Articles
Taking Photographs
Photographs are an excellent form of proof. The old saying "one picture is worth a thousand words" is never more true than when used in a personal injury, damage or loss claim.
Many times a vehicle is towed from the scene of the accident to an auto pound or wrecking yard. When this is the case, the insurance company you expect to pay the damage or loss will usually want to remove it as quickly as possible to avoid having to pay daily storage fees. Where the vehicle is located in a pound or wrecking yard, act quickly because once the vehicle is removed, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to get your own photographs of it.
You will want to have photographs of the scene of the accident as well, but do not overlook the possibility that others may have taken photographs of the accident scene and the vehicles where the collision is serious, dramatic and possibly involves personal injury claims in addition to property claims.
Police units will take photographs in extreme cases usually involving death. If photographs were taken by the police, this fact is usually recorded on the official police report in a little box somewhere on the face of the document.
Sometimes, but not always, police photographs are difficult to obtain as may be a copy of a video tape of a person arrested at the scene for intoxication. Where you can obtain such photographs or video under the freedom of information act or by merely requesting them and offering to pay for their duplication, they make great evidence.
Sometimes photographs may be taken by private persons. In cases of serious accidents likely to be newsworthy and especially in smaller rural communities, newspaper photographers will rush to the scene and take photographs before things are moved and cleaned up.
If the accident occurs in a rural community, locate the local newspapers to determine if someone from their organization happened to take photographs. When they have, you will almost always discover more photographs were taken and are on hand than were actually published. Where photographs at the scene have been taken, regardless of by whom, they can be a treasure.
Photographs not only shows the extend of the damage or loss sustained, but what was damaged in the accident and its location. If important to the claim, location of damage may be important to support a determination of who was at fault. They also conveys a sense of just how bad the accident was from the amount of visible damage and relation of the vehicles one to the other another and the surrounding area. Do your best to obtain photographs as soon as possible.
When you take photographs, it is necessary they clearly show all the damage resulting from the accident and all other damage even though it was present before the accident.
Do not use a Polaroid camera! Polaroid photographs do not reproduce well and, if it becomes necessary, it is an expensive proposition. Use 35 mm film. If you do not have a 35mm camera, purchase a disposable one at just about any grocery store, drug store or camera shop. Be sure the film selected is proper for the lighting conditions where the vehicle is located.
It is not always possible, but where you can, take photographs of any other vehicle involved in the accident. This is not so important to your property claim as it may be for any personal injury claim that may arise.
When taking photographs of a vehicle do not have people, animals or other things in whole or in part in the shot that may distract from the vehicle damage or destruction you want. This same warning goes for any other objects or signs which may distract from what you are trying to show if it is possible to take the photographs without them being shown.
Begin taking photos by stepping back from the vehicle just far enough to frame one side of it entirely in the camera view finder. Take separate shots of all four sides of the vehicle. This means all the way around it. Be sure to get a clear shot of the license tag, front and back as you go.
Depending on the damage sustained, it may also be necessary to photograph underneath, on top or inside of the vehicle. Where damage or evidence of impact is visible underneath the vehicle, exert some effort and get photos of it.
When you have photographed all four sides of the vehicle from a distance, take close ups shots of the exterior damage which resulted from the accident for more detail. Do this from different angles. You will be surprised how some photos will demonstrate the damage more dramatically than others.
Once the outside damage is sufficiently photographed, do not overlook any damage present inside the passenger compartment, underneath the body, the hood or within the trunk.
Again be sure that any thing in the vehicle which might distract from the damage you want to portray is not in the photograph.
Often times seats will be broken, steering wheels bent, rear view mirrors torn from their station, windshields cracked or broken glass will be scattered about. These things are important to photographs, but "Playboy" magazine, old beverage containers or used fast food paper products and other garbage are not. You want to document the damage not items that will serve to distract a person viewing the photographs.
Once your vehicle has been completely photographed, inside, out and underneath return to the scene of the accident to photograph it equally as well.
Start by taking shots from a distance. Then move up in stages to the point of the collision taking photographs as you go. Cover the area well.
Do this by photographing the location of the accident from all four directions of the compass. Do not overlook street signs, traffic signs or lights and surrounding buildings. Include them in your shots were you can to identify the location and traffic control devises that may be present.
While at the scene and especially if there are businesses located in the area, ask around to determine if anyone saw the collision or talked with any person involved in it. Often times such detective work will turn up useful information. If you do find a witness to any part of the event include them and their information in your file.
When photographing is complete, have at least two sets made at the developers. One set of the photographs will be sent to the insurance company you expect to pay you for the damage or loss. The other set is for your record along with the negatives.
For easy access to the set you keep in your file mount them on sheets of paper with transparent tape leaving room beside each one to make notations to describe important information and from which direction it was taken. If there are any particular objects in the picture which you believe to be important to your claim, make notes of your thoughts as well. The sooner your make these notes the better. Time has a way of fading the memory and causing good ideas to be lost if not immediately recorded.
If you hire an attorney, he will need these photographs, but if you do not, remember, if you send photographs to the insurance company, send those which best represent the damages or loss you are claiming. It is not always necessary to send each and every photograph you have taken. Some will be better than others.
Do not sent copies of your notes about each photograph. This information written on your mounting pages is for you. It is not for the insurance carrier. They can figure things out for themselves or you can explain to them in conversation.
In many instances the insurance adjuster who looks at your vehicle will make photographs for his company claim file. If you want copies of these, you will have to make a request for them and extract a promise from the adjuster to provide them.
Sometimes you will get them, but often you will be meet with a refusal to give you a set.
If you are furnished a set of photographs from the insurance company, review them carefully. Keep insurance photographs separate from your photographs to permit you to instantly know who took which ones. Note any damage, outside or inside the vehicle, not photographed or that is not clearly shown. Mount the insurance company's set of photographs as you did your own on sheets of paper and make your notes.
If there are omissions or oversights in the insurance company's photographs be sure to record them. Hopefully your set of photographs will be more descriptive and complete. Remember the insurance company, like you, may hold back photographs if they do not seem to help their side of the case.
If you have suffered physical injury, you will want to take photos of the areas of the body which demonstrate injury and can be done with modesty by using towels to cover parts of the body not injured where possible. Unlike scene and vehicle damage photographs, they will have to be repeated from time to time as the body heals.
All of the photos you take will be useful to your lawyer and to the ultimate resolution of your case.
