3 good reasons Why You Should Contact An Attorney After A Car Accident

When you have been involved in a car accident that wasn't your fault, then it is fair to say that calling an experienced Riverside County car accident attorney probably wouldn't be one of the first things on your mind. You may even think that your insurance company will deal with it. After all...that's what you pay your car insurance premiums for right! However the reality is that by making the decision not to contact a lawyer, then it could be a very costly mistake and here's why...

Insurers are not on your side

Even though you may have religiously made timely payments on your insurance premium it is wrong to believe that you will get a payment that will sort out all the problems of your accident. On the contrary, whilst you are sitting back waiting for that big check to come in, the insurance company is looking for ways to pay out as little as possible. The reason for this is that like any other business, insurance carriers are looking to make money. The way that they achieve this is to make low payments on the bottom line, whilst taking in as many premiums as possible. This is not an illegal practice and is how all insurance companies operate. The result is that the client will receive a payment that may not even cover the cost of vehicle repairs, let alone the injuries sustained.

An experienced team of Riverside car accident lawyers on the other hand are working for you. Most firms of attorneys operate on a contingency (no win, no fee) basis. Therefore they don't get paid until you win the case. So it is in the interests of the attorney to achieve maximum income for their clients. (More money for their clients = more money for the attorney)

Extensive resources

Any decent team of Riverside car accident lawyers will have the financial backing in place to be able to call upon the services of independent experts who can thoroughly investigate an accident if needs be. People such as accident investigators, specialist car mechanics, crash analysts, forensic scientists and medical experts can all help to identify where the negligence lies. These findings can then be reported back to the representing attorney who can then look to build a watertight case.

An insurance company on the other hand may not have the resources or indeed the manpower necessary in order to carry out such an investigation if they needed to and as a result may well miss vital evidence that can prove fault of the accident.

Disputed claims

Often in many accidents there could be some kind of dispute over who is at fault for the incident. Generally speaking if the insurance carrier believes that you are in any way at fault for the accident then it is fair to say that you probably won't get a bean. An experienced Riverside car accident lawyer on the other hand will suggest that they can still file a claim for their client under 'comparative law'. In essence this is where the fault found for the accident is comparative to the amount of compensation awarded. Let's say for example that a vehicle owner was driving fast and erratically and as a result collided into a vehicle that was being driven quite sedately. Clearly all eyes would be on the erratic driver for fault. However upon investigation it was later found that the sedate driver wasn't wearing a safety belt, which in turn exacerbated their injuries. In this instance it could be that both drivers were at fault. However it is down to a settlement or a court of law to decide to what percentage the plaintiff was at fault. If for example the non safety belt wearer was deemed to be 30% responsible for their injuries, then they would receive 70% of the total amount of the claim.

So there you have it: three great reasons why you should hire the services of a skilled Riverside car accident attorney. They will strive to maximise your compensation every time and if you weigh up the costs in terms of what a car injury lawyer can do for you, then there really is no comparison.