Life after a car accident is often challenging. You have to deal with pain from injuries. And also financial uncertainty.
A huge out-of-court settlement can make things bearable. It can lift a heavy financial load off your shoulders. But only if you avoid making the following mistakes.
Mistake #1: Taking the Initial Settlement Offer
When that first number comes across your desk, you may want to accept it quickly. Getting some fast cash sounds nice, especially if you have piles of medical bills or car repairs staring you down. However, agreeing to initial settlement offers is almost always a mistake.
Insurance companies bet on victims taking speedy, lowball amounts to save themselves money. Their first proposal is intentionally less than what claimants deserve.
But once you agree to a settlement figure, there's no going back to ask for more down the line. Later on, you may discover injuries have lingered longer than expected, or the car damage exceeded original estimates. But it'll be too late if you've already settled.
Mistake #2: Not Gathering Enough Evidence
Building a rock-solid insurance claim requires collecting a lot of supporting facts and data. Photos documenting accident scenes, medical reports, and eyewitness accounts—this evidence is extremely important for getting fair reimbursement.
Without ample documentation, insurers can more easily dispute injuries or challenge your recollection of events. Weak evidence also empowers them to give lowball offers, and claim that expenses weren't fully validated.
While gathering documents and data requires some legwork upfront, it'll serve you enormously in achieving fair claim resolutions. And so, take time early on to assemble as much proof as you can. You can also find more on what to do after a car accident – especially when it comes to evidence-gathering – by consulting a lawyer near you. It'll pay dividends later on – you can leverage it when negotiating for a larger settlement.
Mistake #3: Not Understanding Your Insurance Policy
Before any accident happens, it's essential to read and grasp your car insurance documentation inside and out. Every policy has unique jargon, exclusions, limits, and provisions affecting what does or doesn't get covered.
But many drivers skip reading their policies altogether when signing up. Then after accidents occur, folks suddenly discover key medical bills or damages aren't included in their plan. Lack of understanding leads to unwelcome surprises just when people can least afford them.
Avoid this critical mistake by studying your policy carefully early on. Make sure to clarify definitions or provisions you find confusing. And educate yourself on coverage details so you can utilize them fully during claims processes.
Mistake #4: Giving Recorded Statements to Insurers
After submitting your claim, insurance personnel may request recorded statements about the accident. They present this as a standard procedure to help collect more data. However, agreeing to give recorded commentary is almost always unwise.
In these “routine” statements, insurers often skillfully get claimants to say things that may jeopardize their own claims. Their pointed questions tend to lead claimants into accidentally minimizing injuries or overlooking key details. Later, insurers can select damaging soundbites from recordings to weaken cases.
Even if you think a statement seems harmless at the moment, something said can and will get used against you. Phrases get taken out of context to reduce liability or the appearance of damages. And so don't let yourself get tricked by what seems like an innocent Q&A session.
Politely decline to give recorded commentary – pending legal guidance. At a minimum, bring legal counsel along to ensure questions stay reasonable. Otherwise, steer totally clear of these slick traps.
Mistake #5: Settling Before Knowing Your Complete Injuries
Some accident-related injuries like whiplash or sprains take time to manifest themselves after collisions. And so immediate medical exams may not catch issues that need longer observation periods to appear. When pockets of pain or soreness crop up later, car accident victims can get stuck with extra bills they thought had gotten covered in initial claims processes.
And so if you settled your case early before knowing your final injury tally, you forfeit the option of getting supplemental reimbursement. This is because payout agreements usually turn final once accepted, and may keep you from modifying amounts to accommodate newly discovered medical problems.
Always wait until doctors officially clear you of any lingering issues before finalizing settlements. This will give your injuries an adequate window to show up fully over time. Rushing a payout resolution prematurely risks saddling you with unreimbursed expenses down the line.
Mistake #6: Neglecting Expense Tracking
Dealing with the aftermath of an accident often generates loads of associated expenses: medical copays, car repairs and rentals, missed wages, etc. All these costs qualify for reimbursement through settlements. But without closely logging what you spend as it happens, important items can slip through memory cracks when claim resolution talks arise.
Meticulous financial tracking takes extra effort car accident victims rarely feel like expending when they are also dealing with trauma and disruption. However, keeping diligent logs of your expenses can significantly help when it comes to securing full due compensation later on.
And so, document all accident-related costs no matter how small so as to enable your lawyers to seek repayment for them. Otherwise, absent records will make your expenses challenging to prove to insurers. Lacking documentation will give them an opening to argue that certain costs were incurred separately and were unrelated to the accident. Don't give them that opening!
Mistake #7: Trusting Insurers Share Your Best Interests
After accident trauma, victims yearn to return to normalcy as fast as possible. This leaves them vulnerable mistaking insurance personnel as allies in that journey back to pre-collision comfort.
However, insurers primarily watch out for their own bottom lines ahead of claimants' needs. Their “support efforts” ultimately usually seek to minimize payouts.
Therefore, claimants getting lulled into trusting insurers' guidance is usually a mistake that is bound to backfire. Even if representatives sound friendly and helpful initially, their advice often leads to quicker, smaller settlements that benefit corporate interests.
Combat this tendency by looping in experienced legal support from the outset. Qualified car accident lawyers can make sure you understand insurers' motivations and how illusory insurer “partnerships” hand them an edge. Protect yourself instead with shrewd counsel prioritizing your best outcome.
Mistake #8: Attempting Claim Management Without Legal Representation
Given all the landmines and complexities of navigating insurance settlement processes post-accident, attempting self-management seems extremely unwise.
Acting alone against pooled insurer brainpower and their immense economic leverage will leave you massively disadvantaged from the outset. Any notion of self-advocacy that promises greater claim capacity or financial efficiency often ultimately crumbles once one realizes how stacked tables are against them.
Keep in mind that even experienced lawyers have difficulty counteracting formidable insurance company machinations. So expecting positive claim resolutions without help is unwise.
Protect yourself by seeking help from an experienced and skilled lawyer.
How Lawyers Help After Car Accidents
Car accident lawyers dedicate their careers to countering with intensive corporate trickery exactly like yours daily. They understand insurers' crafty motives and tactics that undermine cases consistently.
They can help to maximize your post-accident claim potential by:
- Helping to report accidents quickly and completely
- Negotiating optimal claim settlements your best interests
- Gathering and preparing evidence supporting your claim
- Explaining insurance policy impacts on your claim
- Guiding you on recorded statement dangers
- Tracking expenses vigilantly for full reimbursement
- Shielding you from insurance company manipulation
- Handling all the legal heavy lifting from start to finish
Finally, collaborating with a compassionate lawyer will alleviate your worry, especially with regards to the complexities of the legal process. This will give you the time and peace of mind necessary to ensure faster recovery from your wounds.
