Common Mistakes Made After a Car Accident
Were you injured in a motor vehicle accident? Learn about the common mistakes made after a car accident so you can avoid hurting your claim by our experienced Ventura attorney.
People who have been injured in a Ventura County car crash often make several fundamental mistakes that end up harming their case. They don’t know they’re doing it, but they do.
First, if you’ve been in a crash and you feel like you’ve been injured, you should go and get immediate treatment, even though you don’t have any broken bones or you’re not bleeding profusely. If you feel pain and discomfort at the scene, you need to go to the ER or to a Quick Care and get properly evaluated to make sure that you don’t have any injuries that are unknown to you or that could be life-threatening, or that could get substantially worse over time. You have to get checked out right away; don’t be afraid to take the ambulance ride or have somebody take you to the ER and get checked out.
One of the next crucial mistakes people make is they don’t get evidence at the scene; they don’t take a lot of pictures of the cars and all the damage. They may take one or two pictures, and then when you look at them you can’t tell what they are. Take as many pictures of the cars, the debris, and everything there that you can to fully document what happened.
The next thing that people will often do is talk to the insurance adjuster and give them a bunch of information in a recorded statement where you just think that you’re being honest, truthful, and helpful, but the way that the insurance adjuster asks the questions are to benefit them and not to benefit you. Before you ever give a recorded statement, you should talk to an attorney and get appropriate legal advice.
Another mistake that people commonly make is this: they don’t tell their doctors what all their injuries are. They will think oh, my main problem is that I’ve got a stiff and sore neck. My lower back hurts a little bit, but I’m not so concerned about that; I’m just going to tell them about my neck. You must tell your doctors every injury, every symptom, because when that major pain in your neck goes away, and your lower back pain never goes away, and you find out that that is really your main injury, if you’ve never documented it, the insurance company is never going to admit it. You have to go from head to toe; tell them all of the injuries that you had.
Next, another major mistake: not complying with your doctor’s orders and going to your doctor’s appointments. If the doctor says that you need to have repeat or follow up visits, you have to keep you doctor’s appointments. You have to do what your doctor says. The other thing is, you need to document how your injuries are affecting you on a daily basis. What things could you normally do that you can no longer do? If your case goes into litigation and it takes a long time, you may think right now I’m never going to forget this, but two years, three years from now, it’s not going to be as clear in your head as it is right now, so keep some notes.
Finally, if you have any questions, before you do anything, before you talk to the insurance company, what you need to do is talk to a skilled and experienced personal injury trial lawyer.
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Out of Town Legal Resources
We are constantly looking for educational online resources that can help local residents who get injured out of town. We found a Tampa Bay, FL car accident attorney that created a lot of high quality personal injury resources. If you or a loved one is hurt in a car accident in Florida read their Florida Car Accident Guide.