Checking Your Car After an Accident: Detecting Damages At a Tucson Collision Repair Shop

If you have been in a minor car accident, the first thing to check would be your own body for internal and external accident injuries, and then get yourself checked out at a clinic later on. Once the initial steps of calling the emergency services, clicking photos for the insurance claim and exchanging details (if another car was involved in the accident) are complete, it’s just best to go home and get a good night’s sleep to help yourself out of the trauma (don’t drive!). However, the next day, you need to start assessing the collision repair damage to your car more thoroughly.

Check the Whole Frame for Collision Damage

The very first step would be to check the whole frame of your car for collision damage after the accident. Dents, scratches, bent bumpers, busted taillights, cracked windshields, and window glasses, etc., all fall under this collision repair group.

Give the Tucson collision repair services a call because unless you are a professional mechanic yourself, as you can’t fix accident collision damage on your own. Do not forget to take photographs and get a list of accident damages from the auto shop for claiming insurance.

Is the Battery Damaged Inside?

The thing about battery damage in minor accidents is it they are not visible from the outside. People will often find themselves stranded in the middle of the road a few days after the accident because of body repairs and dead battery. It happens because the cell inside the casing is quite susceptible to jarring impacts, even from minor ones. If it shifts, the lead plates will eventually short circuit, leaving you with a dead battery without warning and in need of collision repair

Drive Around the Block a Bit

If you can’t see anything that’s been damaged enough to prevent the car from being driven around the block once or twice after the accident, do it. See if the check engine light begins to flash and/or you can hear any kind of rattling noise, clicks or screeching noises while starting the car, driving, turning and braking after the accident.

Also, you will know if the momentum of the car feels off-balance while making turns. Mention these facts to the collision repair auto shop, along with any other abnormalities such as poor brake response, tight steering wheel, and the like.

Know Your Limits

To be fully clear, these are just a few common body repair things that everyone should know to check on, right after the accident, but it’s certainly not the full list. How much and what else can you do to check the extent of the damage to your car after the accident will depend on the level of your expertise with cars. In general, though, it’s just better to do the basic checks and get it to an auto shop, so that the accident professionals can inspect everything for themselves and list it down for the insurance claim.

If your car is in a damaged condition that you are well aware of, do not take the risk of driving it to the mechanic by yourself because you don’t want to be in an accident twice in such quick succession! Have it towed to the Tucson collision repair shop, if necessary.