Getting in a car accident is stressful and traumatic for so many reasons – your health and safety, your mental well-being, the legal repercussions, and of course the financial impact of the incident.
A car accident isn’t exactly something you can plan for, which means that your bank account might take a serious knock in the event that one does occur. However, there are steps you can take to lessen the impact and even prepare yourself in case you ever find yourself in this sticky situation.
Keep reading to learn our might important tips and understand how you might be financially impacted by an incident like this.
Table of Contents
Immediate Steps
Before anything else, it’s important to consider your health and safety, as well as that of the others around you. In the immediate aftermath of a serious car accident (or even one that doesn’t feel so severe), take care to contact emergency service and law enforcement right away.
After this, you’ll want to make sure you do your best to gather evidence from the scene (photos of damage, injuries, the location of the incident, and any other important details) and collect contact details from other parties as well as potential eyewitnesses. Depending on the severity, you might want to contact an experienced lawyer, such as Attorney Siamak Vaziri. Additionally, you should ask for a copy of the official police report. If the officer at the scene does not provide a copy, you can easily find it yourself after it has been filed. For example, if the incident happens in NC, you can obtain the North Carolina crash reports online. All you need is some of the collision’s details, such as date, location, and your car’s VIN. This is an important document because it is requested by most insurance companies to begin a claim and can be used as evidence in a court of law.
Notify Insurance Companies
Once you’ve been medically cleared, you can start thinking about all the admin that comes along with an incident like this. The first people you’ll want to get in contact with are your insurance companies.
Report the incident to them and let them know what happened and how. You can provide them with any evidence you gathered from the scene as well as the contact details of other involved parties (especially if you were at fault). Take this opportunities to ask them any questions you may have, as well as find out whether they would pay for rental car after an accident if your car has damage.
Medical Expenses
You will more than likely incur some medical expenses from a car accident, even if you’re only going in for a check.
If you’ve sustained serious injuries, your medical bills will be much higher, and you might even need to consider the costs of surgery and medication as well as ongoing rehabilitation plans. Depending on your insurance policies and healthcare plan, you might be able to get some, or all of these fees covered. Alternatively, if you were not at fault, you might be able to seek legal help to claim compensation.
Vehicle Repairs or Replacement
If your vehicle took a hit from the accident, you can be guaranteed that it’ll cost a fair amount of money to have it repaired or, in the worst case scenario, replaced. If you have a good insurance policy or if the other party was at fault, you might not need to worry about this. VisitNRC Groupif you are interested in car repairs and panel beating.
However, if you’re not covered by insurance, you may have to cover these fees out of pocket. You can check out average car repair costs in order to get a rough idea of what you’ll be paying, but the costs will vary greatly depending on the type and extent of the damage. You’ll need to get a quote from a repair shop before you can really know the implications.
Lost Wages and Income
Depending on the length and extent of your recovery, you might have to miss out on work for a few weeks or even months, and this can impact your earning. You’ll need to check your employment contract and have a conversation with your boss about paid time off for recovery.
On the other hand, you might be able to claim compensation for this lost money as well. These factors will all depend on who was at fault in the incident and what kind of insurance policies you have in place.
Legal Considerations
Of course, if you’re going to be claiming compensation for any of the above mentioned costs, you’ll also need to think about legal fees. This is why you need to think carefully about whether you need to hire a lawyer.
A good and experienced attorney doesn’t usually come cheap, so if you need the legal assistance you might need to be willing to invest in the help you need. That being said, if you were at fault in an accident, then acquiring the proper legal advice and assistance is the best possible place to be spending your money. Make sure to do the proper research and ask for recommendations if you need legal advice.
