After a car accident in St. Petersburg, you will be sent many forms to fill out. You will likely receive these forms from your car insurance company, the at-fault driver’s car insurance company (if applicable), and from the hospital. The forms are confusing and if you are not experienced with handling car accident claims, you will definitely have questions. This article will address the types of forms that you need to fill out, how to fill them out, and which forms that you can ignore.

If you were in a car accident in St. Petersburg and have been injured, we hope that you will gain some value from this article. If you do not have a car accident lawyer or want to switch lawyers, please consider contacting us for a free consultation.

Forms Sent by Your Car Insurance Company

After you start a claim with your insurance company, regardless of who is at fault for the car accident, you will immediately be sent a packet of information. In this packet are several forms to be completed and returned.

PIP (Personal Injury Protection) Application

A PIP, or Personal Injury Protection, application is a 2-3 page form that asks for several details about the car accident and personal information. It will ask for your name, address, location of the accident, description of the accident, if you were injured, what your injuries are, where you have received medical treatment, who your employer is, if you own any vehicles, who lives in your household, if anyone in your household owns a vehicle, etc.

If you are represented by an attorney, your attorney will complete this form for you and upon your review, approval, and signature, send it to your insurance carrier on your behalf. If you are not represented by an attorney, read through these questions carefully and provide answers that are as accurate as possible. At our office, we fill these forms out for our clients as a matter of course to make sure that they are correct.

*A helpful hint to remember* If you live with a relative over the age of 15, you are required to notify your insurance company of their residency.

Lost Wage and Salary Verification Form

The Lost Wage and Salary Verification Form needs to be completed in order for you to recover any lost wages incurred as a result of your accident. This form will need to be given to your employer to complete and sign. It asks questions like your dates of employment, wage amount, if there is any workers compensation available, and the specific dates/times you were absent from work.

*A helpful hint to remember* To be eligible for lost wages, you must have a completed disability note from your treating medical provider and if approved, you will only receive 60% of your total compensation. It is for this reason that we often do not recommend to our clients to get reimbursed out of PIP for lost wages. We prefer our clients to use the PIP money solely for their medical bills.

Mileage Reimbursement Form

You may be eligible to receive compensation for mileage expenses to and from your doctors’ appointments. Your insurance carrier will send you a form asking for your specific appointment days and how far you traveled for each appointment. If you plan to seek this compensation, make sure you complete this document with the correct days and mileage as they will be cross checking to make sure you are accurate.

*A helpful hint to remember* This reimbursement comes from the $10,000.00 available to your medical providers out of your PIP coverage. If you sought medical treatment from a hospital that exhausted this layer of coverage, this form may be moot and completing it could be a waste of your time. We suggest hiring a lawyer to monitor this information for you. We generally do not recommend using PIP money to pay for this because the money is better used toward medical bills.

HIPAA Compliant Authorization

The HIPPA Compliant Authorization is a medical authorization your insurance company asks you to complete so they can gain access to your medical records. By completing this authorization it allows your insurance company to request and obtain your medical records on their own. We do not recommend completing this form. By allowing the insurance company to obtain your medical records, it opens the gates for them to use your medical history against you and obtain information that may not be related to your claim. Please understand that if you sign this form, you are giving the insurance company open access to all of your medical records.

Release of Health Information/Medicare Reporting Questionnaire

Your auto insurance wants to know if you have health insurance because your health insurance may hold a lien interest in your auto claim. If you have Medicare, they also require unique forms to be completed allowing your insurance carrier to report the claim and obtain lien information.

Forms Sent by The At-Fault Car Insurance Company

After the at-fault driver reports the accident in St. Petersburg, their insurance company will also send you forms to complete.

Request for a Recorded Statement

If the at-fault insurance carrier hasn’t already called you to discuss the claim, they will likely send you a letter requesting a recorded statement. This is a request that they want to interview you over the phone and record it. They will use this to determine who was really at-fault.

We do not recommend to our clients to agree to a recorded statement because it can be used against you later in the case.

Property Damage Release

If the at-fault carrier pays for your property damage, you will receive a property damage release. This release will state the amount the carrier is paying you for the damages releasing the property damage claim. We strongly recommend reading this release in full before signing as it may be releasing other portions of your claim as well. But, this is a form that you wil eventually have to sign if they paid you for the damages to your car.

Forms Sent by the Hospital

If you went to the hospital after your automobile accident in St. Petersburg they will send you insurance request forms. The hospital sends these forms to make sure they are billing the correct insurance carriers for any medical bills you incurred while at their facility. They will send you a form requesting your car insurance and health insurance information. If you have Medicare, they may also send you Medicaid specific forms requesting your policy information. If you have a lawyer, your lawyer will decide how to fill these out. If you do not plan on hiring a lawyer, then please fill them out.

The Importance of St. Petersburg Car Accident Attorneys

As mentioned in the above, if you have gained anything from this article and realize that you need an attorney, or need to change attorneys, please contact us for a free consultation.

We specialize in car accidents in St. Petersburg. We have handled every type of car accident claim there is and won. We take the time to guide you through the claim process. You simply won’t find the level of legal service anywhere else in St. Petersburg. We wish you the best of luck after your accident.