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1. What Do You Do At The Accident Site If You Have Been Involved In An Accident?
2. Do You Need To Call The Police?
3. Do You Need To Make A Police Report?
4. Do You Need To Report To The Insurance Company?
5. How Can You Make A Claim And Who Can You Claim Against?
6. What Can A Person Claim?
7. Do You Need To Go To Court?
8. What Is The Costs That You Need To Pay?
9. How Do I Collect My Money?
10. How Can A Lawyer Help You?
11. How Do I Get More Information?

If you are not hurt and are still lucid, you should take down the following particulars:

1. registration numbers of he vehicles involved in the accident
2. the name of insurance companies of all the vehicles involved in the accident;
3. the names, NRIC numbers, addresses and telephone numbers of the drivers, passengers, injured pedestrians and witnesses.

You should also give your particulars to the other parties involved in the accident.

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If the accident is a serious accident eg where someone is injured or has died, you must call the police.

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You should make a written police report as soon as possible at any police station or neighbourhood Police Post. If you are hospitalised as a result of the accident, make your report as soon as you are able to. You can do this at the hospital itself or once you are discharged from the hospital.

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You should report the accident to your insurance company within the time limit stated in your policy. If you do not do this, your insurers may deny responsibility for any claims made by you or any third party claim against you.

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1. Claim Against Your Own Insurance Company
   You can make a claim against your own insurer; but any such claim can only be for the sum which exceeds your excess amount.
2. Claim Against Another Person
   If the accident was caused by the fault of someone else, you can make a claim against that person. If you choose do so, it is advisable to see a lawyer.
3. Claiming In Hit And Run Cases
   If you suffer personal injuries as a result of an accident and do not know the particulars of the other party that caused the accident, you may make a claim to the Motor Insurance Bureau.

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A person claim:

1. General Damages
   This compensates you for pain and suffering as a result of injuries cause to a person ("personal injures").
2. Special Damages
   This compensates you for expenses incurred, eg costs of medical fees, transport, repairs to vehicle, hiring another vehicle while your vehicle is being repaired, loss of salary and CPF savings contributions before the trial.

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If none of the people you claim against, including the insurance company, are willing to settle your claim, you may want to commence action in Court. If proceedings are commenced in Court, there are two questions to be decided:

1. Liability i.e. who is responsible; and
2. Quantum i.e. how much the damage caused is worth (see What can a person claim)

For liability, the Court can decide that one party is fully responsible for the accident, in which case, he is said to be "100% liable".

The Court can also decide that the person making the claim (plaintiff) is partly responsible for the accident (Contributorily negligent). In this case, the Court will assess the degree of responsibility in percentage terms and divide the damage accordingly between the parties, e.g. if the plaintiff is found to be 20% contributorily negligent for a $10,000 claim, then he will only be awarded the sum of $8,000 as damages.

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The costs you have to pay your lawyer is called "Solicitor and Client" costs. The costs that the losing party pays to the winning party is called "Party and Party" costs.

If you lose your case, you will have to pay the other side's Party and Party costs, as well as your own Solicitor and Client costs. If you win your case, the Party and Party costs received by you can be used towards paying your own Solicitor and Client costs which may be more than your Party and Party costs.

If you are awarded more than $5,000 for personal injuries, the Court decides on the amount of solicitor and Client costs and the Party and Party costs.

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If you are awarded general damages in excess for $5,000, the money will be paid to the Public Trustee (a government officer) who will then pay you the money. It usually takes 3 to 6 months from the completion of your case for payment to be made.

If there is no claim for personal injuries, the money will be paid directly by the insurance company to you or through your lawyer.

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Your lawyer will:

1. go though the documents and consider the evidence;
2. take a statement from you and advise you on the strength of your case;
3. write letters on your behalf to claim compensation;
4. discuss with you offers made and negotiate a settlement; and
5. if no settlement is made, start proceedings in Court, prepare court documents, interview your witnesses and prepare.

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If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking on this email address [email protected] or calling us at 64288234 or 65572948. We  would be very happy to discuss your options with you.

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