There are many parts of the US where wildlife isn’t a concern. In big cities, the only wildlife that many people ever see are squirrels in the trees. However, in places where there are wide open spaces and highways that stretch through big, open expanses of wilderness, encounters with wildlife are quite common.
When wildlife causes your auto accident, you need to know what you need to do. There are some steps that you should take so that you can be sure that you are able to recover damages for your accident and to make sure that your insurance claim is not denied.
Let’s talk about the steps to take if you have been involved in an accident that happened due to wildlife on the road in Montana so that you are prepared if this situation should ever come to pass.
Unlike a traditional car accident, there is no one to pursue for damages if your car accident happened due to an animal on the road. You cannot collect insurance information from an elk standing in the road that you hit with your car.
These kinds of accidents can be devastating, however. You might be seriously hurt and your car could be damaged so badly that it’s a total loss. You need to know what to do to make sure that you are not left to handle your accident out of pocket, since it was not technically your fault that you got into an accident in the first place.
While comprehensive auto coverage should not lead to increased premiums down the road, there are instances where insurance companies are unwilling to treat the accident as a no-fault situation. This is when you need to secure legal representation to make sure that your claim is processed correctly. Being blamed for the damage to your vehicle is less-than-ideal if you truly did hit an animal in the road.
The first step that you need to take is calling the police. They will document the accident, take pictures, and make an impartial report of the details of your situation. This report can then be given to the insurance company that you have your auto coverage through, so that you can prove that you are not falsifying a claim for damage that you caused through negligence. The police will also remove the animal carcass to ensure that the roadway is safe to drive on again.
Contact your insurance as soon as possible. This will be a comprehensive claim, so you will work with your own insurance company for the entire process. Provide them with photos of the scene if you remembered to take them, and the police report that you were provided access to once the officer had time to go back to the station and write up their version of events.
An insurance adjuster will come to your location and check out your vehicle. They will do their own report, take pictures, and then make a determination of the condition of your car. Many accidents involving large animals lead to a car that is a total loss. This is a different process from getting a payout for repairs. You will need to find out which kind of payout you are going to get since the process for each kind of claim determination is different.
If you have run into issues with the payment amount that you were offered or there are incorrect details in any of the documentation that was used to make a judgment on your claim, you need to secure legal representation. It can be very hard to argue with insurance companies if you don’t have a lawyer. Since there are no other insurers involved in this kind of accident, you will need to be able to correct the version of events that your insurance company has on file, which led to the payout that you didn’t agree with.
Your lawyer will collect any new evidence that was not presented during the first review of your case and argue on your behalf for the situation surrounding your accident. If there were other drivers that might have been contributing factors in your accident, your lawyer will seek testimony from these parties to prove that you were not to blame for the accident.
There might also be factors such as poor road design, a lack of signs to indicate that wildlife might be present, and other issues that could have contributed to your case. Your lawyer can help you to seek a settlement from the county or city for your accident if negligence was part of the reason for your crash.
While the experience of hitting wildlife on the road is never pleasant, sticking to the steps that are listed in this guide will help you avoid struggling to get a settlement from your insurance company for your accident. You shouldn’t have to fight to prove that you were not to blame for the accident. If your insurance company is pushing back about the details of your claim, you need to secure legal representation as soon as possible. Having a lawyer on your side can help prevent problems that might lead to your claim being denied.
You don’t have to accept that your insurance company is not going to pay out on your wildlife accident claim. Getting the help of a lawyer can change everything when it comes to fighting for your ability to make a successful claim on your insurance policy. If you have been in an accident involving wildlife in Montana, your best bet might be to seek out a lawyer right away. There are often many factors involved in these cases, and having a legal expert on your side can make a big difference in your case.
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