The actions you take after a car accident can determine whether you will get financial compensation from insurance companies and the potential size of your check. By exercising discretion and hiring an experienced car accident lawyer, you can avoid some mistakes that may cost you money.
On the flip side, handling your own case and speaking freely to any insurance company is a highly risky strategy that often jeopardizes your financial compensation. Too many victims learn this the hard way when they realize they will be responsible for many of their injury-related losses with no more legal opportunities due to what they said to an insurance company.
Calling a car accident lawyer early in the process can keep you from making errors in insurance communications and put you in a better legal position.
Report the Accident, but Carefully
Your auto insurance company should know about the accident, regardless of whose fault it was. However, having a car accident lawyer handle this communication is wise.
Know that the insurance company will take what you say as the basis for their dealings with the other driver’s insurance company when determining fault. What you say to the insurance company after the accident matters.
You need to speak carefully with any insurance company after a car accident, even if it is one that you consider your own. In reality, when you deal with any insurance company, it is them versus you. They have their interests at stake that involve their own finances. The insurance company has particular considerations, and customer loyalty rates are very far down on the list. The insurance company does not care about your future business if it means they may have to pay out money now.
Protect yourself in all insurance dealings by hiring a trusted attorney to handle them.
Saying Something Puts It on the Record No Matter What
There are certain things that you should never say about any car accident. Like in real life, once you say something to an insurance company, you cannot take it back. Chances are that they have a record of it and will use it against you when it is most convenient for them. An insurance company will do anything in the name of saving money. The same rules apply whether you are talking to the company that insures you or the one that represents the other driver.
Do Not Speculate About What Happened
You should never offer any opinions about what happened in the car accident. The insurance company can reach its conclusions based on the facts that it hears from you.
Any commentary you may offer will certainly not be persuasive and will be extraneous. The insurance company may cherry-pick your opinions, especially if they indicate that you may have been partially or completely to blame for the accident. The insurance company will not listen to your opinion or give it any weight.
Do Not Offer any Conjecture
Similarly, saying a loose statement, like you think or guess something happened, can undercut your case. It does not help prove your case if you are guessing at something.
On the other hand, the insurance company can use any guess or speculation you offer against you. Conjecture does not help your case. It can make any of your statements look weak and give the appearance that you do not fully know what happened in your accident.
Instead, you should offer only the facts of what happened. You must be honest with the insurance company, but you should also not try to persuade them. The insurance company has experienced adjusters who know how to analyze crashes. They will see what they want to see. If they do not see things your way, that is exactly why you have a lawyer who will gather evidence and tell your side of the story.
Do Not Get Emotional About the Accident
In addition, you need to keep emotion out of it when you speak to an insurance company. You must remain calm and collected, and emotion may cause you to make a loose statement that can harm your claim.
Instead, you should adopt a “just the facts” approach to any conversation you have with an insurance company. Showing emotion gives the insurance company an opening to probe what they may think is a weak spot in your case and exploit it for their own purposes.
Never Admit Fault for an Accident
You should also never say anything that admits the accident was your fault. Even if you think you were partially or completely to blame for the accident, you should leave it to others with specific qualifications to make that determination. You should not worry about “doing the right thing” because good intentions can cost you a lot of money.
If you admit fault in the accident, your insurance company can turn on you quickly. You may not even have really been to blame, but it will be hard to retract an admission of fault once you give it. Let professionals determine who was responsible and avoid offering your own opinions about the matter.
Do Not Downplay the Effects of Your Injuries
In addition, you should not say anything about your condition that can potentially contradict your claim. Your medical records and diagnosis will speak for your condition. People may not want to admit that they are struggling physically, but saying anything otherwise can cost you money.
An insurance company may begin a conversation with the question, “how are you doing?” The truth is that the insurance company does not care how you are doing. However, if you answer with, “I’m doing fine,” it can undercut everything you say in your claim. Certainly, you should not go out of your way to appear strong.
You should not share any details of your life with the insurance company. Part of your claim may be the loss of enjoyment of life. If an adjuster asks you about your weekend, and you tell them that you went out with friends, they may use that fact against you. Even slight details that the insurance company does not truly need to know can be harmful when you divulge them.
Your Own Insurance Company Can Turn Into an Adversary at Some Point
The reality is that it is very difficult to handle any details of the insurance process on your own. You are already dealing with difficult circumstances and are not at your best. It is hard to speak with insurance companies, even when you are not going through a tough time. The combination of stress and emotions makes it even harder to talk to insurance companies.
You may need to file a claim against your own policy at some point. If your damages are high enough, you might have to rely on your underinsured motorist coverage to compensate for the shortfall. Then, your insurance company will adopt an adversarial position really quickly. They may owe you hundreds of thousands of dollars based on what another driver did. Like the other driver’s insurance company, your “own” insurance company will try to find ways to minimize what they pay you.
Your Insurance Company Can Twist Words to Save Money
If you have given a statement to your insurance company or even made an offhand remark to the adjuster, they might take it out of context and use it against you. You may be shocked because you trusted what you thought was a “friendly” insurance company. The truth is that no insurance company is friendly to anything but its own bottom line.
You never have an obligation to give anyone an official statement about your accident. You may want to avoid official statements altogether, given how insurers can use them in your case. Certainly, you should never give one without speaking to an attorney and getting their advice.
Be Even More Suspicious of the Other Driver’s Insurance Company
You should be even more suspect in speaking with the other driver’s insurance company. In fact, there is no reason to speak directly with them at all. They want you to give a statement, and they may try to pressure you to speak with them. There is nothing good that can come of this. The issue is that the other driver’s insurance company may try to trick you into casually saying something that it will treat as an official statement.
The other driver’s insurance company can even ask you innocent-sounding questions that aim to elicit an answer that they can use against you. When it comes to an insurance company, there is nothing offhand. They train their employers to act like this and lead you into trouble. You might never suspect that they were deceiving you until you hear your words used against you in the future.
If the other driver’s insurance company tries to make any contract with you, politely decline to speak with them. It does not matter if they are trying to ask you what you may think are minor questions. You are under no obligation to speak with them. If you have hired an attorney, you can point them in your lawyer’s direction. Insurance companies tread much more carefully when they know that you have a lawyer because your attorney knows their tricks.
Always Speak With an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer Early in the Process
In reality, you should not really be doing anything with regard to the insurance company without the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer. Your attorney will help you to effectively speak with the insurance company and will prepare you for what to avoid. They can be present on your phone call and help guide the discussion to keep you out of trouble, or they might handle all communications without you on the line.
You can do an immense amount of damage to your case when you try to handle it on your own. The same thing goes if you delay hiring an attorney and begin to speak to the insurance company after you have already gone on the record. By that point, your attorney may need to clean up problems because you did not know that there were certain things that you should not say.
Insurance Companies Have Their Methods to Take Advantage of You
Most people do not know how to speak with an insurance company. Hopefully, this was your first car accident that resulted in injuries. Thus, you might not know how an insurance company operates until it burns you. Nonetheless, the insurance company is actively trying to take advantage of your lack of knowledge of the process to pad their own pockets at your expense.
Your condition, both physically and financially, means nothing to them. The only condition that concerns them is their balance sheet and how much money they make. Insurance companies have time-tested methods to get the best of you in any settlement process if you are not careful. Based on their business model and how insurance companies make money, a penny saved is really a penny earned.
You Can Afford a Car Accident Lawyer After a Car Crash
Car Accident Attorney, Phillip J. Barkett
Your financial condition is also a worry for you after a car accident. Namely, you may be worried about how you can afford a lawyer in light of your mounting bills and the lack of money coming into your account. You can get immediate legal help after your car accident, and it will not cost you anything out of your own pocket.
An experienced attorney will work for you on a contingency basis, meaning their financial result for the case is contingent on yours. If you receive money, they receive payment from the proceeds. If you do not win your case, your attorney does not receive fees. The alternative is risking your financial settlement entirely by trying to deal with the insurance company when you are out of your element.