A car accident can be a very traumatic event. Even if you are in a minor fender bender, you may end up with problems like whiplash. A major accident can cause even more problems. No matter what kind of accident you are in, there are some things that you need to do. 

Contact the Police

You should always contact the police if you have been in an accident. There are several reasons for this. One is that your insurance company may require a copy of the accident report before they will pay for any medical or repair bills. The other driver may suggest that you don't contact the police if your accident is relatively minor, but you really need to. 

Obtain a Police Report

The report will tell what both drivers believe to have happened as well as what the responding officer thinks may have happened based on the evidence. Generally, the police report is filed by the responding officer within a day or two. After it has been filed, it should be available for you to request a copy of. You may have to pay a small fee for it, depending on your police department. You will need to contact your police department and request the report, since the reports aren't generally given out unless you ask for them. One easy way to get your report would be to make sure that you kept the information for the responding officer and contacted them within a couple of days. 

Contact Your Insurance Company

You will also need to contact your insurance company as soon as possible. Make sure that you give them the contact information from the other driver. Your insurance company may go after that insurance company to recover the costs of your accident, depending on who is at fault for the accident. If you have any contact information for witnesses to the accident, such as other drivers, passengers in your vehicle, or onlookers, you want to make sure that you give that information to the agent you are working with as well. Your insurance company is going to want to talk to them to get their stories so that they can have as much information as possible to recreate what happened. 

If you have been in a car accident, you may be in enough of a state of shock that you aren't quite sure as to what you should do. It can be a very stressful time.

Talk to a firm such as Law Offices of Burton J. Hass to start working with a lawyer.