Myths about Car accidents, Debunked
If you’ve recently been involved in a New York car accident, you may have turned to your friends and family for guidance on how to handle your claims, only to have received advice that was conflicting, or just plain bad. Read on to learn about why some commonly-held ideas about car accidents are incorrect. Rather than rely on friends’ well-meaning but mistaken summaries of the law and process of getting paid for your car accident injuries, contact an experienced car accident and personal injury attorney soon after an accident to advise you on how best to succeed in making a claim for damages.
Myth 1: I wasn’t in pain or bleeding right after the accident, so I don’t need to go see a doctor.
Immediately after a crash, you may still be in shock and experiencing a surge of adrenaline which can conceal the pain and discomfort of an injury. Additionally, some injuries may not show immediate and obvious symptoms, but may nevertheless need treatment. It is important to seek medical attention right away, both to give a doctor the chance to look for injuries you may not realize you had, and because it may serve as evidence to the court that you felt that the accident was serious and could have caused injuries requiring medical attention.
Myth 2: My friend was in a similar accident and made $X, so I will too.
Each car accident is different in subtle ways. While the circumstances surrounding yours and your friend’s accident may seem indistinguishable, there may be differences in the ways that you or your friend were driving, or in the at-fault driver’s behavior, that could result in a greater or lesser recovery for accidents that seemed identical.
Myth 3: The insurance company wants me to give a recorded statement, so I have to
Car insurance representatives have experience in making their request for a statement sound like a friendly request. If you believe firmly that you weren’t at fault, you may see no harm in answering a few questions about the accident on tape. However, don’t forget that the insurance company makes money by paying claimants as little as possible on their claims. This recorded testimony can end up being used to seriously threaten your request for money damages, all because you may have misspoken or inaccurately described the legal basis for your claim against the other driver. Always have an attorney with you when you submit to a request for a recorded statement, to ensure that your interests are represented.
If you’ve been hurt in a car accident in New York, seek experienced and determined legal representation to ensure that you’re paid fully for your claims, and contact an auto accident attorney of Rusk, Wadlin, Heppner & Martuscello for a consultation, at 845-236-4411 (Marlboro), or 845-331-4100 (Kingston).
