No one wants to get into a car accident. They disrupt your life in an instant. One moment, you have a car and your health. The next moment, you own a wreck and are looking at days, weeks, or months of medical care.
And unless the insurance company is feeling very nice, you will probably need to sue someone to get the money you need to pay for that. But how much money will you get from a North Carolina car accident settlement?
Calculating Damages
When The Joel Bieber Firm calculates damages, we look at several factors.
Extent of Injuries
Usually, we start by looking at how badly you were injured. You have to pay your doctors for all the medical care you receive. Thus, if your injuries are bad, you will pay more for medical care.
It is easy to determine the value of your medical care. Your doctors and the hospital will send you bills. We collect those bills and show them to the insurance company. Additionally, based on your doctor’s diagnosis, we can estimate future bills very accurately. All of these bills are the starting point of your North Carolina car accident settlement.
Lost Wages
Often, car accident injuries will prevent you from working. Typically, the more serious the injuries, the more work you will miss. However, this isn’t always the case.
Sometimes relatively minor injuries (in terms of medical care costs) will interfere greatly with your ability to work. For example, you might miss months of work if you break your leg. But comparatively, you won’t spend much money to treat a broken leg. We include all lost wages as part of your North Carolina car accident settlement value.
Pain and Suffering
This is the main reason you should hire a personal injury lawyer after a car accident. Many car insurance companies will be relatively fair about lost wages and medical costs. But few will willingly pay for pain and suffering.
You can force them to pay in two ways — sue them or negotiate. Most car insurance companies won’t negotiate with claimants. However, they will negotiate with lawyers.
As soon as you hire a lawyer, you tell the insurance company you are willing to sue. Car insurance companies will do anything to avoid a lawsuit. And that means they will usually negotiate a North Carolina car accident settlement that includes money for pain and suffering.
Always Hire a Lawyer to Maximize Your Settlement
The value of a car accident settlement is based on several factors. However, the insurance company attempts to minimize the value of those factors. You can counter that by hiring a lawyer to fight for you. Usually, people who hire lawyers get more money from car accident settlements than those who don’t.
Contact The Joel Bieber Firm Today
Contact our law firm as soon as possible after a car accident in North Carolina. We will determine what your claim is worth and help you get the money that you deserve.
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