The entire cost of fatalities, injuries, and property damage caused by automotive accidents in 2016 was projected to be $432.5 billion by the National Safety Council (NSC). As if getting harmed in a car accident wasn’t horrible enough, the financial consequences may be far worse.
You may not only miss work (and even a salary), but you may also be accountable for unforeseen medical expenditures. Your credit, like any other sort of debt, might suffer if it is not addressed immediately and effectively. Find out what affects your credit and what does not when you are involved in a car accident.
Is it true that auto accidents are reported to credit bureaus?
Auto accidents do not affect your credit history or creditworthiness. Automobile accidents are not recorded to credit bureaus or reflected on your credit report in any way.
Is it Possible for an Automobile Accident to Ruin My Credit?
Auto accidents have no effect on your credit score in and of itself. Only the debt incurred as a result of motor accidents may put you in difficulties if:
- You have both vehicle and health insurance, which necessitates sophisticated coordination of benefits.
- Your medical expenditures are not covered by your car or health insurance policies, leaving you solely liable for the debt if you do not establish acceptable payment arrangements.
In any situation, your unpaid medical bills will be transferred to a collection agency in the worst-case scenario.
What is Benefits Coordination?
If you have a vehicle and health insurance from separate providers, you’ll need to coordinate with them to figure out which policy is responsible for the debt and what (if any) coverage the other policy offers.
Complications That Could Arise During The Coordination of Benefits Process
There is a risk of problems throughout the benefits coordination procedure if:
- You fail to file your claim in a timely way. A delay like this might be used by insurance firms to technically (and legally) evade liability.
- Your insurance companies, one or both, deny responsibility for the claim.
- The claim procedure is being dragged out by one or both of your insurance carriers.
- In the claim/payment procedure, one or both of your insurance providers make clerical mistakes.
- In the worst-case situation, these issues result in neither of your insurance carriers paying your medical expenditures.
Will my healthcare provider provide me a payment grace period while the insurance companies work out the details?
While health care practitioners are aware that vehicle accident coverage is a lengthy procedure, there is no specific grace period during which you will be permitted to wait while your insurance companies work things out. Personal interaction with their billing department, on the other hand, may go a long way.
Keep them informed about what’s going on, and you may be able to buy yourself some time. Frequent communication throughout the process may assist ensure that you are not transferred to a collection agency without warning and that you are able to make required payment arrangements to maintain your good standing.
How to Avoid Complications Associated with the Benefits Coordination Process
If you have both vehicle and health insurance, do the following:
- Give your healthcare professionals all of the details about both insurances.
- File a claim with both your vehicle and health insurance providers as quickly as possible, being sure to receive a claim number from each.
- Give your health care providers both claim numbers as soon as you’ve submitted a claim with both insurance carriers.
- Check-in with your health care providers AND insurance companies on a frequent basis, for as long as required, to see how the process is going, serving as a facilitator to ensure nothing falls between the gaps.
How Can I Avoid Being Sent to Collections if the Claims Process Takes Longer Than My Health Care Providers Are Willing to Wait?
Never give up a claim if you have insurance coverage. Keep at it and check in on them often! Keep your healthcare professionals informed at the same time, and try to postpone collection as much as possible. If you can’t wait any longer and the claim hasn’t been resolved, it’s in your best credit interest to bite the bullet and establish a payment arrangement if it means avoiding being sent to a collection agency.