Reader’s Question:

My friends informed me that in case of road accidents, showing photographs of the incident is the best way to increase the value of my claim against my motor vehicle accident insurance. Is there a proper way to take photographs?

Larry

Anchorage AK

It is undeniably true that photographs serve as best evidence to ultimately settle the value of your claims against your motor vehicle accident insurance. They must be taken, or you must have someone to take the photographs, after the accident as soon as possible.

The most obvious thing to photograph are bodily injuries, if any. These include deep cuts, bruises, lacerations and swellings. Take photograph of the injuries approximately 3 feet away. Also take photographs of these injuries at a closer distance to determine the seriousness of the situations.

The next things to produce in order to make your motor vehicle accident insurance claim are the photographs of the vehicles involved in the accident. Shoot pictures of the damages caused to the cars at different perspectives, including the vehicle that hit you. These photographs can be valuable to you in the future when proving who’s fault the accident was and the impact it had that caused the bodily injuries.

Additionally, taking photographs of the whole accident scene is a valuable move for your motor vehicle accident insurance claims. This must be taken from at least three different distances:

• a general view of the scene, about 20 – 40 feet away
• medium range shots, about 10 – 40 feet away, and
• closeup shots, bout 3 to 5 feet away.

It is preferable if these three pictures have a common focus point, such as skid marks on the road, taken at the three different distances. Also try to include landmarks, such as street signs, when taking pictures.

Photographs must not be taken hastily and unprofessionally in order to take good quality pictures to highlight the damages on the cars, the evidential marks on the road and the damages on the street objects due to the accident. This is to ensure faster processing of your claims and to avoid disputes over blurry pictures.