The auto insurance industry has pursued a successful strategy of marketing and public relations to condition the public (that includes juries) to view victims of negligence as somehow at fault when they make legitimate claims for monetary compensation. You can read more about some of the unfair settlement practices that insurance companies use here. As an accident victim, you have to do everything you can to combat this strategy; that effort starts as soon as you are hit. Assuming you follow this advice, you’ll preserve your claim, and make the job of any attorney who represents you that much easier when it comes to maximizing your claim’s dollar value. A car wreck (motor vehicle accident or MVA) can be a life-altering event. Obviously, if the MVA is severe enough, you may be unconscious, in which case the only thing you can do is rely on emergency medical personnel to transport you to an adequately equipped trauma center. We’re not going to address wrecks of that severity here. What we are going to tell you about is the kind of collision serious enough to cause some damage to your vehicle, but seemingly not bad enough to warrant immediate medical care…how do you handle an accident like that? Here are our suggestions, gleaned from representing hundreds of people in just these kinds of collisions over the past decade or so.