Many car accidents seem relatively minor at first. You may be able to drive your car home from the accident scene, and you may not need immediate medical assistance. However, you still may need to hire a lawyer for a minor car accident. You may later develop symptoms of injuries that require medical treatment and have expenses for repairing your vehicle.
A Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer can assist you in getting compensation for those expenses when another driver causes your minor car accident. They can handle all the legal tasks involved in your case, such as the insurance claims process.
Seek Treatment Promptly After a Minor Car Accident
Even if your injuries do not require immediate emergency medical treatment and hospitalization, the harm you suffered in a minor car accident can be significant. In some cases, symptoms of injuries such as whiplash may not arise until days or weeks after the accident. These injuries can result in medical expenses, lost time at work, and even permanent impairments that fundamentally alter your way of life. So, contacting a lawyer’s team as quickly as possible following a minor car accident can be wise.
When you do not see any signs of immediate injuries after a car accident, you should not hesitate to seek medical treatment later if symptoms of injuries arise.
Doing so promptly may allow your doctor to link your symptoms to your minor car accident. Failure to get timely treatment or wait too long to address your symptoms may worsen your medical condition and make seeking compensation more challenging.
The Cost of Injuries Can Add Up Fast
Most drivers in Florida can turn to state-mandated personal injury protection (PIP) coverage after a crash. This covers up to $10,000 of your accident-related injury expenses and losses such as:
- A portion of medical care, up to the policy limit; and
- A limited amount of lost income.
If your injuries prove minor, the $10,000 from your PIP coverage is enough to pay for your initial medical visit and your treatment and follow-up care. However, even seemingly minor or moderate injuries can quickly meet or exceed that threshold.
The cost of emergency room care, diagnostic testing, or minor surgeries on wounds can quickly add up. Your costs to treat your injuries could easily range into tens of thousands of dollars.
Additionally, if you don’t promptly get treatment for your initial injuries, your health complications could quickly get serious—and more costly. For instance, some people with whiplash could go on to experience chronic neck pain, according to Mayo Clinic. The cost of medications and physical therapy over months or years could prove expensive.
What a Lawyer Can Do to Help After Minor Accident Injuries
After the collision, you might wonder why you would want to hire a car accident lawyer for a minor accident. If PIP will pay you at least $10,000 for your personal injury damages, why get an attorney involved?
Actually, there are several reasons why it could make sense to hire a Naples car accident attorney with our firm to help you after a minor collision, such as:
Claim Valuation
You might believe your accident was minor and damages are minimal, but do you really know what your claim is worth? One of the first jobs of a car accident attorney is to assign value to a client’s claim, letting them know how much they can expect to receive in compensation.
Some of the damages you can recover include:
- Past and future lost wages: Hourly pay, vacation time, commissions, and business opportunities you miss out on due to the accident
- Medical expenses: Emergency and expected medical care
- Property damage: Costs for your car repairs
- Pain and suffering: For the physical pain your injuries caused
- Lost quality of life: When you can’t enjoy your regular activities due to your injuries
Often, people involved in minor car accidents find that they are entitled to much more money than they realized. That could happen in your case.
Insurance Company Negotiation
Whether your claim is for a small or large sum, dealing with the insurance company is never easy. They are notorious for doing everything possible to pay out as little as they can. A car insurance lawyer on our team can go toe-to-toe with the insurance company, fighting back against any attempts to pay you less than you deserve.
No Win, No Fee
If your reason for not hiring a lawyer is that you believe you cannot afford one or you do not want to pay an out-of-pocket fee, these are non-issues when you work with our minor car accident attorneys in Naples.
We do not collect a fee until we recover money for you. That means there is no financial risk in having us on your side.
You Can Rely on Our Team for Responsive Legal Care
At our firm, we make sure that you have everything you need so that you are not left in the dark throughout the course of your case.
Our car accident attorneys go the extra mile and:
- Help you with scheduling your appointments
- Give you your attorney’s phone number
- Quickly respond to your emails and phone calls
- Answer all your questions
- Frequently update you on any changes that come about in your case
Injuries in Minor Car Accidents
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that law enforcement authorities documented 5.25 million motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2020. These crashes resulted in 2.28 million people suffering from injuries that year. Many of the remaining crashes involved property damage only. As a result, 79 people suffered injuries in crashes for every 100 vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that more than 2.3 million people visit emergency room departments in hospitals following motor vehicle crashes each year. The CDC also reports that collectively, Americans spent more than one million days in the hospital each year from crash injuries.
Get Legal Help Today Following Your Minor Car Accident
You initially may not consider whether you should hire a lawyer for a minor car accident. However, you have a limited time to file any claims or lawsuits following a car accident under state law. Therefore, getting legal advice after your car accident to explore your options can be the most effective means of protecting your legal rights to compensation. Otherwise, you risk being unable to recover compensation for unexpected injuries that do not begin to appear until sometime after your accident.
We know that you likely have many concerns and questions after a car accident, particularly if you have medical expenses and damage to your vehicle as a result. Do not hesitate to contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine to get the answers you need. Call today and learn more about your legal rights following a minor car accident.
We Can Help.
