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Dealing with the aftermath of a car accident is challenging, frustrating, and often expensive. How will you get the medical care you need? How will you pay for medical bills and property damage? How will you replace lost wages and provide for your loved ones?
Depending on the insurance coverage that’s available, you shouldn’t have to pay all these costs out of pocket—especially when you know you did nothing wrong. However, recovering fair compensation for these damages is rarely a simple process. Whether you’re dealing with the at-fault driver’s insurance company or even your own insurance company, their goal is to minimize what they have to pay you—not to take care of you. Even worse, you have a limited time to act—and preventable mistakes could make it even more difficult to get fair treatment.
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the essential steps you need to take if you want the best possible chance at making a full physical and financial recovery. Along with these steps, we recommend working with a car accident attorney from Truman Law Office who can build your case, give you the best chance of recovering compensation, and allow you to focus on getting better.
The first step to take after a serious car accident is to seek medical treatment if you have any symptoms, no matter how minor they might seem at the time. While it might be tempting to try to “walk it off,” your injuries may end up being far more serious than you initially realize.
Not seeking immediate medical treatment can also hurt your car accident claim. If you neglect to seek medical treatment as soon as possible, and then later claim your injuries were serious and expensive to treat, your delay in seeking treatment may seem suspicious.
Even though some injuries—such as whiplash—might not cause symptoms until hours or even days after an accident, putting off medical attention could make it more difficult to recover the compensation you should be entitled to.
Accidents are usually cleaned up quickly and debris is removed from the road to allow regular traffic flow to resume. While this is important for the safety and convenience of other drivers, it can make it difficult to prove some important facts about an accident, such as the condition of the road or the exact location of the vehicles after the accident.
Try to document as much as you can, as soon as you can. Take photos of the damage to all involved vehicles, the accident scene, and any car accident injuries you’ve sustained. Even something as small as a skid mark or bent guardrail could be an important indicator of how the accident took place. You might also find it helpful to write down notes of anything you remember.
When you work with Truman Law Office, our attorneys can help you identify and preserve additional sources of evidence that you might not think about right away and could be lost if you don’t act quickly—for example, security camera footage, car data event recordings, or evidence of faulty auto parts or maintenance.
Talking to the police after an accident is important because it solidifies the facts about the accident—where and when it happened, who was involved, what injuries and damage were caused, and more. In many ways, it is akin to a medical document: you may claim that an injury occurred, but if there is no medical documentation to prove it, it may be impossible to substantiate that the injury did in fact happen.
The same is true of a police report. If the police are not called, it will be all too easy for the at-fault driver to claim that the accident never took place, which can put you in a very difficult position.
Under Kentucky law, you are required to file an accident report within 10 days of any crash that causes injury, death, or at least $500 worth of property damage. Technically, you can do this after the fact. However, it’s always best to talk to an officer at the scene, if possible, especially if you intend to file a car insurance claim.
RELATED POST: I Didn’t Get a Police Report. Can I Still File an Insurance Claim? – Truman Law
If safe to do so, you should also get the other driver’s information as soon as possible, including their:
Obtaining this information ensures you are able to contact them in the future and file a claim with their insurance company.
We understand that tensions and adrenaline run high after car accidents. If the other driver was at fault, you may feel angry and upset. (They may feel the same way about you, whether it’s warranted or not.) Do your best to keep the conversation civil, calm, and to the point. Don’t make accusations or apologies—you’re just gathering information at this stage. Stick to the facts.
Witnesses can be an invaluable resource when pursuing compensation. Even if you think the cause of the car crash is obvious, the insurance company might not agree—especially if the other driver isn’t fully honest about how the accident happened.
If there are any eyewitnesses, try to get statements or, at the very least, their contact information right away. They could play a big part in helping substantiate your side of the story.
People can be hesitant to call a personal injury lawyer after a car accident, even if they’ve suffered serious injuries. Many feel they aren’t the “suing type,” while others want to try handling their case on their own.
What you should understand is that the insurance company is not on your side. Their goal will be to pay as little compensation as possible, if any, which involves doing everything they can to poke holes in your claim.
Even though doing everything we have already discussed is important for defending your rights, hiring an experienced car accident attorney who understands how to build a case and negotiate with insurance companies is often a crucial next step.
Unlike most other states, Kentucky has a “choice no fault” system for car insurance. That means cases can become complex, and you will likely need to file a claim with multiple insurance companies.
Typically, the priority order of coverage goes something like this:
You may also have to rely on your health insurance to pay for immediate medical needs once you’ve used up whatever PIP coverage you have available. Once your auto accident claim is settled, your health insurer is entitled to reimbursement for what they paid. This is called a subrogation claim. As this can be a significant amount of money, it’s best to have your personal injury lawyer review the subrogation claim carefully and dispute any unnecessary charges and/or negotiate a smaller amount. That means more money back in your pocket.
Every situation is unique. However, there are many benefits to working with an attorney on your case, even if you know that the other driver was 100% at fault. Here are a few significant ones.
Most people dealing with a personal injury have little understanding of what to expect. They may file a claim with an insurance company and shortly thereafter receive phone calls discussing the details of their claim. The insurance company may ask the individual to sign a statement or a medical release form.
However, signing these forms is not required and can be used against you. If, for example, your signed statement has small details different from what you claim later, the insurance company may argue that you are changing your story. They may also use your medical records against you, trying to find inconsistencies or anything they can use to mitigate your injuries.
Our personal injury attorneys have been around the block, so to speak. We’ve seen these tactics used time and again, and they know how to fight back, ensuring accident victims don’t unintentionally damage the viability of their claims.
In some cases, an insurance company may provide a settlement offer. This is usually good news. It means the insurance company knows you deserve compensation.
That said, this initial offer is generally going to be much less than you deserve for the damages you have and continue to endure. But how do you know how much you should pursue? The goal is not to be unreasonable, but to know the right amount.
Our experienced personal injury lawyers thoroughly understand how to calculate the right number. We’ll start with your medical bills and property damage, but will also carefully catalog other losses and damages, such as lost wages and pain and suffering.
Because we’ve been handling personal injury claims for more than 30 years, we also know what others in similar situations have been able to recover—and have a track record of successful results to use as leverage in negotiations.
RELATED POST: How Much Is My Car Accident Claim Worth? | Kentucky, Indiana (trumanlaw.com)
If an insurance company thinks they can pay less through a court decision, they will be more than willing to take your claim to court. The same is true of a good personal injury attorney: if they believe they can recover more compensation for you by going to court, they will do it.
That said, settlement negotiations can be like walking a tightrope. Both parties—you and the insurance company—might benefit from an out-of-court settlement. It’s quicker, more predictable, and less expensive. But knowing when to agree to a settlement offer and when to push back is not easy.
Our attorneys understand the insurance company’s position, which gives us the ability to negotiate intelligently on your behalf. We also have a firm grasp of the evidence available, know how much leverage you have, and can guide you in the right direction.
If an insurance company is unwilling to settle for a fair amount, it may be in your best interests to take the claim to court. That said, going to trial adds a layer of complexity. Now, instead of negotiating, you must be able to convince a jury that you deserve an appropriate amount of compensation for your damages.
In these situations, insurance companies will deploy experienced attorneys of their own who are highly proficient at fighting claims. But if you decide to hire a personal injury attorney, it can level the playing field, helping to ensure your rights are protected and fought for.
An experienced litigator helps you even if your case doesn’t go to trial, too. Insurance companies know which lawyers take cases to trial, and what their track records are. A great trial attorney increases the pressure on the insurance company to make better settlement offers and avoid the risk of a trial.
A good personal injury attorney should care about more than just the paycheck at the end of the case. We are ethically and professionally obligated to act in our clients’ best interests.
At Truman Law Office, we take this obligation very seriously. We visit our clients at home (or the hospital) if that’s what they need to keep their case moving. We help them get their cars repaired, or the advanced medical treatment they need. We’re always available to answer their questions and keep them updated about their case.
Most personal injury attorneys—including the attorneys at the Karl Truman Law Office—work on a contingency fee basis. This means you do not have to pay us unless and until we win compensation for you, at which point the fee is a percentage of total compensation won.
For accident victims, this means you aren’t burdened with additional bills while healing from your injuries, removing the risk that can come with not knowing how a case may turn out. It also gives you peace of mind knowing that we will do everything we can to maximize your compensation.
While you may expect the other driver’s insurance company (or even your own insurance company) to treat you fairly after an accident, the fact of the matter is that there is simply too much at stake to rely on their goodwill. Insurance companies are for-profit organizations that prioritize their bottom lines, not fair compensation for you.
We’re here to help by holding these companies accountable, thereby ensuring that injured Kentuckians have legal support and resources to fight for maximum compensation.
For a free consultation, please call our Louisville, Kentucky office today at (812) 222-2222 or use our online contact form.
Disclaimer: Kentucky does not certify specialties in legal fields. The personal injury law information on this website provided by The Karl Truman Law Office is not meant to be taken as formal legal advice. If you need to speak with a personal injury attorney in the Louisville, Kentucky, or Jeffersonville, Indiana areas please contact us today.This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
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