While getting into any type of car accident is never fun, being involved in a car accident while you’re traveling or on vacation can seem even worse. Not only were you not planning to have this happen, but this event could now throw a big wrench in the plans you had for your journey. And if you happen to get in this car accident when in another country, you might feel like a bad situation quickly became much, much worse. So to help you manage this issue and get back to your trip, here are three things to do if you get in a car accident in a different country. Three steps to follow if you ever get into a car accident while driving abroad.Learn about the safety travel tips during a road trip.
Follow Basic Car Accident Protocol
Whenever you get in a car accident, be it in a foreign country or in your own hometown, there are a few basic things that you should immediately do. Regardless of where you are when this accident occurs, these things won’t really change much. According to PassportInfo.com, the very first thing you should do after a car accident is check to make sure everyone’s okay. If they’re not, call for medical assistance immediately. After this step, you should figure out where you are, call the police to help with clearing the road and documentation of the accident, exchange information with anyone else involved, and take photos of the scene for future reference.
Contact Your Insurance Carriers
After the initial steps are taken following your car accident, you’ll now start to see how things might be a little bit different with your car accident that happened while you were abroad. While you always want to contact your car insurance carrier after any type of car accident, Damian Tysdal, a contributor to Travel Insurance Review, shares that you should also call your rental car agency and your travel insurance provider, if you have them. By contacting these people as soon as you can following your accident, you’ll be able to get their advice on what steps to take next and will ensure that you’re able to tap into whatever insurance coverage you have for situations such as your car accident.
Don’t Sign Anything Unless You Understand What It Is
For car accidents that involved another person or vehicle and that required you to involve the police in the event, Citizens Advice.org.uk shares that there’s a chance that you’ll be given some paperwork to sign, mainly a statement. This is likely to happen when traveling in Europe, but can happen in other areas of the world as well. Keep in mind, however, that you shouldn’t sign anything unless you completely understand what it is and what it’s saying. If you sign without knowing these things, you could put yourself in a less than desirable situation in the future when dealing with this accident.
If you travel around the world a lot, consider using the safety travel tips mentioned above to help you know what you should do if you get in a car accident when abroad.
