Accidents & Auto Insurance: How Important is a Witness when Filing an Auto Insurance Claim?

If you have been in an accident involving another vehicle, you should report it to your insurance company as soon as is reasonably possible. Your carrier has probably provided you with a short list of the information you need to provide them when an accident has occurred.  One of the stated items is likely to be “Witness Contact Information”. If a witness did, indeed,  approach you and offer their information, write it down and try to make sure you have a full address and, if possible, more than one phone number. 

But there are some other pieces of information about the witness you should consider.

• Do you know him? Does the other party? It nearly goes without saying, but do ask the witness if he knows the other party in any fashion, to any degree.  In most instances, the witnesses are impartial, but occasionally they may happen to know someone who’s involved. This is particularly true in rural areas and small towns.

• What was his vantage point? Was he behind either one of you?  Was he inside a nearby business and happened to be looking out the window? Was he sitting, poised at the nearest intersection, waiting for a light to change? Was he watching prior to impact, or was it the sound of the impact itself that drew his attention?

• What does he have to say about the accident? What details does he have to provide to your adjuster?  Ask him specific questions about what he saw and when he saw it. It is very rare, but not impossible, that an uninvolved person happens to be watching an entire accident unfold.  Be sure that he saw ALL of the action, including the action that preceded the impact. However, do not totally discard his input, even if he didn’t see ALL of the crash.

• Is the witness willing to assist in the adjuster’s investigation? Is he willing to speak to the adjuster, once assigned, or does he consider it an imposition of his time? You may not want someone who is going to have a stance of hostility or being greatly inconvenienced to be a spokesman to your claims adjuster.

• Does he have the time? If you’ve called the police, find out if the witness is willing and able to stay at the scene until the police have arrived.

All these factors pertaining to the witness tend to indicate he believes you are not “at fault”. Obviously, if you have contributed to the accident, do not ask a bystander to attest to details that are not valid or true. The damages to both autos most often reveal nearly as many facts as a human witness can, especially coupled with a diagram of the site of the impact. With the advent of detailed online map searches, which now also feature actual photos of streets and highways, even freeways, adjusters now have quite an advantage in determining the actual layout at the scene of the impact, and often, these factors can sometimes eliminate some false details given by individuals. Additionally, adjusters can and do, when necessary, have scene inspections completed, if details of the claim warrant it.