No matter how hard you try to be cautious, life still has its way of throwing you curveballs when you least expect it. This is why it is quite important that you take every precaution possible so you could avoid suffering the consequences of any unfortunate incidents, because you will face some of those sooner or later. Yet, that still might not be enough in certain cases. For instance, if another driver crashes into your car, you will file a claim for compensation through their insurance company and you will get compensated. But what if the driver doesn’t stop? What if they hit you and run? Things do get a bit more complicated then, but you can still get what you are owed. Here’s how you can get compensation after a hit-and-run.
File a Police Report
Even if the other driver fled the scene of the accident, you should still contact the police to file a report. Their documentation of the incident is crucial because the preliminary report the officer writes on the scene might help you with insurance claims later on. More importantly, the police might be able to track the other driver who fled the scene, and they will be brought to justice –– you will then also need the report for that driver’s insurance company claim. None of this would happen if you don’t contact the police to report the accident.
Getting Evidence
As with any car accident, you should try to gather as much evidence from the scene as possible, because that always helps your claim later on. Take photos of everything – your car, the surroundings, and even the skid marks and debris. This will help you prove you were not negligent later on, and that the other driver was, which is crucial for your claim. You should also get witnesses’ contact information from the scene because their testimony might prove paramount to the success of your claim as they can testify that the other driver was negligent and you were the victim.
Get Professional Help
Whether you were hit by a car and they didn’t flee the scene or it was a hit-and-run, either way, your best chance is hiring a professional car accident attorney. They would know how to handle the case from all angles. The attorneys from https://flemingattorneys.com/blog/car-insurance-cover-hit-and-run/ stress the importance of hiring a professional to help you get fair compensation. In hit-and-run crashes, you might have to get compensation from your own insurance company, which will depend on several different factors. Even if that were the case, it would not be easy to convince your insurance company to pay up. This is why you need specialized attorneys on your side who know how to handle such cases and get their clients the win.
Hit-and-run cases are particularly more complicated because you will have to get compensation from your own insurance coverage, which is much more difficult than it seems. If it were the other driver’s insurance company, things would be much simpler since you will be able to prove negligence and have their insurers pay you for damages. But what if the police cannot locate the driver? In that case, your only hope would be taking on your own insurance company, and you cannot do that without competent and knowledgeable attorneys on your side.
What Kind of Policy Would Cover You in These Cases?
Unless the driver gets caught, you cannot use traditional means of getting compensation –– that is, filing a claim with their insurance company. In that case, as explained earlier, you have to sort it out with your insurance company. The problem is, you need to have proper coverage for that kind of situation in the first place.
There are several different types of coverage that might prove useful here, like ‘uninsured motorist bodily injury,’ which has to be offered by insurance companies unless you explicitly rejected it. This one can cover your medical bills, disability damages, and lost wages –– up to the limits of your policy, that is. You could get similar coverage but to cover your property damage, or even provide you with an actual cash value for your vehicle if it is beyond repair.
These are some of the policies that you could get early on to avoid getting in trouble if you get involved with a hit-and-run crash. They might cost a little bit more, but they definitely come in handy in such situations. The important thing is knowing the proper legal channels to follow, which means enlisting the help of professional car accident attorneys.
