Even minor distractions on the road can lead to big consequences.

When his brother rear-ended another car, he thought it was no big deal, until he ended up in the ER days later for severe pain.

Now, he’s stuck between filing a claim to cover medical costs and protecting their relationship with a brother who’s already on edge.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

WIBTA if I Made a Claim on My Brother’s Insurance After He Hurt Me in an Accident?

A few months ago, I was involved in a car accident.

I was riding as a passenger in my brother’s car.

We were driving through normal traffic when he said, “Woah, look at that dog!” or something to that effect when he rear ended the car in front of us.

It was 100% his fault.

The accident didn’t seem like a huge deal at first and his brother appeared to take responsibility.

When the accident happened, I felt my head snap forward, but it did not hurt immediately.

After the crash happened, everyone got out of their cars, exchanged information, and everyone acted cool.

The guy my brother hit called the police, and the police did come, and they gave my brother a ticket saying that he caused the crash.

My brother told me at the crash that he knew it was his fault.

I mean, how could it not be?

But days later, the full impact of the crash began to hit…

Well, about 2 days after the crash, my neck, shoulder, and upper back started to REALLY hurt.

Like really bad.

So I went to the ER.

They took some x-rays, told me nothing was broken, but said I could have a spine injury but I would need to see a specialist for that.

They also gave me some medication that isn’t doing anything to help.

His brother started freaking out the hit car filing a claim against him.

I told my brother and he said his insurance called him and apparently the person he hit got a lawyer and made a claim on his insurance.

He was freaking out because he is worried that his rates will skyrocket and he won’t have car insurance.

But the injured brother is weighing filing a claim as well.

I feel bad because I feel like I have no choice but to make a claim on his insurance too.

My ER bill alone is like $5,000, and if I need to get additional medical, it will be even more.

Not to mention that I am still in a lot of pain.

Where things got ugly was that I told him that I needed to make a claim too.

I told him I knew he didn’t mean to cause the accident, but he absolutely was at fault because he was was not paying attention.

His brother didn’t take this well.

Now my brother is angry with me and saying I am no better than the person that hired a lawyer to come after him.

I am like, “Bro, you even admitted to me you were not paying attention and this is your fault!”

But the injured brother feels he has no other choice.

I am worried that I am genuinely hurt.

I have a specialist appointment coming up in the next few days and I am using my health insurance.

Plus, if I make a claim, what difference will it make because the other driver already made one?

Anyway, I feel really bad but I am not sure what else I am supposed to do.

AITA?

This is a tough decision to be stuck in.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter assures the passenger that filing a claim and looking out for his best interest is nothing personal.

The brother is not handling this situation maturely at all and he left his injured brother with no other choice.

If there’s any time to take advantage of the insurance, it would be now.

This redditor wonders what the brother who caused the accident expected to happen.

The brother can be upset, but not at his brother.

But he only has himself to blame.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.