When to hire a traffic collision attorney

Sponsored content

Whether or not you need to hire an attorney after Accidentes de auto is a crucial decision. You have the right to hire an attorney before you talk to insurance companies, but you also have the right to go against the insurance companies yourself. The insurance companies are there to make profits, and not to make friends. 

Remember that insurance companies can’t make these profits if they pay you lots of money. Therefore, they may do anything to avoid paying the money to you. While a representative of an insurance company may pretend to be a good friend, it’s worth noting that insurance companies intend to pay little money so that they continue making more money for their business. This page discusses when to hire a traffic collision attorney.

The best time to hire an attorney

Whether or not you decide to hire a traffic collision attorney is completely up to you. However, if you want to get a lawyer for the car accident case, it’s good to one immediately, preferably the day after a traffic collision, or even a day or two after the accident. There are good reasons for doing this as described below:

Legal deadlines

There are many legal deadlines that you must meet, so a good traffic collision attorney can ensure that you meet them. The well-known deadline is perhaps the statute of limitations, which can vary depending on the state where the traffic collision happened. The statute of limitations sets specific time by which you need to file your case with the trial court. 

There are also other deadlines, though they are not well-known that you must know about. This can depend on the type of insurance that is involved because an insurance policy may need that you tell the insurer about the accident immediately or as soon as practical. 

You see, deadlines like this are quite common in many car insurance policies. If a government entity gets involved because at-fault party works for the government or due to negligent roadway maintenance, then you need to meet ante litem deadlines that can be short like six months or a year. Missing these deadlines can cause serious problems, and it can mean losing the case.

Preserving evidence

Evidence can sometimes last for a short period, such as surveillance camera footage. In most cases, you can find some evidence in some surveillance videos from businesses close to the accident scene that can prove to what happened and figure out the party at fault. 

No doubt,video like this is important, but it doesn’t last that long. Many businesses tend to delete or even record-over the surveillance camera footage in just a couple of days or weeks. Therefore, if you decide to get this evidence about a traffic collision, then your attorney needs to act fast. 

Another form of evidence is known as roadway evidence. So roadway evidence can include car accident debris like broken pieces of headlights, skid marks, and wheel gouges that are on the road’s shoulders. If there is a dispute about the one who was wrong, it’s crucial to go to the scene of the traffic collision and preserve this roadway evidence. 

You need an accident reconstruction expert to use this roadway evidence to show how the traffic collision happened. However, this evidence can also disappear if the attorney moves slowly because wind, rain, and other traffic can remove it. 

The cars themselves that were involved in the accident are also evidence. The damage to the vehicles can indicate how severe the collision was, and assist an accident reconstruction expert determine the way the accident occurred. But again, it’s a good idea to move fast. 

If the damage to the vehicles is important, an Abogados con Experiencia en Lesiones Personales may need to take photographs of the cars, or even get an accident reconstruction expert to do a 3D scan of the vehicles before they are crushed or repaired. This doesn’t leave you with a lot of time. If the vehicle can be repaired, then the car accident attorney needs to take the 3D scan or photographs before doing the repairs. On the other hand, if the vehicle is totaled, the attorney must get the 3D scan or photographs before the vehicle gets crushed and sold as scrap.

Medical treatment

If you know your doctor who treats you for the injuries after the traffic collision or you have good health insurance, then this may not be a problem. However, some people get injured in traffic collisions and may not have good health insurance or may not figure out where to go for medical treatment. 

Keep in mind that your urgent care clinic or local emergency room can only do some things to get you going. Therefore, if you require medical treatment but don’t have good health insurance or where to turn to, then a car accident attorney can guide you in the proper direction.

Witnesses

Unfortunately, witnesses may lose interest and memories fade quickly. In some cases, after an accident, witnesses can be willing to come forward and tell what they saw. This is the time when these witnesses have clear memories of you in pain, or they are just angry at the driver who was at fault for not paying attention. 

However, over time, some witnesses tend to forget about the accident and become less motivated to talk about what they saw. They sometimes dread the idea that they will be talking with attorneys or the chance of getting called to testify in court. If witness testimony is crucial, then it’s a good idea for the car accident attorney or the investigator to contact the witnesses immediately after the accident, before the fading of their memories or motivation. The attorney may usually take a written or verbal statement to preserve everything the witness remembers. 

Tricks used by insurance companies

It’s always a good idea to hire the best car accident lawyer immediately after the accident. You can contact an attorney on the day of the accident, or within a couple of days, but before giving a statement to the insurance companies. This is because insurance companies usually use some tricks to avoid paying a full settlement. Well, if you have still not decided hiring an attorney, perhaps you need to do it if you see the following from the insurance company: