What is Accident Management? The term is slightly inaccurate and should more correctly be called Accident Aftermath Management. Accidents by their very nature are sudden, unexpected and - for the innocent party - unavoidable. It is how the events immediately after an accident and beyond are managed that is important.

All types of accidents will have their own specific accident management requirements. Here we are dealing with road traffic accidents (RTA's) and, specifically, the position of an innocent motorist involved in an accident.

The starting point for accident management of an RTA is the gathering of information at the scene of the accident. This first phase will be the preserve of the motorist themselves and/or the emergency services depending on the severity of the accident.

It is important that certain vital information is captured at the scene of the accident. Most importantly are the name and address of the other motorist involved as well as the registration number of their vehicle. If the registration number of the other vehicle is available it is possible in most cases to establish the identity of the registered keeper of the vehicle and the identity of the vehicle's insurers.

RTA's must be reported to the police who will attend at the scene in most instances and certainly where anyone involved in the accident has been injured. If there has been an injury the police must prepare a police accident report. This report will contain a great deal of useful information beyond the details referred to above. Where liability for the accident is not straightforward the police accident report can be very useful in helping to investigate who is responsible for the accident.


The next phase of accident management is where the One1One complete service really starts to kick in for our members' benefit. So let us start calling the 'motorist' in this scenario a 'member' instead, as in a member of the One1one Accident Aftercare scheme?.

Where our member's vehicle cannot be driven away from the scene of the accident a call to the One1One helpline will enable us to arrange for the vehicle to be collected for the member. This particular service is available to our member regardless of who was at fault for the accident.


Accident management in RTA cases is different from other accidents in so far as there are two distinct parts to the management of an RTA. In the first instance there is the vehicle and getting the member mobile again as soon as possible. The second distinct element of dealing with an RTA is the recovery of the member's (and for this element passengers are also included) financial losses and expenses including, where appropriate, damages for personal injuries.


One1One manages the next phase - getting you, our Member, mobile again - in a number of ways which are designed not only to be effective but also to be as convenient for you as possible.

This part of the accident management process involves the repair or replacement of the vehicle and the provision of a replacement vehicle while our member's own vehicle is off the road. To achieve this end there would ordinarily be a burden to the ordinary motorist who is not a One1one member in making contact with all the relevant parties and making appropriate arrangements.

However, One1One assists you here by making all the appropriate calls and reports on your behalf so you only have to call our number once and everything is done for you. If you wish we will arrange the repairs to your vehicle and recover the costs of those repairs from the other driver's insurers. We will then also supply a like-for-like replacement vehicle whilst your vehicle is off the road due to the accident or whilst being repaired.

The "management" aspect of this element of the service goes beyond arranging the repairs and providing a replacement vehicle. We will do all the booking-in of the vehicle for you, arranging a date convenient for you for the repairs to start.

While the vehicle is being repaired we will closely monitor those repairs and report accurately and regularly to you on the progress. In other words we genuinely manage the repairs on your behalf.


The other distinct part of accident management relates to the recovery of our Members' losses and expenses arising from the accident. This is invariably the final phase of the accident management process and includes the recovery of damages for any injury suffered by you, and/or any member of your family and/or any passengers.

Where you have not been injured and your losses and/or expenses are straightforward then we will recover these for you. Where you and/or a member of your family and/or any passengers have been injured, then with your/their permission we will refer your/their claim(s) to the firm of solicitors from our national panel who is geographically closest to you/them.


Our panel of solicitors has been very carefully chosen to ensure the best possible national coverage for our members and also the quality of representation that our members will receive. Solicitors are a vital part of the claims management process and we ensure that all our panel firms are experts particularly in RTA work.

In cases involving minor injury a good firm of solicitors can achieve settlement of all aspects of the claim swiftly and with the minimum of inconvenience to the member. In cases involving serious injury, the solicitor performs a vital roll in ensuring that the damages recovered are sufficient to deal with every aspect of the future effect of the member's injury on their life.


Serious injury claims do unfortunately arise and can be very complex indeed, with many different types of damages that need to be recovered. Damages will be both for the past and the future where the effect of the injuries is continuing. So the whole concept of compensation in this instance goes far beyond just a large award of money; it also includes such factors as private medical treatment, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, psychotherapy if there is mental trauma, and so on; whatever the individual member rightfully deserves. We ensure that all of our panel firms have expertise in dealing with high value complex claims.

Hopefully this brief sketch of the accident management process for RTA's illustrates that in most phases of the process One1One can add real value to its members. The intention is that One1One will, wherever possible, take away from the member all the inconvenience and hassle of dealing with the accident management process.

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