Being in a car accident is scary. If it was just a fender bender, and no one was hurt at all, you may be able to let the insurance companies handle things. However, if there was major damage to your vehicle, or anyone involved was hurt in any way – even a headache – you should contact a lawyer experienced with car accidents as soon as possible. If he or she cannot get to you immediately, here are a few things you need to know to make handling the whole situation much easier.

Stay Quiet

While it can be tempting to tell the responding police officer and your insurance company what happened, it is best if you wait until your lawyer is present to do so. The police will take pictures, talk to witnesses and be able to tell a lot about what happened from the position of the vehicles. The insurance company will send out an adjuster to do the same. While you do have to provide your license, registration and insurance information, you do not legally have to do anything else. You will be emotionally shook up and may say things that not only will hurt your case, but are not true. Your attorney will go over your statement with you, when you are sure to be more accurate, and then have you talk with the police and/or insurance company.

Go to the Hospital

Even if you think you are fine, it is important that everyone in the car be checked out. Sometimes you will not feel any pain, but have something going on internally that was caused by the crash. If you wait until you know something is wrong, there could be doubt as to when it happened. The insurance company may claim it happened later. In addition, if you do go to the hospital immediately it will show that you were concerned and not just going to try to have a pre-existing condition treated.

Waiting to hire a car accident lawyer until you do not like the insurance company's first offer is not a good idea. Hire a lawyer, and have him or her take you through the steps and handle things for you. You can alleviate a lot of the emotional pain and stress of an accident when you have an experienced lawyer on your side. Take the time needed to heal and get over it while your attorney does the rest. To learn more, contact a law firm like Klafter & Mason LLC.