Don’t Believe These Car Accident Myths

If you’ve recently been involved in a serious car accident in New Jersey, your friends or family members may have offered you lots of unsolicited advice regarding what steps to take next and how your case is going to turn out. Even where advice is offered by friends who have themselves been involved in a car accident, it is unlikely that they can offer you an accurate summary of the law without the requisite legal experience. Learn more about untrue but commonly-held beliefs about car accidents below, and speak with a knowledgeable New Jersey personal injury lawyer as soon as you can after an accident.

Myth: If you’re not in pain immediately after an accident, you don’t need to see a doctor.

Right after a crash, your nerves are jangled and your body is surging with adrenaline. You may be preoccupied with the logistics of getting your car to a repair shop, tending to family members who were with you in the accident, or simply too much in shock to be able to accurately assess whether or not you were injured in an accident. Additionally, some injuries that can result from car accidents aren’t immediately apparent or symptomatic. It is for these reasons that you should immediately seek medical attention after a serious accident. Should you later find yourself needing accident-related medical treatment for which you seek damages, courts tend to look unfavorably on injured plaintiffs who did not seek a medical opinion right away.

Myth: The insurance company will not ever offer you more than it does immediately after an accident.

The fact is, insurance companies make more money by paying claimants less money for their claims. Right after a crash, they know that you probably haven’t yet spoken with an attorney and might not know the true value of your claims. They also know that you’re probably feeling overwhelmed thinking about your impending doctor’s bills and property repair costs, and might want to get the accident behind you as fast as possible. However, by delaying settlement for a time so that you can hire an attorney to negotiate with the insurance carrier on your behalf, you stand the chance of substantially increasing the amount of your eventual insurance claim settlement.

Myth: You should expect to recover the same amount as a friend who had a similar accident.

A friend who was the victim of a similar accident may have received little for her claims, making you feel as though it isn’t worth it to hire an attorney to represent you in a case against an at-fault driver. However, car accidents can differ from one another in hundreds of subtle ways, and a dedicated personal injury lawyer will investigate all theories of liability and gather evidence that can strengthen your claim in ways where other claims fell short.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident in New Jersey, seek out experienced, determined, and trial-ready personal injury lawyers to represent you in a claim for damages by contacting Wayne car accident law firm Massood Law Group for a consultation, at 973-696-1900.