Can I Recover Compensation for a Minor Car Accident?
Just because a person’s accident is described as minor does not mean that he or she won’t suffer from serious injuries. Fortunately, how much a person can recover after a car accident depends primarily on the severity of the injuries sustained by the victim and not necessarily the extent of the property damage caused by the collision. To learn more about your own recovery options following a crash, please call our experienced Fort Lauderdale auto accident lawyers today.
What Qualifies as a Minor Car Crash?
Car crashes that don’t involve particularly severe impacts, that occur at relatively low speeds, or that don’t result in significant vehicle damage are often referred to as minor collisions. However, even if a crash is labeled as minor, the parties involved could still suffer serious injuries. For this reason, accident victims who are evaluating their recovery options should avoid asking themselves how much damage was caused by their accident, but to instead focus on the severity of their injuries. It is not unheard of, for instance, for a car accident victim to suffer permanent neck injuries in low speed collisions. For these reasons, car accident victims who believe that they may have sustained an injury in an accident should be sure to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Recovery Options After a Minor Collision
Most insurance companies focus on two specific issues when evaluating car accident claims, including:
- The amount of money it cost to repair the vehicles involved in the crash; and
- Photographs of the actual damage caused by the crash.
Assessing these factors ensures that accident victims can recover the actual cost of their losses, even if the damage in question seems to be minor. However, by focusing on physical damage, many insurers fail to consider the severity of a person’s injuries, especially in cases where the property damage was relatively insignificant. Seeking medical attention as soon as possible after a crash can go a long way towards helping establish that although an accident was relatively minor, it still had serious consequences for the victim. Those who fail to take this step, on the other hand, especially after a minor car crash, risk having the at-fault party’s insurer attempt to avoid responsibility for compensating a victim based on the argument that a minor collision couldn’t have caused a serious and compensable injury.
Calling the Police After a Minor Car Crash
Technically, motorists are not required to contact law enforcement officers after a minor car crash. For this reason, many people whose accidents involve little or no property damage choose not to contact the police afterwards. It can, however, be in a person’s best interests to make this call, regardless of whether the damage was significant or not, as police officers who respond to car accidents are required to make a report on the crash, which can be used as evidence by plaintiffs at a later date. Insurance companies are also generally more willing to compensate accident victims if the police responded to the accident scene.
Discuss Your Case with an Experienced Florida Car Accident Lawyer
To learn more about filing a claim for an injury sustained in a minor car crash, please contact one of the dedicated lawyers at Boone & Davis by calling 954-566-9919 today.
Resource:
leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0316/Sections/0316.066.html
