Ignore These Three Myths about Car Accidents

After you’re in your first major accident, you might not know how best to handle the situation so that you’ll get the money you’re owed from your injuries. Friends and loved ones may have advice for you, but there’s a good chance that some of it may be inaccurate. Seek out a lawyer to help you get the money you need to pay medical bills and cover your property damage, and take care not to fall for some of these commonly-held misconceptions about accidents.

I don’t need to do anything if the accident wasn’t my fault.

Whether or not you were the at-fault party, it’s critical to remain engaged in the process of recovering what you’re owed after an accident. Take careful photos of the damage at the scene of the accident, both of your car and that of the at-fault driver, as well as of any visible injuries you incurred. When you speak with someone from a doctor’s office or insurance company, keep careful notes from these conversations, including the names of those you spoke with and any claim reference numbers. Always keep papers from your repair shop, pay stubs showing lost work and any medical records and bills you receive, so that you can prove what you’re owed in damages from the accident.

There’s no reason to go to the doctor after a wreck if I’m not in pain.

Always go to the doctor after an accident, even when you’re not in immediate pain. A number of injuries that you might receive in an accident do not show symptoms immediately but can have serious long-term consequences if left untreated. Any delay in seeking treatment can appear to the insurance company as though you either received injuries after the accident that you’re attempting to claim came from the crash, or as though you just wanted to bilk the insurers out of more money by adding additional claims.

Negotiating with the insurance company is easy enough; I don’t need a lawyer to do it.

Even when there’s no question that you were the victim in an accident, receiving the full value of your injuries from the insurance company can be an uphill battle. The insurer benefits greatly from paying you as little as possible for your injuries and knows that claimants without legal representation are less likely to know what they’re truly owed, or to keep fighting for it. This is why studies have shown that insurance claimants with attorneys typically receive settlements that are over three times as large as those of claimants without lawyers.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a car or truck accident in New Jersey, seek out legal help to obtain the compensation that will help you recover the damages you’re owed after a crash, and contact the Wayne personal injury lawyers at Massood Law Group for a consultation, at 973-696-1900.