Protect Yourself if You Have Been in an Automobile Accident
Personal injury lawyers are the people who act as a director and producer of a play about what happened to you in any accident claim. They need you to keep the script. Insurance carries spend millions to throw mud and attack it and your injuries. They keep the money, even though you clearly suffered medical bills and owe them, for as long as they can. Proper documentation helps your lawyers, whom helps you.
Contents
Steps
- Take as much photographs as you can. Don't worry so much about quality. Physics other bio-mechanical experts may be looking at these and it is the start of any case.
- Take photos of your injuries and any hospital visits. You can not be shy on this. Unfortunately, insurance carriers will try to diminish your injuries and make it seem like it all really wasn't that bad. Your lawyers need to show them the time you lost and what you went through.
- Keep every document related to your losses. Medical records, out of pocket expenses, and other documentation of lost wages are all key. Get the information to your lawyer periodically, as they will coordinate all of this.
- Save all of your receipts. These are important to prove what past losses you have. This includes doctors' visits, co-payments, medical equipment, special foods, prescriptions and any other costs you've incurred.
- Track traveling expenses. Certain insurance benefits will reimburse you for mileage and there is also a claim you can make for these, as they document inconvenience and time away from your ordinary life.
- Document and keep all notes concerning pain and suffering. Your lawyer must show what you went through. They are the ones that have seen clients sell possessions and sacrifice because they could no longer work, have fights with loved ones because they were perceived as a "burden," because they lost independence.
Tips
- Think of it this way. There is an automobile wreck in this country every few seconds. For those that have property damage or injury, the insurance companies will have to pay the claim. For every few dollars they save in each wreck, it adds up to millions of dollars. Below are four of the tactics insurance carriers use to try to get people to settle their claims early and for less than they deserve.
Warnings
- Insurance Companies use these millions of dollars to hire lawyers for sometimes less than $100 per hour to fight claims and drag out the litigation process to make it take years and make cases not go to trial all in an effort to save a few more thousand dollars per wreck. Add it up and it is why you see so many State Farm, Allstate & GEICO commercials. It is HUGE business. Then they lobby and make the word "tort reform" a household word despite few understanding it. Everyone is against lawsuits until serious injury happens to them or a loved one. And then, people can find themselves repeatedly victimized- victimized by the at fault person or company, then victimized by the insurance company, then victimized by the insurance company's lawyers, and maybe victimized by your own lawyer who overcharges fees and offers little.
