It’s hard to try and set an amount of damages that you may have sustained in a car crash. The sheer overwhelming number and type of wounds may totally confuse you, not to mention having to repair your vehicle.
During the summer the highways and by-ways across America are jammed with holiday and regular travelers, add into this mix 18-wheelers, road construction, detours and unpaved roads waiting for upgrading, and you have the potential for accidents. It’s often bad enough traveling in an area you are familiar with, never mind going out of state to a place you have never been to before and have no idea how their traffic patterns will affect you. This makes it tough to know if you have enough insurance to take long distance road trips.
The inevitable may strike your first trip or your fifteenth trip, and when it happens those injuries are put into a category that will tell you the approximate dollar amount that may be awarded for those injuries. There are so many factors that need to be dealt with, not the least of which is determining who is at fault in the accident, the percentage of culpability, medical bills, down time from work, pain and suffering, the continual stream of medical rehab expenses you may face and yes, vehicle repair costs.
When you do submit a claim to an insurance company, every one of the above factors will be taken into consideration before the company works out how much they are going to offer you for a personal injury claim. At this point, if you have not spoken to a personal injury lawyer, then you should in case you get a lowball offer as settlement for your injuries. The thing with a great many injuries is that although they may not look serious on the surface, and may not hurt that much right now, they could develop into something potentially deadly later, e.g. neck and head injuries.
Figuring out how much your injuries are worth is just about the most important aspect of a personal injury claim, and it is also the hardest part to calculate. This is yet another reason why you need to be consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney who is able to assess your injuries and figure out what they may be worth if your case is taken to court.
Keep in mind that insurance companies will only offer you what “they” think your claim in worth and you can bet that what they think it’s worth and what you think it’s worth don’t agree. Let’s face it, an insurance company is in business to keep its claims to a minimum, not offer large sums of money to settle personal injury claims.
In most cases the person who was negligent and caused the accident (liability) has to ante up money to the injured person for things like permanent physical disability, disfigurement, lost wages, medical and rehabilitation care and other expenses, loss of educational, social and family experiences (missed school, training, recreation, vacation, etc.) and emotional damages such as stress, depression and damaged property.
Even though the insurance company has a formula to figure out damages, they may be right out of the ballpark when it comes to fair compensation. Always speak to a highly skilled personal attorney and find out the real scoop on how much your personal injuries may be worth if you are successful in court.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
