Road Accident

Criminal Injury

Work Accident

Accident Abroad

Slip, Trip or Fall

Medical Negligence

CAR ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CLAIM – THE DANCE OF PAIN

A Car accident compensation claim is often hard to make, mainly because it is difficult to estimate the amount of compensation one can claim. With the increasing rise in demand for cars in the modern world, the car sales in various nations may be picking up, but so are the accident rates. Often, irresponsible, reckless drivers, who have no respect for traffic rules may break into a lane that requires them to go slow, at breakneck speeds. The result is that they crash into innocent, unsuspecting drivers who are following the traffic rules, and these people suffer damages before they realise what’s coming. The main reasons for these accidents are cell phone driving, and driving under influence. These accidents may not just involve the culprit and another victim – but it might involve serious loss to property and lives of other bystanders as well.

The Dance

Usually, when you make a car accident compensation claim, the settlement process appears to be like a slow waltz in which the dancers are moving back and forth in the same place several times. You may not know how much to claim, so you don’t mention anything. But the defendant’s attorney or adjuster will send you a proposal for settlement that is not even sufficient to cover your medical expenses, leave alone the costs of damages to your car, your valuables in the car, and the amount of salary you are forgoing at work because you are stuck on a hospital bed with broken limbs. Not to mention the shock and the trauma it cause, after which you may not have the courage to drive ever again, or even be in a car again, and will thus have to end up being dependent on public transport. So, full of anger, you make a counter claim. The negotiations will continue until you put your foot down and threaten to go to court. But you can’t – since you don’t know whether the court will grant you the car accident compensation claim that you are making.

What to do

The best option in such cases is to consult an expert for advice. You could find one online, or take the opinions of others who have been before in the same place where you are now. You could write a letter to the defendant’s insurance company, explaining the level of losses you are facing, and ask them to support your claim. You could include the documents showing the expenditures you are facing as a result of the accident, with evidence that these expenses are being incurred indeed as a side effect of the accident. You could request for mediation or arbitration, where an impartial 3rd party will help you sort out your woes with the defendant.