“I was sitting at the light for about five minutes, and then BOOM! They must have been going 60 miles an hour! Tore off my whole front bumper in the blink of an eye. Good thing the insurance company is taking care of this, otherwise I’d be out of luck for sure.”
This might be the way you describe the accident to your friends, but it’s not how you should describe it to an insurance company. Understand that how you handle the days following a car accident directly impact the result of your claim.
Precise language and thorough due diligence are key to building a strong case. Insurance companies will use your words and actions and twist what they mean, so you must take steps to be as meticulous as possible in the days following a car collision. The Milwaukee car accident lawyers at Murphy & Prachthauser believe that careful attention to detail can help improve the outcome of your personal injury case.
1. Take Pictures of the Car Accident
Being thorough following a vehicle collision is what creates a strong case. Understand that any misstep on either side can be the difference of hundreds or thousands of dollars. The insurance company views your claim as just another case of the innumerable cases they deal with each day. That is why attention to detail is imperative to the strength of your case.
Insurance companies will often say that they will take pictures of the accident and damage caused as a result. Sometimes, insurance companies don’t take pictures, and that weakens your case significantly. You should take pictures right after the accident to provide strength to your case.
Taking pictures immediately after the accident is ideal, because it demonstrates exactly the type of damage done to your vehicle. If pictures are taken days or weeks after the accident, it can be argued that the damage to the car is unrelated to the collision. Without pictures of any kind, you can’t build as strong of a case as you might need to win.
Did you know? It only takes two minutes to get a free case evaluation.
2. Be Precise When You Talk to the Insurance Company
In the days following a collision, an insurance company will likely contact you for your version of the events of the accident. The insurance company will be recording the conversation in its entirety to review for the case. While it may seem like a reasonable request, it is often a veiled attempt to have you say something incriminating.
For example, you might be asked how fast the other car was traveling when the collision occurred. You might say something like, “50 miles per hour,” when you really meant, that it felt like 50 miles per hour. Insurance companies are taking your words verbatim, so when you speak to insurance companies, you have to be as literal as possible.
If you use colloquial language or hyperbole to describe the situation, insurance companies will use that against you. Likely, they will accuse you of embellishing the seriousness of the accident to create a stronger case. When in reality, you are using conversational language. In summation, be as literal and precise as possible when speaking with insurance companies. This way, there is no arguing what you mean when you tell them how the accident occurred.
3. It is Important to Seek Medical Attention
Seek medical attention after a collision if you need to. It happens all too often that insurance companies get out of paying accident related medical expenses because of gaps in care. An insurance company will claim that if you weren’t seeing a doctor immediately following an accident, there must not have been an injury related to the accident. If a condition arises that is related to the accident, but is not diagnosed until much later, insurance companies can argue that it is an unrelated ailment.
When you do seek medical attention, make sure to bill your health insurance company first. Sometimes healthcare providers want to delay recovery, preferring to try to collect from the insurance company at fault, or your automobile insurance company. However, the correct procedure is to first bill health insurance, and let your health insurance company deal with medical bills, so they are promptly paid.
The events following a collision are integral to the strength of a case. Taking extra steps to be thorough after an accident occurs can directly impact the strength of your case.
At Murphy & Prachthauser we practice the law the way it should be practiced – motivated and equipped to do our best for you. We take pride in being good lawyers who help people.
If you have a case you would like to speak to a lawyer about, please contact us to get a free case evaluation and get an experienced team working on your behalf.