Millions of car accidents occur every year, leaving behind victims with ravaged lives due to injury. For this reason, personal injury claims are pursued to give victims their entitlement to fair compensation for injuries they didn’t cause.
Unfortunately, some people take it upon themselves to handle their own personal injury claims. While this is possible to do on your own, it’s not recommended for a variety of different reasons.
Are you contemplating hiring a personal injury attorney? Do you want to know why you should hire an attorney and if you can settle your case without a lawyer? Continue reading below for more information.
You Can Speak to an Insurance Company
It’s not required by law for you to hire an attorney to speak to another insurance company. You can handle negotiations by yourself if you choose. Most times, an insurance company will contact you anyway.
They’ll do this to try to undermine your claim, outright deny the severity of your medical injuries, blame you for your accident, and ask loaded questions to make you incriminate yourself through a recorded phone conversation.
Whatever the case may be, insurance companies expect people to talk to them without a lawyer. Don’t fall into this trap. Instead, hire a personal injury attorney today.
You Can Enter the Negotiation Table
Now, in some cases, an insurance company will acknowledge your injuries and even regard that you didn’t cause them. However, in an attempt to save money and trick you, they’ll offer you a low settlement offer.
Since people don’t typically know the value of their claim, they’ll usually take them up on their offer. Sometimes, an insurance company will aggressively intimidate an auto accident victim, ensuring them that they won’t get a higher offer and theirs is fair market value.
Without a lawyer, there is no feasible way you can sift through the lies of an insurance company. If you want to make sure you and your family are taken care of if your injuries are permanent or long-term, hiring a personal injury attorney is definitely in your best interest.
The Consequences of Not Hiring a Lawyer
There are tremendous consequences for not hiring a personal injury attorney. You could end up saying the wrong things in a recorded phone conversation with an insurance company. With no lawyer present to advise and guide you through your conversation, the insurance company may use your words in court to discredit you and undermine your claim. Perhaps an insurance company offers you a low market value settlement. Since they know you don’t have representation, they could entice or intimidate you into taking it.
An insurance company can ultimately take advantage of you during negotiations. Hiring an attorney, however, will help level the playing field in your favor. An experienced and aggressive attorney has the resources to gather evidence and build a strong case in court. They may instruct you to seek additional medical treatment for your own benefit and to bolster your claim. A lawyer has the in-court experience to battle major insurance companies.
As you can see, hiring a lawyer is your best option to receive fair compensation for your injuries. Forgoing this option places you at the mercy of an insurance company that will do their best to defeat you in court and save money in negotiations.
It’s Unlikely You Will Win
The only plausible way you can settle your case without a lawyer is if you’re irrefutably injured as the result of an auto accident. Even then, there is always the risk that a jury may find you partially responsible for the injuries you sustained, even when the other driver in the accident clearly behaved in a negligent manner.
However, if you were a pedestrian walking on a sidewalk and randomly hit by an incoming drunk driver, it’s possible to say that you can settle your case without a lawyer.
However, that’s where a misconception comes in. Making it to the negotiation table doesn’t mean you’ve won. The battle has only just begun at that point. While the insurance company will acknowledge that you’ve been injured because of their customer, they’ll try to offer you as little money as they can.
If you were struck by the car of a drunk driver, an insurance company could offer you $40,000 in a settlement. That’s a lot of money to many people, causing some victims to take it without asking.
Unfortunately, these people don’t know that they could receive much more in a settlement, making it clear why it’s extremely essential to hire a personal injury attorney. While you may make it to the negotiation table, you won’t be equipped to win without a lawyer.
A personal injury attorney will help you determine fair market value for your settlement based on the severity of your injuries, pain and suffering, and other factors.
Hiring a Lawyer Is Your Best Option
Again, insurance companies expect auto accident victims to go in alone. They do not want these people to contact a lawyer. Successful lawyers have battled insurance companies before in court and during negotiations.
Lawyers and insurance companies know each other. Great lawyers are despised by insurance companies, and they know this. It’s possible that you may hire a lawyer that has successfully fought and won against the insurance company you’re battling.
If this is indeed the case, you’ll benefit enormously from their in-court experience and legal resources. Make the right call today and select a personal injury attorney to help you achieve a desirable outcome.
Give Us a Call Today!
Being involved in an auto accident can be a traumatic experience for you and your family. Receiving compensation is the only way you can mitigate the financial responsibility of your medical expenses.
If you’ve decided that you need to hire a personal injury attorney, then you’ve come to the right place. The McCravy Law Firm specializes in personal injury claims relating to auto accidents. Give us a call at (864) 388-9100 to speak to a member of our legal team today!
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