Blogs from April, 2019

The moments following a car accident often leave people in confusion and shock. Knowing what to do next can be next to impossible if you are feeling disoriented or have suffered a serious injury. Unfortunately, the situation and all of the next steps will not ease up for any reason. You need to be prepared to fight for your right to fair compensation, which is why it is so important to hire a car accident attorney.

With a lawyer helping with your case as soon as possible, you can leave the crucial details up to them, rather than trying to handle everything on your own. Hiring an attorney will also free up your time to focus on your rest and other parts of your life, like your family and your career.

Insurance Companies Focus on Profit

There are many reasons why you should hire a car accident lawyer, and we will cover a few of those reasons here. But perhaps the number one reason why people choose to retain legal counsel after a bad crash is that they know that insurance companies are going to make things difficult for them if they are unrepresented.

Your insurance company probably wants what is best for you, but sometimes they just want to make a profit. The other driver’s insurance company will be even less concerned about upholding your best interests. Instead, they want to protect their company’s profits by minimizing your damages, challenging liability, and paying you as little as possible, right down to zero dollars if they can get away with it.

You do not need to take the tactics of the other insurance company personally, though. They are a business, and all businesses want to make a profit at the end of each quarter, even if that means leaving injured motorists without fair compensation. Counter their business tactics with professionalism of your own by hiring an attorney who knows how to deal with them.

A few ways your car accident lawyer can help regarding insurance companies:

• Your attorney can inform you about what you should or should not say when speaking with your own insurance company. The wrong word choice can hurt your claim by increasing your liability.
• Your lawyer can instruct the opposing insurance company to deal with their office directly rather than trying to contact you. You do not owe the other insurer any statement after a crash, so you should not be talking with them firsthand if you have an attorney.
• When or if the insurance company offers a settlement, you can have your attorney review it to ensure it is a fair amount. If it is not – and it probably will not be if it is the first settlement offer – you can trust your lawyer to begin negotiations for a better offer.
• If the insurance company does not want to negotiate, then your attorney can inform them that they will be facing legal action in the form of a lawsuit as managed by their firm on your behalf. They will also be able to represent you if the case does go to court.

Calculating Fair Damages for Your Injuries

Another common reason for hiring a car accident lawyer is to allow the accurate calculation of the claimant’s damages. For a while after being in a crash, the extent of your damages will likely be relatively unknown. You need to wait to see how much it will cost to get your vehicle repaired or replaced, which may take several weeks to get a proper estimate, for example. Or you do not know how much time off work you will need while trying to recuperate from your injuries, so your total lost wages are difficult to predict then.

Also, the true extent of your necessary medical treatments could be unknown. Your doctor might not be able to fully diagnose your injuries and prescribe a treatment regimen until months pass depending on the type of injuries you have suffered. You may also need months or years of physical therapy if your back was hurt or you suffered broken bones in the crash.

Hiring a highly experienced car accident lawyer gives you a better chance of calculating your current, past, and future damages because they have helped so many other people in situations much like yours. Your lawyer can network with medical professionals and financial experts, for example, to create damage calculations that consider all possible factors and the likely cost of future care. Trying to reach this same summation on your own will be unlikely.

You Should Be Resting & Relaxing

It should go without saying that you deserve to rest and relax to focus on recuperation after being in a car accident. Yet dealing with the intricacies and legalese of your claim will not let you. Instead, you will be on your feet, dealing with insurers, filing paperwork, and so forth.

To give yourself some much-needed time to take care of yourself, hire a car accident attorney as soon as possible after the traffic collision. An experienced lawyer will be able to act on your behalf as your claim progresses while also keeping you informed about important updates and decisions. This attorney-client relationship will let you do the minimum without jeopardizing the integrity of your claim.

Representation You Can Trust After a Crash

With Effres & Effres in Agoura Hills on your side, you can feel confident that your rights are protected as your car accident claim progresses. We know the tactics that insurance companies and their defense teams use to turn cases around on injured people, despite their own policyholder being at fault for the crash. While you are resting, let us work hard to build a strong case with a focus on your best interests. You deserve compensation after an injury caused by someone else’s negligence, and we’re here to help you obtain it.

Contact our firm to discuss your rights. Just dial (818) 222-9720 at any time.