Myths about Car Accidents You Shouldn’t Believe
Perhaps you’ve recently been injured in a car accident for the first time in Southern California, and are receiving a lot of advice from your loved ones about how to handle the accident, and what you can expect from a claim for damages. However, there are a number of common misconceptions about what to do after an accident that can, in fact, hurt your prospects for recovery. Read below to see if any of the following comments seem familiar. Rather than rely on friends and family for advice, contact an experienced personal injury attorney as soon as possible after an accident to handle your claims.
- If you don’t seem seriously injured, there’s no need to go to see a doctor
Victims of car accidents often receive injuries that are not immediately obvious. You might not even realize that you briefly lost consciousness and received a concussion, or you may not begin to experience the symptoms of whiplash or bruised bones until well after the accident. For this reason, you should seek medical care anytime you’re involved in an accident. Not only will this enable you to treat injuries you may not have realized you had, a record of a doctor’s visit will also serve as valuable support for a claim filed with the insurance company. They will assume that, if you were truly injured, you would seek attention immediately, and that an injury which you addressed with a visit to the doctor days or weeks after an accident must not be serious.
- If you weren’t the one at fault, you don’t need to do anything
Don’t assume that you will have an easy time recovering what you’re owed for your injuries if the accident clearly wasn’t your fault. Carefully document the accident at the scene and save all records you receive from doctors and other expenses related to the accident, so that you can be ready to support the amount you request in damages with evidence.
- You don’t need a lawyer to negotiate with an insurance company
Insurance companies negotiate hundreds of claims every day and are staffed with attorneys and adjusters who are highly motivated to reduce the amount they pay you for your claim. In fact, numerous studies of the insurance industry, as well as an erstwhile Allstate adjuster manual, have revealed that claimants who hire an attorney receive much larger settlements, with one study showing that claimants with legal representation receive settlements three and a half times larger on average.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a Los Angeles car accident, seek compassionate, knowledgeable legal help with your claim by contacting the attorneys at Magaña, Cathcart & McCarthy for a free consultation on your case, at 310-553-6630.
