Should you contact your own insurance company after a North Carolina auto accident?
Yes, even if you do not believe that you are at fault for the accident. Any time you are involved in a North Carolina auto accident you ought to contact your insurance company. The main reason a Durham Accident Attorneys and Greensboro Accident Attorneys recommend you contact your insurance company after your accident is because your North Carolina personal auto insurance policy requires you to do so. If you fail to report your accident to your auto insurance company you may be breaching the terms of your contract and could potentially have your claim denied should you later need to use your own insurance company.
You may be wondering why you would need to use your own insurance company if you were not at fault. Well, there are many reasons. The most common reason is that the person who is at fault for causing the accident is no longer insured (this can happen for many reasons, such as failing to pay their insurance premiums, or engaging in an excluded act under their policy). If the person who is at fault for your accident is uninsured, then you will need to use your own insurance. Another reason is that the insurance company for the person at-fault has decided to deny your claim. In this situation, you will want to use your own collision coverage to get your car repaired, and then you’ll likely want to hire a Durham Attorney or Greensboro Attorney (or a local North Carolina Attorney, depending on whether you want an attorney that is geographically close to you).
Another question a lot of people have, and one of the reasons they are afraid to call their own insurance company, is whether filing a claim with their own insurance company will increase their North Carolina insurance premiums?
First you should understand what your insurance company will do once they are notified of your auto accident. Upon learning of your accident, your insurance company will create a claim and assign the claim to an insurance adjuster to investigate. The insurance adjuster will investigate the accident. The investigation typically involves obtaining a copy of the police report (as I previously posted, you should always contact the police after a North Carolina auto accident) and taking recorded statements of all drivers, passengers and witnesses. Once the North Carolina insurance adjuster has completed his or her liability investigation, he or she will make a liability determination.
If the North Carolina insurance adjuster determines that the other driver is 100% at-fault for the North Carolina automobile accident, then your insurance premiums will be unaffected (as you will receive 0 Insurance Points). However, if your North Carolina insurance adjuster determines that you are even 1% at-fault, then you will likely see an increase in your insurance premiums (the increase can depend on many factors, such as the type (bodily injury or property damage) and amount of damages the other party sustained. So, you will not see any increase in your insurance premiums unless your North Carolina insurance adjuster determines that you are at fault for the North Carolina car accident.
To summarize, always notify your insurance company if you are involved in a North Carolina car crash because if you fail to do so you may void your insurance coverage should you need to use it at a later time. Also, know that your insurance premiums will not increase if you are not at fault for the North Carolina car wreck.
