How to Get the Most Money from a Car Accident

Wondering how to get the most money from a car accident? Here’s what you need to know.

Car accidents can be extremely expensive to recover from, especially if you’ve been badly injured and require extensive medical treatment, surgery, and ongoing rehabilitation. During this time, you may not be able to work and could even have lost your job because of the time needed to recuperate, adding additional financial stress on you and your household. 

Your mind will naturally turn to compensation and how to get the most money from a car accident. Getting a sizable financial settlement would not only cover your costs and loss of earnings; it would also give you the justice and compensation for your injuries that you may be entitled to under the law. This would be a bulk sum that would help you get back on your feet and provide for you and your family far into the future. 

But it’s not always easy getting damages after a car accident, or even clear what you should do. People may think they need a car accident lawyer to prepare for a case in court. While a car accident injury lawyer can certainly be invaluable in getting you a settlement, many auto accident cases don’t end up in a courtroom because they’re settled between the various parties and their insurance companies. 

Steps for Getting the Most Money in a Car Accident

The essential part of getting a large settlement after a car accident is proof. You need to be able to show — without a doubt — that the other party or parties were responsible for your car accident and that you didn’t do anything to cause it and are, therefore, an innocent victim deserving of compensation. Gathering the required proof is not always an easy task, and an experienced car accident lawyer can help collect it for you. 

Getting the evidence you need starts in the moments after the car accident. It can be hard to get your thoughts together given the shock of what happened and any injuries you may have sustained. But if you can think ahead to compensation and feel well enough, you can begin the process by using your phone to take photos and videos of the accident scene. You can do this while waiting for the police to arrive, whether you or someone else has called them. 

There may also be witnesses at the scene, as some people will instinctively stop and offer help. Unlike some other states, Texas law does not require people to stop at the scene of an accident, but there will almost surely be some who will do so anyway. If you can, approach them and ask if they will give a statement about what they saw. Get their contact details as well, including full name and address, phone number, and email address.

It can also be invaluable to look around you and see if there are any security and other cameras nearby that may have recorded the accident happening. Your car accident injury lawyer will later be able to locate these cameras with the help of local authorities and get the footage. This could make all the difference between getting a big compensation award and a relatively small amount if an insurance company disputes your version of events. 

Medical Records as Part of Your Car Accident Claim

However, all of the measures you need to take after a car accident come to nothing if you don’t look after yourself. Never assume you’re fine even if you don’t have cuts or anything else following a collision, as conditions may not arise until hours or even days later, including head and internal injuries. It’s vital that you go to the hospital or your local doctor and get a medical evaluation. 

Surgeries, treatments, therapies, rehabilitation, and anything else that’s needed to get you back to full health will form part of your car accident compensation claim. This can also include:

• Any specific medical equipment you might need during or after your recovery
• Transport costs to and from hospital and doctor appointments
• Care providers who help you at home
• Any modifications you have to make to your house or apartment because of your injuries. 

So make sure you keep all medical records and expenses associated with this, as they will be filed by your car accident lawyer, either to an insurance company or court, if negotiations fail or you reject a settlement figure and a trial becomes necessary. Hopefully, the sum of all these expenses will be covered by a payout, along with any projected future medical costs.

Hire an Expert Car Accident Injury Lawyer

You can go ahead and file your own car accident claim, but as you can see, there’s a lot to do, and that doesn’t even involve the often difficult negotiations with an insurance company. We say difficult because they will want to make as low an offer for compensation as possible, or even none at all — trying to make out, despite the evidence, that their client did not cause the car crash. 

And all the while, you’ll be dealing with the stress, pain, and trauma of your injuries and possible loss of earnings. This is why you need help in the form of an experienced car accident injury lawyer who will fight to get you compensation and protect your rights. 

If you’re worried about the cost of hiring a car accident lawyer, you can choose one that doesn’t charge upfront fees and only takes a percentage of a compensation payout — like us, here at Patino Law Firm. This is known as a contingency fee, and you’ll find that many, if not most, personal injury lawyers in Texas work this way. 

So while you rest and recover from your injuries, your car accident lawyer will be hard at work getting all the required evidence and presenting it in a case file to the at-fault driver and their insurance company. They will also be handling the hard talks, and they will know what to do to counter the other side’s arguments that they either shouldn’t have to pay out or only make a small settlement offer. 

And, finally, when you’re looking to get the most money from a car accident, make sure you stay off social media. You can be sure the other side’s lawyers will be going through your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and any other accounts you have, looking for any evidence that you shouldn’t be entitled to compensation. This could be photos of you out and about when you’re supposed to be injured and recuperating, or musings about your accident — perhaps in some small way suggesting you may have contributed to it — that could let you down and ruin your chances of a settlement. 

Keep quiet, let your car accident injury lawyer do the talking and all the work, and hopefully soon, you will get an offer that’s bigger than you could have imagined. 

Increase your chances of getting a big settlement following an accident by hiring the best car accident injury lawyers in Texas. Contact Patino Law Firm now for a free consultation.