First Accident with Injuries? Here are Three Things You Should Know

Being injured in a car accident for the first time is a frightening, confusing, and stressful experience. While you heal from your injuries, trying to recover compensation to pay for your medical bills, property damage, lost earnings for missing time from work, and other expenses can hinder the recovery process. Whenever you are dealing with insurance companies, it is imperative to learn how they often handle car accident and personal injury cases.

The following are three things you should know that may shed some light on your situation if you are dealing with a personal injury claim for the first time:

1. Insurance companies are not looking out for your best interests – The main goal of insurance adjusters is to protect their profit margin, which means doing whatever it takes to either pay injured parties the lowest settlement amount possible or deny their claims entirely. To level the playing field, you must either spend hours researching how to obtain a maximum settlement or hire an experienced personal injury attorney to protect your rights and best interests.
2. Insurance companies want their money back – There is often more than one insurance company who may be involved in your claim. Some examples are health insurance, workers’ compensation, short-term disability, collision coverage, uninsured motorist, and additional liability insurance just to name a few. One or more of these various insurance companies may pay benefits on your behalf, but beware…if these additional insurers pay, they usually want their money back and they do not care if you end up with $0.00 for compensation for your permanent injuries. They will often file a lien against your settlement. Understanding how these insurers interact with one another is daunting. Any wrong decision may expose you to a lawsuit from one of them.
3. Your medical history will be heavily scrutinized – The insurance claims adjuster wants to examine your prior health background to ensure you are not claiming compensation for an injury that has been a nagging ailment before the collision occurred. So if an insurance company discovers you had a pre-existing condition in the same body part that was injured in the accident, they can claim the accident didn’t cause your injury and thus minimizing or denying your settlement.

The best way to win the claim game is to hire our Nashville personal injury lawyer at Jeff Roberts & Associates, PLLC to level the playing field against the insurance company and advocate on your behalf. If you have been injured in a car accident for the first time, please contact us and schedule a free consultation today.