Have you ever wondered “What’s the right thing to do if you’re in a car accident?”

(Assuming everyone is safe and there’s no need to call 911)

“Call the police?”

“Call the insurance company to submit the claim?”

“Who’s insurance should we call first?”

We brought on special guest Tiffany Menefee from Pronto Body Shop in El Paso, TX to give us advice. Tiffany is an experienced auto insurance adjuster so she knows the ins & outs of the car insurance industry.

As a body shop owner, she’s always answering questions like these.

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“Hey everybody. It’s Tiffany with Pronto Body Shop.”

“So what do you do if you were just involved in an accident?”

“If everybody’s okay and the vehicles are drivable, you want to know what do you do next.”

“Personally, my first recommendation is if y’all are in agreement on who was at fault in the accident, then you want to go ahead and call the insurance company for the other party.”

“If you were the one that caused the accident the go ahead and call your insurance and turn in the claim.”

“If it was the other person that caused the accident then go ahead and call the insurance right there when you’re standing with them to get the claim turned in.”

“Then you want to think about what do you do for vehicle repairs.”

“Typically, they’re [your insurance company] going to make you go to one of their direct repair facilities to get an estimate on your vehicle.”

“After you have your estimate from the insurance company, do your research on finding a good body shop that you can take your vehicle to.”

“Once you have that shop that you feel comfortable with, call them and say ‘Hey, I was involved in an auto accident. It’s with this insurance company. What do I do next?’ “

“I would say, ‘Okay, great. Come on in. Let’s bring your vehicle, bring your estimate so we can review it.’ ”

“We will then schedule you in for repairs, we’ll set up your rental, give you a ride over to the rental car agency, you get your rental vehicle.”

-Tiffany Menefee, Pronto Body Shop

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BONUS: 2 Tips to prevent a neck problem from getting worse in a car accident.

What if you’ve got a neck problem right now….how do you prevent the neck problem from worsening in the event you’re in a car accident?

1) Always keep your head on the headrest…. or at least as much as possible.

• It’s not always going happen. You might have to check your blind spot and take your head off the headrest at times. But if you’re driving straight, you should be able to do it.
• Make sure everything’s adjusted appropriately, the seat’s high enough, the steering wheel’s the right distance.

2) Adjust your mirrors….to promote you keeping your head on the headrest.

• The idea is to keep the mirrors adjusted so that you don’t have to take your head off the headrest.

Keeping your head on the headrest saves your neck from the dreaded “whiplash” injury frequently sustained after a car accident. If your head’s on the headrest and you’re rear ended, you’re going to break up that whiplash motion where your head whips forward and back.

Especially if you’re already dealing with a neck injury, the last thing you want is to be in a car accident and really make it bad.

This is Dr. David of El Paso Manual Physical Therapy.