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The Aftermath of a Motor Vehicle Accident
According to a poll by ABC News, the average wait time at a major coffee shop chain that shall remain nameless (starts with an S and ends with tarbucks) is 3-5 minutes. What does that have to do with motor vehicle accidents (MVAs)? Well, in the time it takes to get that Mocha-choca-frappa-blah blah with half whip, between 30 and 50 car crashes happen in the US, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- On average, there’s a car crash every six seconds
- .68% of crashes are fatal
- One in eight drivers is uninsured
*NHTSA
Chances are that if you haven’t been in an accident, it’s probably only a matter of time before you’re involved in one. Ominous, I know, but there are things you can do to prepare yourself for when the inevitable happens. Although a very small percentage of crashes are fatal, that doesn’t mean the other 99.32% of motor vehicle accidents aren’t a big deal.
The aftermath of a motor vehicle accident may involve:
- Unexpected medical treatment and doctor visits
- Potentially lost wages
- Medical expenses
- Close-fisted insurance companies
The Legal Definition of a Car Accident
A car accident, or motor vehicle accident, occurs when a motor vehicle strikes or collides with another vehicle, a stationary object, a pedestrian, or an animal. While some car accidents result only in property damage, others result in severe injuries or death. Many factors can contribute to car accidents, and sometimes such accidents have legal consequences.
Motor Vehicle Accident Terms to Know
- Insurance: How much do I have? How much do I need?
- Personal Injury Protection (PIP): PIP allows you to go out and get the medical treatment you need following an MVA without worrying whether the at-fault driver’s insurance company will do the right thing and pay without fighting.
- 1st Person (party) Insurance: This is insurance you carry on your policy.
- 3rd Person (party) Insurance: This is the insurance the other driver carries.
- Property damage: Damage done to your vehicle or property.
- Bodily damage: Physical injuries to you that require medical treatment.
- General damages: Pain and suffering live in this category.
- Statute of limitations: This is the time in which you have to file against the at-fault driver or their insurance company.
- Police report: This one is self-explanatory but incredibly important.
Let’s break a few of these out and give ‘em a little more love.
How Much Car Insurance Do I Need?
If you drive a car in Washington, you must have car insurance. Flo, the Lil General, the Good Hands guy — all of them will sell you coverage, but how much coverage you need is a great question. And what happens if the at-fault driver wasn’t insured or didn’t have enough insurance to cover your damages? This is where PIP and uninsured/underinsured motorist policies come into play. While increasing your coverage AFTER an MVA won’t help you this time, it will next time.
Liability Limits
In Washington State, we are required to carry liability insurance with liability limits of at least:
- $25,000 for injuries or death to another person
- $50,000 for injuries or death to all other people
- $10,000 for damage to another person’s property
Click here for questions about proof of insurance, exemptions, or other questions about how insurance works in Washington.
What is optional, but we want to stress the importance of, is Personal Injury Protection and uninsured/underinsured motorist policies. We aren’t insurance agents, but these add-ons can be pivotal if you’ve been in a motor vehicle accident. PIP would cover up to a certain amount of your damages even if your accident was someone else’s fault. This can be a lifesaver (literally!) if you’re in a wreck and need medical treatment. If the at-fault driver’s insurance company is fighting you, or the provider you seek treatment from refuses to bill third-party insurance (the other driver’s insurance), PIP coverage can be a huge relief.
Pro Tip: Your insurance agent or company MUST allow you to opt-in or out of PIP coverage. If you elect not to carry PIP, the insurer must ask you to waive the coverage in writing. This could be important in some special circumstances.
Uninsured/Underinsured motorists’ plans kick in when the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough coverage to cover your damages.
Should I File a Lawsuit?
Suppose your damages exceed the coverage carried by the at-fault driver, and you have no extra coverage for underinsured motorists. You have two options:
- File a lawsuit against the driver to see if they have personal assets you can recover to pay your expenses and damages. If they don’t have a big ol’ savings account, you may be able to get a judgment and judicial lien against their home. If they own and then sell their home, you could have a claim to be paid from the proceeds of the sale or against future wages, but good luck seeing any of that money.
- Eat it.
Kind of a bleak picture. This is why we advocate for people to carry a little extra insurance than what is required by the state. Sure, you may get lucky and never need it, but it’s usually rather inexpensive, and if you need it but don’t have it, it’s too late.
On the flip side, carrying a little more coverage than the state requirement is a great idea in case you find yourself as the at-fault driver in an MVA. We all make mistakes.
What Is the Statute of Limitations in a Car Accident?
The area of law that governs MVAs is called “tort” (and no, it’s not a breakfast pastry). It’s a term most people have never heard of.
Basically, it’s the term for the body of law that governs injuries or harm caused by someone else. It’s civil law (as opposed to criminal law). Why do I bring this up? It all plays together with the timeframe for filing a lawsuit after an MVA.
We’ll cut to the chase here: you have three years from the accident date to file a suit in Washington State court. Are there some exceptions? Sure. But for most cases, the time limit to file is three years.
What to Do After You’ve Been in an Accident
1. Ask if everyone is okay. Assess the situation: Is anyone in your car needing immediate assistance? If you’re in a position to help, great. If not, you still need to be able to communicate with emergency responders effectively.
2. CALL 911. Even if you, your passengers, and the people in the other car all seem okay, call the police and get a report. This is extremely important even if nobody is in life-threatening danger. Emergency services help establish what happened and can manage traffic and help coordinate tow vehicles, etc.
3. Don’t admit fault, not to the people in the other car or your passengers or onlookers. Let the police and potentially the courts figure that out. It’s not as cut-and-dry as you might think.
4. Go to the emergency department or urgent care facility as soon as possible. Don’t put it off or tell yourself you’re fine. You may find out through imaging studies that your headache from the accident is something more serious. This is also important because the insurance company may bring it up later.
1. Follow-up. You went to the ER or urgent care, and now you’ve probably had time to follow up with your general practitioner or a specialist you were referred to. If you haven’t followed up yet, DO it!
2. Get treatment. If your specialist or surgeon has initiated a treatment plan, or your GP has referred you for conservative treatment like physical therapy, DO it. Go to all of it. DON’T be the person who lives with pain for the rest of their lives because it was too much of a pain in the @$$ to get the treatment now.
3. File a claim. If you haven’t yet filed a claim, DO it! File it now or call an attorney to help you.
4. Get a copy of the police report. If you have filed a claim, you’re probably being contacted by the claims adjuster. If you called the police after the accident, the police report should be available by now. DO get a copy (often available online) so you can refer to it when the insurance adjuster starts poking around for ways to lowball you on your property or bodily damage estimates.
5. Get a FULL AND COMPLETE copy of your insurance policy documents. Do this before making any recorded statements to your insurance company or theirs.
6. DON’T sign medical releases for anyone except your doctor or attorney.
1. Ask if everyone is okay. Assess the situation: Is anyone in your car needing immediate assistance? If you’re in a position to help, great. If not, you still need to be able to communicate with emergency responders effectively.
2. CALL 911. Even if you, your passengers, and the people in the other car all seem okay, call the police and get a report. This is extremely important even if nobody is in life-threatening danger. Emergency services help establish what happened and can manage traffic and help coordinate tow vehicles, etc.
3. Don’t admit fault, not to the people in the other car or your passengers or onlookers. Let the police and potentially the courts figure that out. It’s not as cut-and-dry as you might think.
4. Go to the emergency department or urgent care facility as soon as possible. Don’t put it off or tell yourself you’re fine. You may find out through imaging studies that your headache from the accident is something more serious. This is also important because the insurance company may bring it up later.
1. Follow-up. You went to the ER or urgent care, and now you’ve probably had time to follow up with your general practitioner or a specialist you were referred to. If you haven’t followed up yet, DO it!
2. Get treatment. If your specialist or surgeon has initiated a treatment plan, or your GP has referred you for conservative treatment like physical therapy, DO it. Go to all of it. DON’T be the person who lives with pain for the rest of their lives because it was too much of a pain in the @$$ to get the treatment now.
3. File a claim. If you haven’t yet filed a claim, DO it! File it now or call an attorney to help you.
4. Get a copy of the police report. If you have filed a claim, you’re probably being contacted by the claims adjuster. If you called the police after the accident, the police report should be available by now. DO get a copy (often available online) so you can refer to it when the insurance adjuster starts poking around for ways to lowball you on your property or bodily damage estimates.
5. Get a FULL AND COMPLETE copy of your insurance policy documents. Do this before making any recorded statements to your insurance company or theirs.
6. DON’T sign medical releases for anyone except your doctor or attorney.
Injury and Damage Compensation
Plain and simple – you represent dollar signs to the insurance company and nothing more. They will do just about anything to minimize the expenses on your claim.
Often, the insurance company will pay out on the property loss side of the claim far sooner than the bodily injury side. If you feel like the compensation you’ve been offered for your wrecked vehicle or other damaged property is adequate, accepting payment (for property damage only) doesn’t close out your claim or hinder you from pursuing treatment or compensation for bodily damage. BUT (and this is a big but) if the amount the insurance company offers doesn’t cover your loss, but it is the maximum amount of coverage the at-fault driver has, DON’T accept it! If you take that as your payment, it may preclude you from accessing your underinsured motorist coverage.
When it is finally time to settle your claim, you want to make sure you understand just how your body has recovered from the accident and that you’ve gotten all the treatment available to avoid having regrets later about chronic pain. You want to ensure you’ve calculated ALL of the ways this event has financially affected you. Lost wages, pain, suffering, and damage to your property if not already paid, etc. If it feels like the offer(s) you’ve gotten from the claims adjuster are low, it’s because they are.
The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Motor Vehicle Accident Attorney
Pros
- You’ll have a higher chance of receiving compensation.
- They can provide legal expertise and guidance throughout the process, saving you time and stress.
- They’ll take care of negotiating with insurance companies and other parties involved to get you a fair settlement.
- They can handle all the red tape so you can focus on your recovery.
Cons
- There are costs involved. However, hiring an attorney can increase your chances of compensation, so in the end, you may come up ahead.
- Most personal injury attorneys operate on a contingency fee basis. This means your attorney does not make money unless you win your case. If an attorney takes 40% of the settlement amount, remember that 60% of $25,000 is way more than 100% of $500.
Should You Hire an Attorney, and If So, When?
We often hear about people who waited to get an attorney because they wanted to listen to the offer or figured they could handle it independently. Remember that the insurance company (and their TEAMS of lawyers) have an unfair advantage because this is all they do. And that’s where hiring an attorney comes in – we can call their bluff. Consider hiring a car accident attorney if:
- You or anyone else involved in the accident suffered serious injuries or permanent disability
- Liability for the accident is not clear, or there are multiple parties involved
- The insurance company denies your claim, or the settlement offered is inadequate to cover your damages
- You are being sued by another party involved in the accident
- You have difficulty proving the extent of your injuries or the damages you suffered
- The accident involves commercial vehicles
- You have missed work or lost wages as a result of the accident
If you’re unsure whether you need an attorney, schedule a consultation to discuss your case and determine the best course of action.
Unsure What to Do After Your Motor Vehicle Accident?
If you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle accident and aren’t sure what to do next, set up a free consultation so we can help you sort through the details.
At Carlisle + Byers, we specialize in personal injury and workers’ compensation law and understand all the complexities that can go along with it. It’s our job to guide you and be your advocate throughout the process.
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