At the scene:
1. Pull safely to the side of the road if possible.
2. Verify that you and anyone else in the car are not obviously injured (i.e. in pain, bleeding, etc.) If anyone is injured, call 911 (even if the injury seems minor; the paramedics need to make that decision, not you, and you may need to present their report to the insurance company later).
3. Get out of the car and greet the other driver. Verify that they're uninjured as above; if necessary, offer to call paramedics.
4. Tell the other driver that you're going to inspect the cars for damage and then exchange information. Give the other driver a few minutes to stop freaking out if necessary.
5. Visually inspect your car for obvious damage. If you find damage, make note of its extent and location. Photograph if possible.
6. Do the same for the other car.
7. Confer with the other driver; make sure that the two of you are in rough agreement about a) whether anyone seemed injured and b) what damage was done to the cars. Avoid debating why/how the accident happened or whose fault it was; that's not important right now.
8. Collect the following information:
The date and time of the accident
The approximate location of the accident (i.e. main street and cross street, nearby street address)
Any extraordinary weather/road conditions (i.e. sleet, snow, ice, oil, fog)
Your name and contact information (address and phone minimum)
Your vehicle make and model
Your license plate number (including state)
Your insurance company and policy number
Your insurance company's phone number
The names and phone numbers of any passengers in your car
The other driver's name and contact information (address and phone minimum)
The other driver's vehicle make and model
The other driver's license plate number (including state)
The other driver's insurance company and policy number
The other driver's insurance company's phone number
The names and phone numbers of any passengers in the other driver's car
9. Make sure that both you and the other driver have a copy of all the above information.
10. If your car is driveable, drive home; if not, call AAA or a tow company.
Once you get home:
1. Call your insurance company and open an auto claim. You will receive a brief phone screening, the agent will ask you for some of the information you collected, and you will be contacted by an adjuster within the next few days for a more detailed interview.
2. File a Massachusetts Operator's Report of Motor Vehicle Accident, available in the Forms & Publications section of the Massachusetts RMV website ( http://www.mass.gov/rmv/forms/accident.htm ). You'll need to fill this form out by hand and turn it in at your local police station (Somerville PD is at 220 Washington St. in Union Square).
3. Call your doctor and report that you were in an accident. You'll be triaged over the phone and may need to go in for a checkup. Do so even if you don't feel injured; again, the point is to gather documentation.
4. After the insurance adjuster has interviewed you (and probably anyone else involved in the accident) and the other insurance company's adjuster has done the same, the insurance companies will argue with each other over who was at fault. Eventually your adjuster will tell you what their decision was. Do not have any work done on your car before they make their decision! However, if your doctor tells you you need treatment, I don't believe you need to wait to get treated, especially if you have health insurance as well as auto insurance.
5. If your car requires repair, you'll need to schedule an insurance inspection. Each insurance company contracts with one or more local inspection services; you'll need to take your car there at a specific time, whereupon the inspector will want you to point out the damage to the car. The inspector will take pictures and fill out a form, then give you a list of insurance-approved body shops. Unless you have an *overwhelming* reason to do otherwise, go to one of these body shops.
6. Schedule an appointment with the body shop. Once you've done that, call a local car rental service (we've had good experiences with Enterprise), tell them when your body shop appointment is, and ask them to pick you up.
7. Once you get to the body shop, ask the manager for the necessary form to enable them to bill your insurance directly; from this point on you should not need to pay them out of pocket, assuming your insurance company is covering the entire amount (except for your deductible, of course). Don't skimp on the bodywork; there is little to be gained by cutting corners at this point, since it's the insurance company's money, not yours. Get an estimate from the body shop of how long they'll need to keep your car.
8. At the car rental service, make sure you know what your daily rental insurance benefit is (your insurance agent can tell you this). Tell the agent the name of your insurance company and that they'll be covering your rental; the rates are different for insurance companies than for private individuals. The agent will tell you the best car they can give you for that price. NB: you will most likely be required to produce a credit card on which they will place a hold for a couple of hundred dollars in case you don't bring the car back; make sure you have such a card available.
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