So, you’re looking at your auto insurance policy, and you realize that you wouldn’t know what to do first if you get into an accident. With thousands of drivers on Colorado roads alone, chances are good that you’ll be in some kind of collision at some point during your driving career. So what do you do if that happens?

Filing an insurance claim is generally a fairly simple process. Most claims don’t involve personal injury; the majority of insurance payouts go toward physical damage on your car, not health complications.

If you are injured in a wreck, you’ll need more proof of injury and probably more persistence than you would for a simple vehicle-damage claim. But in Colorado, the process is more or less the same.

Right after you’re involved in an accident, file a police report and call your insurance agent. Keep your opinions and thoughts out of the conversation you have with your agent—just tell them the facts.

If you have a camera with you (tip: keep a disposable camera in you glove compartment for moments like these), snap pictures of the damage to both vehicles. These photos could be invaluable later during the claims process.

Before you leave the scene, make sure you have the other person’s license plate number, full name, and insurance information. Write it down in a secure place and hang on to that information. Also get phone numbers and contact information of witnesses and anyone involved.

An insurance adjuster will come out to assess the damage to your vehicle and may issue you a check right on the spot. Sometimes more information and/or a professional estimate is needed.

Find out from your local insurance agent if your insurance policy works with participating body shops, because you might get a better deal and a free estimate at the shops your insurance agency can recommend.

We’re supposed to be civilized, responsible human beings. Yet hundreds of times each year, drivers who caused damage to someone else’s vehicle flee the scene. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety administration, 1 out of every 10 reported accidents turns out to be a hit and run.

So, are Colorado car owners with comprehensive insurance policies covered if they’re the victim of a hit and run accident?

As an insurance agent, I get questions like this all the time. Chances are, if you have collision insurance as well as comprehensive, your car is covered. Let’s look at the differences between comprehensive and collision policies.

Comprehensive policies cover your vehicle if it’s damaged by something other than another vehicle. For example, if a meteor falls from the sky and crashes through your new power tilt-and-glide sunroof, a comprehensive policy would cover you. Comprehensive coverage policies also cover weather damage, fire, theft, and larceny.

However, Colorado comprehensive policies do not generally cover accidents that occur with other drivers who flee the scene. That’s what collision insurance is for.

Collision policies typically cover the damages that occur when your car hits—or is hit by—another vehicle or another object. That’s everything from a twenty-car-pileup on the interstate to a fender-bender on the way to your favorite ski resort.

This is the category under which hit and run collisions generally fall. It covers the guy who was checking his stocks on his iPhone that ran a red light, surgically removed your bumper, and didn’t stop to say howdy.

If you’ve been involved in a hit and run collision, the first step is to file a police report and give the authorities detailed information about what happened. Then contact your local insurance agent in Centennial to find out what your options are. Each insurance policy is different, so talking to your agent is the only way to find out for sure whether a hit and run will be covered.