FILE - An accident! Which insurance will intervene?

What to do in case of an accident?

An accident can take any form. Some examples:

• You want to move an antique, solid oak cupboard at home, but it turns out to be too heavy. The cupboard tips over, your arm gets pinched between the cupboard and the wall and hurts terribly.
  
• You are travelling by car when suddenly another car crashes into you at high speed. That night you wake up in hospital, your car is 'perte total'.
  
• As a garden contractor, you perform excavation work to build a garden, but collide with the customer's house with your crane, damaging the wall.

Which insurance you turn to when depends on the exact situation: is someone injured or is there only material damage? Does the accident occur privately before or at the workplace? Is there a vehicle involved? And who is liable for the damage?

What do you do in an accident involving injuries?

After an hour of puzzling and cramming, everything is in the van. Lucas and his father Geert leave for Leuven to furnish Lucas' kot. His office chair, crockery, sheets, books and a beautiful but heavy wardrobe that used to belong to grandma ... Lucas plans to make it his own atmospheric place.

Unfortunately, that was beyond daddy Geert's eternal optimism. 'We'll lift that cupboard up smoothly with the two of us,' he said. But halfway up the narrow staircase they get stuck. A new roommate comes to the rescue, the cupboard starts to slide and lands right on Geert's left foot. Lucas will not soon forget his first evening as a student in Leuven: he ends up in the hospital emergency room with his groaning father.

You do this in an accident involving injuries:

• First, make the environment safe so that the situation does not worsen. For example, in a car accident, immediately place the warning triangle and turn on your car's indicators.
• Notify the emergency services immediately if necessary (or if in doubt), or have someone else do so.
• Administer first aid at the same time. The Red Cross' First Aid app can support you in doing so.
• Notify your insurer. Exactly which insurance company intervenes will depend on whether you are hospitalised or not, and whether the accident is work-related or not.

When you don't have to go to hospital

Happy! You were not so seriously injured that hospitalisation is required. Good news, but it also means that your hospitalisation insurance will not intervene. The health insurance (mutualité) will reimburse some of your costs.

A personal accident insurance is a useful addition to this. It intervenes in case of unexpected medical expenses after an accident in your private life.

When hospitalisation is necessary

Ai, that's double bad luck ... Fortunately, thanks to your hospitalisation insurance[1] , you don't have to worry about the costs involved in your hospitalisation. It largely pays for what ordinary health insurance does not cover, such as lab tests and fee supplements.

Work accident

Things are going well for Emma, Lucas's sister: in her graphic agency, she has recently employed Anna, a creative designer to whom she can almost blindly entrust projects. Today, Anna visits a client for a briefing. The meeting going smoothly, Anna walks out on a cloud ... straight against the glass door separating the office from the car park.

After recovering briefly with an ice pack to her forehead, she returns to Emma's office somewhat dizzy. There, for the first time, it is time to call in the work accident insurance. Hopefully Anna won't have a concussion!

An accident during your work, on the way there or on the way home, is called a work-related accident. You or your employer must always legally declare this , so what happened to you can be recognised as an accident at work and you will receive the necessary follow-up, e.g. compensation for damages and your right to leave for work disability.

Your employer has compulsory work accident insurance. This will reimburse your medical expenses and medication related to the work accident, even if you telecommute. Did you also suffer material damage, such as torn trousers or broken glasses? Then see if you can hold someone liable for this; that person (or company) - or their insurance company - will have to pay for these damages. If your employer is liable, for example, his civil liability insurance will intervene. Contact us if it is not clear who is liable for the damage.

An accident with property damage, which insurance will intervene?

Breaking pot is paying pot. Those who cause material damage have to rectify it and are presented with the bill. Logical, but it can be painful when the amounts add up. That is why you would do well to get insurance in case you accidentally damage someone else's property.

Exactly which insurance do you need? That already depends on the situation. Feel free to knock on our door to make the right choice.

In your private life

Emma has recently been on her own. She loves it. Even the administration she has to take care of, she takes pleasure in it. Insurance, for instance, has proved its worth all too often at her parents' house. Like the time her brother Lucas smashed the neighbour's window with his football. Or the time her dad had a minor collision with another motorist and ended up in a spirited discussion about who should pay for the damage.

A family insurance or family policy compensates for damage you unintentionally cause to someone else. The other members of your family, including pets, are also covered by the same policy. Handy when your children hit a neighbour's window while playing football. Or when you make a clumsy move with your bike and crash into a parked car ...

Sometimes someone else causes damage to your property, or a dispute arises over who is liable. This is when your insurance policy's legal aid option comes in handy. Because it makes sure you get the compensation you are entitled to.

While working as an entrepreneur

Finally! Sarayi and Nicolas are moving into their new home. The house has everything they wanted, but it could use a lick of paint. But Sarayi is busy at work and Nicolas has two left hands, so they hire a professional. Filip has another slot in his diary a few weeks later.

Since he has added a second employee, the painting work is progressing a lot faster. Unfortunately, today the newcomer has a down day ... He gets distracted by a joke of his colleague and trips over a bucket of paint. Result: Nicolas and Sarayi's freshly sanded parquet is covered in paint splatters! Now what?

The insurance civil liability company (BA Onderneming or BA Uitbating) protects you against damages claimed from you by third parties because, as an entrepreneur, you have damaged something. Like a painter who knocks over a bucket of paint, leaving indelible paint stains on the customer's parquet.

If you have such an insurance policy, it will pay compensation to the people who are harmed by your 'fault' while doing your job, by products you sold them or by the works you performed on their premises.

An accident on the road

Invigorating forest air recharges Mehdi's batteries after his working week as a painter. This weekend, he will take the car - bike on the back - to the Flemish Ardennes to explore a newly built mountain bike trail. He will leave on Friday evening, to be in the saddle early on Saturday.

Unfortunately, things already go wrong on the poorly lit express road: totally unexpectedly, a sports car shoots out of a side street. It hits Mehdi's car full in the side, fortunately on the empty passenger side. Mehdi largely escapes with a scare, but the side of his 5-month-old car gets a deep dent. And the next day he is not on his bike, but at the GP ... maybe that stiff neck and headache indicate whiplash after all.

Mehdi fortunately does not have to worry about the costs, which come on the car insurance of Robbe, the other driver. But who pays for the damage to Robbe's car, that is less simple ...

Car accident: more needed than compulsory car insurance

Once you own a car, car insurance is compulsory. Or at least a 'BA car', civil liability insurance. It compensates on your behalf for any material or bodily harm you cause with your car to others, including the passengers you carry yourself (even if you are at fault). But important to know, is that this does not yet cover damage to your own car and your own bodily harm.

That is why we propose two important supplementary policies:

• a omnium covers your own material damage
• a driver insurance is a form of personal accident insurance that covers bodily injury to the driver of your car

Of course, prevention remains better than cure, so be sure to read our tips for manoeuvring safely through traffic.

A bike accident: what now?

Again, when you have an accident with a bicycle, a lot depends on the exact situation:

• Is a car involved? Then the BA Auto will pay for physical damage sustained by the cyclist, even if they are at fault. The material damage is borne by the person who caused the accident. If you are a cyclist at fault, appeal to your family insurance to pay for the damage to the car. If you are at fault as a motorist, you will have to appeal to your driver's insurance (bodily injuries) and your comprehensive insurance (damage to your car)
  
• Is there no car involved in the cycling accident? Then scroll all the way back up. Which insurance company takes action is determined by: are you on your way to work, are you injured, do you need to go to hospital? Complicated? We get that. Contact us and we'll untangle this tangle for you.

By the way, did you know that most of the rules for cyclists also apply to those taking a electric scooter onto public roads?

An accident while travelling

We hope you never have to experience it, an accident on holiday. Still, travel insurance is no luxury. It covers the extra costs you face after an accident: additional transport costs, the cost of your defence in a dispute over who caused the accident, and so on.

When you take out travel insurance, it is a good idea to check whether it includes a solid section personal assistance , which will reimburse your foreign medical and hospital expenses. Also vehicle assistance is an indispensable option: the insurance will pay for the towing and repair costs of your car.

Of course, your travel insurance will also help you when you are not out and about by car. For example, when you make an unfortunate fall on the ski slope, you go on a trekking trip and painfully cut yourself on a rock face or break your wrist in a wild water ride that is just too wild.

What is legal aid?

Unfortunately, after an accident, arguments often arise about who was at fault and therefore should pay the damages (in insurance language: is liable). When that happens, you are in an extra strong position with proper legal assistance. This is usually included in family insurance, and a car, bicycle or travel insurance usually includes such a component as well.

A legal expenses insurance ensures in difficult circumstances that you know your rights and get what you are entitled to.