name of your insurance company and policy number to the other driver. Get the same information from the other driver. Write down the names and addresses of all passengers and possible witnesses.

As soon as possible after the accident, notify your insurance company. Do not admit fault or discuss the accident with anyone but your insurance agent, the police, and your attorney.

If your car was damaged in an accident and is not driveable, you will need to obtain a rental car if you don't have other transportation. Many insurance companies will not authorize rental cars on a direct billing to them until they have verified liability for the accident, by either interviewing their own insured or reviewing a report filed by the investigating police officer.

If you are injured, you may want to see an accident attorney and get help with a rental car. If you are not injured, you can contact the insurance company for the party at fault and request rental car arrangements, or you can contact your own insurance company if you have rental car coverage on your own policy.

You may have to rent a car on your own credit card and get reimbursement from the insurance company. Some companies offer special rates for rented cars in an automobile accident case. Your lawyer can try to set up an arrangement where the insurance company pays the rental car expense directly to the rental car agency.

If you have questions about your rights regarding rental cars, repairing or replacing your car, or other matters relating to an automobile accident you may want to consider getting advice from an accident attorney

If you have been injured in an accident that was caused by a driver who has no liability insurance, you should consult with an accident attorney at once. Sometimes drivers who believe they are not covered may in fact have insurance from another source that will pay for injuries and damages caused in an accident. It is also possible that the cancellation of that party's insurance was wrongful, and an accident attorney may be able to help you prove that the driver actually was covered by insurance.

If you have uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy, or are a member of a household where the insurance coverage exists, you may be able to recover in full for your injuries, medical bills, or lost earnings for the same amount that you would have received if the other party had been insured. An accident attorney can assist you in making this claim. Your insurance company then has the right to pursue the party at fault for reimbursement.

You may want to consult an attorney before contacting your own insurance company and giving a recorded statement. An accident attorney can more fully explain how uninsured motorist claims work and the procedures that are followed in such cases. If you are not injured, but your car is damaged by an uninsured driver, have your own insurance company repair your car under your collision coverage. If you do not have collision coverage, you will have to make a claim against the uninsured driver personally for damages.

If you are injured by another driver, either in your vehicle or another person's vehicle, and it is not your fault, and if your bodily injury claim is worth more than the liability coverage purchased by the driver at fault, your insurance company may pay the difference between the value of your claim, and what you received from the liability insurance of the driver at fault.

For example, let's say you have a bodily injury claim worth thirty five thousand dollars and the driver at fault has liability coverage limits of twenty five thousand dollars. In this example, you would receive twenty five thousand dollars from the liability coverage of the at fault driver, and ten thousand dollars from the underinsured coverage on your policy.

This is an important coverage as it protects you and your family for catastrophic injuries you may suffer in an auto accident.

There are other times when underinsured coverage may benefit you. If you have a question regarding insurance coverage, call a lawyer familiar with accident cases. Many lawyers provide free consultations to you.