If you want to recover compensation for the injury you suffered in a car crash, you will need proof of the seriousness of your injuries.
However, even with a diagnosis from a qualified medical professional, a car insurance company may be less likely to pay full compensation if your vehicle did not suffer significant damage in the accident. Their reasoning is that it seems unlikely for someone to suffer a serious or life-threatening injury in a minor car accident.
This is just one of the ways that vehicle damage factors into the value of a car accident claim. Greg Monforton and Partners’ experienced Windsor vehicle accident lawyers discuss this in more detail below.
If you have questions after a crash caused by another driver’s careless actions, we are ready to help. Give us a call to discuss what happened and see if you may have a valid case. If we find you may have a case, you can schedule a free legal consultation with a qualified lawyer.
After that, if you hire our firm, there will be no upfront costs to pay. We do not collect our fees unless we obtain compensation for your damages.
Should Vehicle Damage Matter?
Ideally, your medical records would be enough to validate your claim for medical expenses. If you went right to the hospital after the crash, it would be difficult for the insurance company to claim your injuries were caused by something besides the crash.
Unfortunately, insurance companies are not committed to paying out full compensation. If they were, you might not need more than just your medical records.
Insurers are looking for any reason to call into question the value of your claim or even the idea that you suffered serious injuries. They may ignore details that would explain why your vehicle did not suffer significant damage. For example, if you were in an SUV or a pickup truck and got rear-ended by another car, your vehicle might not suffer much damage. If you were driving a smaller sedan or a compact car, that vehicle might have been totaled.
Vehicle damage is often an indicator of how fast the vehicles involved in the crash were traveling when the collision occurred. That may be one reason why insurance companies do not want to pay out a lot of compensation when the vehicles involved in a crash suffered minor damage.
Is There a Correlation Between Damage to a Vehicle and the Severity of Injuries?
It would be easy to show there is a correlation between the severity of damage a vehicle suffers and the severity of a victim’s injuries. There are many serious accidents that result in serious injuries.
However, sometimes people who are involved in serious car crashes do not suffer severe injuries. Their car safety features may have protected them from serious bodily harm. Larger vehicles do a better job of absorbing damage while preventing occupants from getting seriously injured.
This is especially true with newer model cars. These cars were designed to break and not to bend. By bending, vehicle bodies are better able to absorb the impact, which helps limit the effects of the impact on occupants’ bodies.
There are also times when people who are involved in minor crashes suffer severe injuries. They may have been more prone to injury because of an existing medical problem. For example, if you have a back injury and you get into a car crash, even one at a relatively low speed, the injury could get aggravated.
You can seek compensation for the aggravation of an injury, no matter what the insurance company says. It can be a challenge to prove an injury was aggravated by a crash and did not get worse on its own. That is why crash victims need an experienced lawyer to help them build a strong case.
One of the challenges with proving aggravation of an injury is the insurance company saying the injury would have worsened anyway. You will need detailed medical records showing how the crash made things worse and your worsened state was not something that would have happened anyway.
Another factor to consider is it may appear that a driver or passenger did not suffer a serious injury. However, some injuries are not visible, such as internal injuries. Victims might not go to the hospital right away because they do not think they are injured. The insurance company may use this delay in seeking treatment as a reason to argue the internal injury did not happen in the accident.
Contact Greg Monforton and Partners to Discuss Legal Options
We know crash victims may be unsure about their need for a lawyer. You may think you can deal with the insurance company yourself and have no need for assistance.
However, have you considered the fact the insurance company does not want to pay full compensation if they can avoid it? They know how to manipulate crash victims when talking to them on the phone. You might say something that could hurt your credibility.
Do you know how to build a strong case for compensation? Do you know what evidence you need? How will you respond to insurance company arguments that you are not seriously injured, or you do not need as much compensation as you are seeking?
If you hire a lawyer, he or she can deal with these questions and other issues in the legal process on your behalf. At Greg Monforton and Partners, there are no upfront fees.
Contact Greg Monforton and Partners today. Phone: (866) 320-4770.