Understanding Personal Injury Law
Tips For Filing A Claim After A Car Accident
Celina Nichols
Filing an insurance claim after a car accident is mostly straightforward, but your results can vary based on the steps you take to make your claim compelling. Here are some tips on how to bolster your car accident claim.
Report the Accident Right Away
It's important for you to report the accident as soon as it happens. Failing to report the accident before seeking medical treatment could mean that those bills need to come out of your own pocket.
Seek a Medical Evaluation
As soon as you've opened a claim, get a medical professional to evaluate your condition. Chiropractors are ideal for assessing your health after a car accident, since your spine is one of the most vulnerable areas during an accident. The chiropractor will do a thorough evaluation to identify any hidden pain points. Waiting too long could harm your claim because the insurer might not accept the injuries as part of your original accident; they could claim that your spinal injuries happened later on.
Estimate Your Damages
Don't go blindly into an insurance claim and hope for the best; be sure to actively estimate how much money you hope to get out of your insurance claim. Estimate your current and future medical costs related to the accident. If you need to take off work because of your injury, estimate the amount of income lost and get a note from your doctor. Emotional pain should be considered as well. If you know what kind of compensation you're looking for, it puts you on the alert in case the insurance company tries to lowball you.
Hiring a Lawyer
You may want to try and file an insurance claim on your own if you're on a budget. But there are cases when a lawyer should step in on your behalf. If you get back the results of your insurance evaluation and feel that they are lowballing you, have a personal injury attorney step in to arbitrate with your insurance company and potentially file a lawsuit. If you need to sue multiple people, this should be handled by a personal injury attorney as well; suing both a doctor and the person responsible for your accident can be difficult because the cases are so intricately tied together. And when you can afford it, having a lawyer from the start can save you the hassle of filing the insurance claim, only for the payout to be less than desired.
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About a year ago, I was left dealing with injuries sustained during a serious car accident. I was worried that I would never be the same, so I decided to start looking into ways to make things right. After thinking about the wreck, I realized that since it wasn't my fault, I shouldn't be left with all of the medical expenses. I decided that I needed to look into things a little further, and I decided to file a personal injury lawsuit. My lawyer helped me to come to grips with the extent of my injuries and helped me to make things right. This blog is all about understanding personal injury lawsuits.