You probably have a lot of questions if you were recently involved in an automobile accident that resulted in damage to your car or serious bodily injury, like: Who is at fault for the car accident? Will someone pay for my car damage? Who will pay for my past and future medical bills related to the injuries that I suffered? Will the insurance company cover any lost wages? An experienced car accident attorney can answer any questions that you may have regarding insurance claims, negotiate with your insurance company to ensure you get a fair settlement, or file a lawsuit against the other driver.
Hiring an attorney will almost always ensure a much larger settlement if you are seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident. Here are three reasons why:
1. An Accident Attorney Has the Knowledge of Procedural Rules and Law
By employing a personal injury attorney with experience representing people involved in car accidents, you will have someone working for you with extensive knowledge of the laws that are relevant to your case. For example, an experienced car accident attorney can tell you about your rights when filing an insurance claim or advise you of the state statute of limitations on filing a lawsuit so that you do not miss your opportunity to collect damages from the at-fault driver (in most states you must file a personal injury lawsuit within two years of the car accident).
Additionally, an attorney will be able to file the insurance claim and lawsuit on your behalf and will best know how to mitigate any possible defenses raised by the other side. Also, your lawyer will play an important part in collecting, preparing, and filing the documents you need to recover compensation for any harm that you suffered as a result of the accident.
Most importantly, hiring a lawyer who knows a lot about car accident laws, personal injury laws, and insurance rules and regulations evens the playing field. This is especially true when you are going up against attorneys from the insurance company who have years of experience and the resources of a giant insurance company at their fingertips. However, it is even true if you are simply trying negotiate out-of-court with the other driver.
2. An Accident Attorney Does the Work for You
It takes a lot of work to negotiate an insurance settlement or to prepare a personal injury lawsuit, and after being involved in a car accident that resulted in an injury, doing this type of legal work takes a lot of time and is probably the last thing you feel well enough to do when you are trying to recover. Luckily, an experienced car accident attorney can prepare all the paperwork and filings for you.
Since personal injury attorneys have seen it all, they have experience dealing with basically any issues that may arise when filing a claim with an insurance company or a lawsuit against an at-fault driver, and they know how to quickly address these issues should they appear.
Your attorney will know how to gather all of the evidence that you need to support your claim, including medical records and bills, witness statements, police reports, and lost wage information, and they will know how to organize the evidence to prepare a persuasive settlement demand letter to send to the insurance company. And, if you cannot come to a settlement agreement for your car accident case, then your attorney can file the necessary court paperwork, write the motion, and interact with the insurance company’s defense attorneys on your behalf.
3. An Accident Attorney Is Your Advocate
The most important way that a personal injury lawyer helps with a car accident case is by being an advocate for you in your time of need, meaning they are ethically bound to only act for your benefit during the whole process to ensure that you get what you want from the insurance company or at-fault driver.
