Steps to Take if You’ve Been in a Minor Car Accident | Preszler Law

In this segment from The Morning Show, personal injury lawyer John Philp from Preszler Injury Lawyers discusses the steps to take after a fender bender. He emphasizes the importance of reporting the accident to your insurance company, even if the damage seems minor, as injuries like whiplash can manifest days later. Philp explains that in Ontario, you cannot sue for property damage alone, but you can pursue a claim if there are injuries involved. He advises drivers to assess the situation carefully, gather information, and take photos for documentation. For further inquiries, viewers are encouraged to reach out to Preszler Injury Lawyers at 1-800-JUSTICE.

This segment is brought to you by Preszler Injury Lawyers, helping accident victims since 1959. Thank you so much for joining us on this Wednesday, March 11. You're watching The Morning Show.

All right, listen up, fender benders. You know what they are: you're driving along, someone bumps into your car, or worse, you bump into theirs. Now, what do you do? You stop, inspect your damage, maybe exchange information, maybe not. Maybe you're not sure what to do at all. Well, here to explain is John Philp, a personal injury lawyer from Preszler Law. Welcome, John.

Thanks for having me. I want to start this with my own personal experience. Recently, I clipped someone's side mirror while driving on just your average residential street. The damage was so minor that I thought, "Let's just exchange information," and that's what we did. We settled it out of pocket. But when I got home that night, I thought, "Did I do the right thing?" Because he could easily— I mean, we took a picture of the damage, but he could have easily said, "Well, I actually injured my wrist," or, "There was more damage than what you agreed on."

Yeah, this is very typical in Ontario. There are thousands upon thousands of these types of accidents every year in Ontario. It's very typical for people not to want to report to their insurance company because they're afraid their premium rates are going to go up. Well, the fact is, in Ontario, if you're not at fault for an accident, you don't have to worry about a deductible, and you don't have to worry about your premiums going up. That's a little different if you're at fault. So, if you're the at-fault driver, you may want to approach the other driver and say, "Listen, let's not go through the insurance companies; let's just try and work this out together."

The problem with that is, exactly what you said, Chris. If somebody is injured, what happens if they're injured? With minor accidents, you know, for example, if you're on the highway and it's stop-and-go traffic and someone bumps into you from behind and there's barely any damage to your car, that happens all the time. With these types of cases, you'd be shocked at how many come across my desk where people, three to five days later, experience the onset of whiplash symptoms. You don't know that at the scene, so I always err on the side of caution: always report.

You also said something very interesting during the break, and that is that you cannot, in Ontario, sue someone if there has been no injury.

Well, it's not that there's no injury. In Ontario, you can't sue if there's property damage to your vehicle. You can't sue the other driver just for the property damage; that is what all the insurance policies say you cannot do. So, we're precluded from doing that. But if there's an injury, that's why I'm in business. If there's an injury, then you can sue.

Okay, and tell me about the process of suing. Let's say you're the person—let's start with if you were the person at fault. How do you defend or protect yourself from someone saying that they were injured if maybe they weren't as injured or weren't injured at the scene?

Well, listen, in every circumstance when you're involved in an accident, there are a couple of things you need to be very mindful of, whether you're at fault or not. First of all, assess the situation: are you injured? Do you feel pain? If you are, call 9-1-1 and get the police to the scene. Get the information from the other driver. If there are witnesses around, if you see someone who looked and saw the accident, get their contact information. That is essential for any lawsuit. Take pictures—people don't think about it, but take pictures not just of the damage, but of where your vehicles are situated and how the accident unfolded. That is very important.

Now, here's the thing: that sounds like a very involved process. Let's say you were on a street that's not so busy. I can see a couple of cars stopping and making sure they get all the paperwork done. If you're on the highway, it's a completely different situation.

It absolutely is. I'll relate my own personal story. A couple of weeks ago, I was on the Gardiner in stop-and-go traffic, and a cab hit me from behind. There was very little damage to my car, but you know, there are cars whizzing by, and people are honking. It's terrifying. Even pulling off to the side is terrifying.

It is. So, you know what I tell people? If they're in that circumstance, look at the situation. If there's a lot of traffic, a lot of cars, and if you're concerned about your safety—because that's primary—snap a picture of the other driver's vehicle, snap a picture of their license plate. Ask them to pull off at the next exit because you never know; people may just drive away. But as long as you have the ability to identify them, you should be okay.

Oh, very great tips, John Philp. Thank you so much. He's a personal injury lawyer at Preszler Law, and we want to remind you that if you have any personal injury questions for John and his team at Preszler Law, visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/morningshowtio. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thanks for having me again.