If you've been in a car accident, you can be left in a lot of pain, with a lot of questions. Between damage to your vehicle, personal injuries, fighting with the insurance company, time off of work, and other pain and suffering, car accidents are added stress on top of the stress caused by your mental and physical injuries.
It can be easy to simply give up and just take whatever the insurance company offers you, though those settlements are normally the bare minimum they can get away with paying and you are almost always deserving more. You can also sue the at fault driver, but oftentimes car accidents victims are too tired and in too much pain to deal with two different cases at once.
Instead of dealing with all of the paperwork and stresses yourself, call Marks Law Group to do the hard work for you. With years of experience in Georgia traffic courts and dealing with insurance companies, your experienced car accident attorney at Marks Law Group have the skill level to ensure that your case is dealt with quickly and you are given proper compensation to help you on your journey to healing. Let's take a closer look at the question 'What Does a Car Accident Lawyer Do?'
Can I Deal With the Insurance Company On My Own?
Unsurprising to most people, insurance companies will often fight against any kind of fair settlement or adequate compensation, instead opting for the cheapest possible settlement they feel they can offer. Often, these companies will ignore injuries and medical records, undervalue car damage, and pull other tricks to get out of the hefty bill they have to pay for compensation for damages suffered. Medical expenses can climb quickly and easily, especially for common car accident injuries such as neck or back injuries, and those bills aren't going to pay themselves.
Whatever the insurance company doesn't wish to pay in their compensation figure will come out of pocket, unless you are planning on suing the other driver personally. This is why it's important to file for compensation with an auto accident lawyer on your side, to fight for you.
You can try and fight against the insurance company on your own, but having the weight of a personal injury attorney or experienced car accident lawyer on your side makes that fight a lot easier. Not only will you not have to communicate with the insurance company at all, but an experienced Decatur auto accident attorney will know the best ways to make sure your legal process is quick and painless. In most cases, after your initial consultation with your attorney, there isn't anything you will have to do other than make decisions on settlement offers or choose to go to trial.
What Can a Car Accident Attorney Do for Me That I Can't Do On My Own?
Auto accident attorneys that focus on personal injuries, car accidents, and traffic law spend almost all of their working days dealing with all types of cases. Because of this experience, not only is an experienced lawyer likely to have worked on a case similar to yours, they also have most likely worked with or against the insurance company you are dealing with. With this kind of insider knowledge, they have the know-how to speak with the insurance companies and turn things in your favor.
On top of this, car accident attorneys know the law like the back of their hand. This includes all kinds of obscure rules and laws that the average citizen doesn't know, that can help raise your settlement by hundreds or thousands of dollars. Attorneys also know not only what qualifies for settlement payments, but also how much to ask for from the insurance company.
How Much Does a Car Accident Lawyer Cost in Georgia?
Most personal injury attorneys and car accident lawyers in Georgia don't ask you to pay upfront when you hire them. They instead work on what is called a contingency fee basis. Essentially, they don't get paid unless you win. This is actually a plus for clients since it means that if you lose your case, your attorney won't get paid.
The average contingency fee rate for a mediation settlement is between 25% - 33.3% of your settlement. That means if your settlement is $30,000, you will end up giving your attorney $7,500 to $10,000 of that. If your case goes to trial, however, this can raise the percentage.
To some this may seem like a concerning amount of money to have to give up, however, studies have proven that if the injured party retains an attorney to handle their case, settlements tend to pay out 3.5% more to accident victims, even after attorneys fees. This means that you are much more likely to walk away with more money for medical bills, fixing your car, and paying your bills during your time out of work if you hire a lawyer, even after paying them. As cases get more serious, and settlements raise, that additional 3.5% can add a lot of money to your settlement.
What Do I Need to Fight Back Against the Insurance Company?
The best way to fight against the opposing insurance company is to start gathering evidence before they are even involved. This means that your case and evidence gathering should start at the accident scene. If you are able to, take as many pictures as possible, write down the names and badge numbers of responding law enforcement officers, make sure you get copies of the police accident report.
Also, gather as many witness statements as you can, and ask witnesses if they have dashboard cameras if you don't have one of your own. If you leave the accident scene in an ambulance, get copies of all of your medical records as well as the names of the EMTs that helped you at the scene and all of the doctors that have treated you.
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All of this evidence should be handed over to your accident lawyer as soon as possible. While these details may seem small and insignificant, in the hands of the right lawyer they can go a long way to helping you win your accident claim.
It's Time to Get On the Road to Healing
Healing after a car accident isn't always just financial or physical property destruction, there can be mental anguish as well. Whatever your personal injuries are, getting your case done and over with can help remove a mental block that may be making it difficult for you to heal or move on from your accident.
With the experienced attorneys at Marks Law Group on your side, your personal injury claims and property damage will be handled as efficiently as possible. And if you've already dealt with insurance companies and still aren't happy, we can still help. Even if you receive a settlement from an insurance company, you are still able to personally sue the other driver, if you so wish, to cover all other bills that the insurance company didn't. Whatever your wishes, we always go the extra mile. Call us today for a free consultation so we can help you reach the resolution you need.