If you’ve ever been in an auto accident before, you can probably attest to the fact that there’s not really much you can do to avoid them once they happen. But can you do certain things after an accident? Yes, and you should.

If you’ve been involved in an accident through no fault of your own or have been the direct cause of a car accident, you might have learned these the hard way.

They will document the accident. If necessary they will have reconstruction or accident teams sent out to examine the crash. It will also help you to deal with the situation and the insurance companies as well as protect you in the event that the other party should claim something different or untrue or try to get out of liability in some way.

Take photos of the accident scene and exchange information with other parties and take down witnesses’ information too if you can

Take photos to take down someone’s plate number, to verify the accident scene, and take down information from anyone involved in the accident. Get the info from witnesses too. Take many photos; if you don’t need extra, then oh well. This is also a good time to remind drivers– an accident or some other incident is precisely why you should make sure that your phone’s charged on a regular basis.

Back up the photos as well. Send to your own email, back up onto a flash drive or a hard drive, figure out what you need to do in order to preserve your evidence.

Always get medical treatment or evaluated

You want to be sure that there’s nothing wrong with you and if there is, that you can have that treated as quickly as possible. You need in documented as well– insurance companies will try and debunk your claim using any and every delay in the time it takes for you to get insurance, so go do it. Don’t try to “walk it off”. Report every injury and what you’re feeling to a doctor. If pain shows up later, go get that documented and evaluated.

Review the police report

This will help you catch any mistakes or inconsistencies that may work against you. You want to know what could potentially help or hurt your claim.

Get an attorney to represent you if you need to

Insurance companies may try to play it cool like you don’t need a lawyer, but get one if you feel that you need to. Don’t trust the insurance companies. Never sign a release until you’ve talked to a lawyer.

Check whether you have UM coverage.

Uninsured and under insured coverage could cover you if you get into an accident and the other driver does not have insurance. It sounds ridiculous, but it happens frequently, so consider this and potentially get yourself this type of insurance to be covered.