Mistakes to Avoid After a Car Accident

Answer:

When it comes to car accident claims, there are several mistakes we regularly see that are detrimental to a claim, even if the client doesn’t realize it. The first thing that we often see is a client who doesn’t contact the police to get an incident report. This is essential because it gives us documentation of the claim and it lets us know who it is that we need to pursue the claim against. Another thing is failing to take photographs of the vehicle involved to show the property damage. Often, police officers don’t accurately record the amount of damage that has occurred to the vehicles in the police reports, and if we don’t have the vehicle photographs showing the damage, an insurance company can use the police report to try to minimize the extent of the impact and, therefore, argue that you shouldn’t have had that big of an injury.

Another thing that clients sometimes fail to do is tell the officers at the scene of the wreck that they have been injured. Let the officer know that you’re hurting because that information goes in the police report. If you claim during your lawsuit that you began feeling pain immediately, but you didn’t tell the officer that, the police report is going to say “no injuries reported,” and then we have a conflict. Make sure, every time, that you tell the officer that you’re in pain. The next thing to do is, if you’re in serious pain, get medical treatment immediately. If you tell the responding officer that you are in pain, he or she is going to ask if you would like an ambulance. If you have the opportunity to go in an ambulance, go ahead and get checked out at the emergency room. If you can’t do that and you’re already in pain, drive yourself to the emergency room and get checked out. Again, this documents your injuries and it makes sure to get the treatment process started. Another thing that’s problematic is once treatment gets started, we have clients that don’t show up regularly to continue their treatment. That creates gaps in treatment that are tough to deal with. Insurance companies will start pointing out that if you were seriously injured, you wouldn’t have been missing treatment. Do what your doctor says and make sure you get to those appointments. It’s very important, also, to not delay in getting a lawyer. You need to get a lawyer as soon as possible to make sure that your rights are protected, and make sure you get a lawyer who has lots of experience handling these cases.