The first few minutes after a car accident are often the most important, and those involved in the accident are on their own. The police usually arrive much later. The best police reception is no longer useful if the traffic accident is no longer comprehensible and witnesses are no longer available.
Therefore, in the case of cases, you should note the following points:
- Stop immediately in a safe place.
- Turn on hazard warning lights.
- Keep calm, think about next steps, only then leave the vehicle.
- These next steps are:
- Apply the safety vests immediately (regulation!)
- Secure the accident site (warning triangle, pylon, lamps, waving people)
- Only then, if necessary, provide first aid
- If necessary by emergency call 112 emergency doctor, and in any case the police request. In case of personal injury must necessarily call the police!
- Addressing potential witnesses, noting addresses
- Only then evidence is secured by cell phone photos, chalk...
- If necessary, you can commission. Even a car expert (expert), never take one recommended by your insurance, because it works in the sense of the same!
- Therefore, it is best to always have chalk and a printout of the European Accident Report in the vehicle.
- Write in it everything that is predetermined:
- Registration plates
- Name, address and insurance of the respondent
- Addresses of witnesses
- Name and department of the police officer taking the accident (insist on involving the police if the situation is unclear)
- Do not make any concessions at the accident site if the accident fault has not been clarified, this can (but must not) have a negative effect later.
- Hire a car crash lawyers with a focus on traffic law as early as possible. These take care of the representation of your interests towards the injured party, and its insurer.
- What damages will be reimbursed?
In principle, the injured party shall be presented as if the accident had not taken place. All damage resulting from the accident must therefore be compensated. On the other hand, the victim must not stand better than he would be without an accident. In all cases, the injured party is required to reduce the damage. It should not enrich itself at the expense of the injured party and should not cause useless expenses. The victim has to behave economically reasonable.
In principle, the following damages are liable:
Personal injury:
Healing costs
In principle, medical and hospital costs as well as expenses for medicines and remedies are refundable. Also, additional costs for visits, telephone, maintenance costs, increased needs. However, if a statutory health insurance fund bears the costs, the injured party cannot demand anything.
Acquisition costs:
Lost income is also damages. The injured party is a free to prove that his income has increased (for example, in the case of specific occupational promotion prospects) in the event of prolonged incapacity or reduced employment. The replacement takes place regularly in the form of a pension.
Compensation:
If someone has been injured in the accident, he or she shall be entitled to compensation for the damage suffered. The opposing insurance will write to the treating physicians after receipt of the declaration of confidentiality and request a medical report. Your car crash lawyers will also receive this to negotiate the compensation together with the insurance company.
Material damage:
Repair costs
Often the victims want to have the car repaired in the workshop. The repair may also exceed the cost of replacement up to a certain limit. Because the car owner is granted, a certain interest in just repairing his, "car” in a certain way. However, the repair must not be more expensive than 130% of the replacement value.
Total damage:
On the one hand, it can be total damage there is simply nothing left to repair. For example, if the car is so warped that it can no longer be fixed, sometimes it is simply no longer worth repairing. This is the case if the repair costs are 130% higher than the costs of replacement (total economic damage). It is important that you can only demand the increased compensation if proof of professional repair is provided.
Admission costs:
If your car is completely damaged in the accident, and you create a new vehicle, you incur costs (new number plates, fees at the registration office, etc.). These are also to be paid by the other insurance company.
Impairment:
The undervalue is a fictitious value. The aim of the invention is to take into account that a motor vehicle after an accident-related repair as a so-called accident vehicle has a lower value on the used car market than an accident-free vehicle. According to the case law of the Federal Court of Justice, the technical and the mercantile lower value must be distinguished and the extent of damage, and the age of the vehicle must be taken into account.
Car rental:
As a rule, it is cheaper to do without a rental car and instead — risk-free — to claim usage compensation. However, if the use of a rental car is required, you should make price comparisons and make use of cheap tariffs, you have to expect a deduction for own savings. In case of delayed claims settlement, you must present the car rental costs car hire costs must not be disproportionately higher than repair costs
no disproportionate, or short journeys should be made with the rental car. In these cases, use taxis as an alternative.
Loss of use:
In the case of self-repair, compensation for use cannot usually be enforced. The condition for the compensation is the actual possibility of use, and the willingness to use. For a duration of more than 2 weeks, it may be necessary. An emergency repair is carried out, and it is always necessary to press to the repair to be carried out quickly.
Incidental costs:
Taxi, towing costs, expert costs, lost damages discount, VAT, parking fee, disposal costs, conversion costs: flat costs. The lump sum is a lump sums settlement for expenses for which the individual proof of the actually incurred expenses is waived.
In the event of accident damage, the injured party usually incurs expenses (telephone, writing costs, postage, etc.), which are compensated for by the lump sum of expenses. In the case law, the amount of the lump sum currently amounts to between 25$ and 30$. Higher costs are eligible, but must be demonstrated in detail.
Other damages (costs):
Legal expenses
Your costs of legal advice by a car crash lawyers will be paid by the opposing insurance company if they are demonstrably innocent. Otherwise, your legal expenses insurance will pay your car crash lawyers. If you do not have a road legal protection, we strongly recommend the conclusion of an appropriate insurance!
Lost profit:
A proven loss of profit to the injured party as a result of the accident (for example, the injured party intended to purchase a new car and could have paid for the old vehicle at a very favorable conditions above market value) must also be reimbursed.
Determination of claims by an expert:
In principle, the injured party is a free to appoint an expert of his choice to take evidence and determine the extent and amount of damage. The insurance company of the injured party also has to bear these costs in principle. This applies even if the insurance company has already appointed or sent an expert without the consent of the injured party. An expert appointed by the insurance company will usually assess the damage value lower than that of your authorized experts.
Exception is only a so-called minor damage (damage amount is not higher than 500$ – 1k$ euros). As a rule, the cost proposal of your workshop is sufficient as proof of damage. The use of an expert in petty damage has the consequence that the insurance will not cover the expert costs in principle! It is important to know that the expert opinion can also be the basis for your billing with the insurance company, for example, if you do not want to have your motor vehicle repaired, but if necessary. Want to purchase another vehicle with the money paid out by the insurance company.
What is a prima facie statement in a rear-end collision?
The so-called proof of first appearance suggests that the rear-end driver is solely to blame for a rear-end collision. It therefore bears the full burden of proof for the possibility of another accident, such as the lane change of the driver in front.
How important are witnesses?
Witnesses are a rather uncertain but nevertheless the most common evidence for the course of an accident. You should always seek witnesses immediately after an accident. Ask all persons at the scene of the accident who come as witnesses in questions whether they have observed the accident and have their address given. In principle, it is better to have a so-called “neutral” witness that is, a witness who is not sitting in his own car. Such witnesses are generally regarded by the courts (despite the contrary decision of the BGH) as more credible as witnesses in their car. Nevertheless, relatives, and the spouse can also be witnesses.
How do I treat the police?
The police will only do the tasks assigned to them. Let the accident take place if the question of guilt is unclear. If the police accuse you, you do not have to comment. Your attorney for traffic law will clarify everything on your behalf. If the police think that you are to blame, you do not have to follow suit. The question of guilt may be clarified by the judge, so, it is rarely urgent. If necessary, consult with a car crash lawyers.
Why should you regulate an accident by a car crash lawyers?
Why does insurance companies often try to prevent you from going to a car crash lawyers? Or offers you free legal advice. Just because they pursue their interests, namely to reduce the loss rate, which is to your disadvantage! Only your own car crash lawyers represents your interests!
The opposing insurance company wants to pay you as little as possible. Your accident report will be checked by the opposing insurance company to see whether misleading statements can be interpreted negatively. A car crash lawyers knows how to formulate in your favor. It is better for the insurance company to be able to blame you as much as possible. Both parties will be upgraded and both will earn insurance. In our experience it is case that with a regulation by the car crash lawyers substantially less a complicity is used and the accident regulation takes place clearly faster.
How your car crash lawyers can help you?
Your car crash lawyers knows your other rights regarding car hire, loss of use, compensation, expenses, etc. It is not in the interest of an assurance that you also know these rights. Additionally, only a car crash lawyers can take the file inspection in police accident files and denounce false, or unclear statements of the accident opponent.
Wrong behavior after the accident can lead to the loss of claims. Therefore, contact a car crash lawyers who is well versed in traffic law or a car crash lawyers immediately, so that the course for further action is set in your favor from the outset.
A car crash lawyers will also advise you whether:
They can expect full compensation, you may be threatened with joint liability an expert should be appointed the use of a rental car makes sense. The possibility exists to have your vehicle nevertheless still repaired despite high repair costs (total damage).
Fines imposed on you in the course of a traffic accident are always a reason for a conflicting insurance company not to pay your damage and to give you the sole blame. “We can get rid of 90% of all fines imposed in the course of a road accident.” With it, you cleared the way for payments to you. Also take care of your car crash lawyers!
What costs does the car crash lawyers charge?
The insurance companies are happy to try to make you're afraid of the legal costs. The person responsible for the accident must take full responsibility for the costs of a legal assignment. If you are jointly responsible, you can be sure that this will be less for you in the case of a car crash lawyers’s order than without a car crash lawyers’s order. Should a complicity arise nevertheless, then your road legal protection insurance jumps in. If you do not have a road legal protection insurance, the car crash lawyers still receives his fees for the liability of the opponent from the opposing insurance. A good car crash lawyers will always only demand as much as the insurance company actually has to pay. This does not incur any costs for you if the insurance only partially regulates the damage out of court.
How do I behave towards the opposing insurance?
Insurance companies are interested in regulating your damage as little as possible. If you immediately provide an accident description to the opposing insurance company, there is a risk that the declaration will be misinterpreted. And you’re making it harder for your car crash lawyers to regulate. It is better to describe the accident to the car crash lawyers so that he can report your information in a legally sounded form to the opposing insurance company, and the course for further action can be set right from the start.
How do I behave towards the workshop?
Workshops have the interest to receive from the opposing insurance a repair cost assumption. With this, the workshops can repair to their heart’s content. However, the surprise comes when the insurance company detects unnecessary accounting items. It is better for you to hire an independent expert who will also provide sound evidence in the event of a possible legal dispute. However, this does not apply to a so-called minor damage (damage amount is not higher than 500$ – 1k$).
What do I have to consider for the so-called residual value of the vehicle?
You are entitled to sell the residual values of your vehicle at the price determined in the expert report. After announcing a higher residual value offer, you may no longer sell the residual values at the lower amount mentioned in the expert opinion. You must be credited with an excess if this revenue was achieved without any extra-obligatory efforts and is not based on the fact that the vehicle was given in payment when buying a new vehicle.