When a person is involved in a serious motor vehicle accident, they are faced with the decision of whether to hire a personal injury lawyer or not.
The issue is that most of the time, people tend to avoid hiring a lawyer because of the misconception that lawyers are expensive. However, in the event of an insurance claim, working with a lawyer is often a necessary component of the process.
If insurance companies were prepared to offer full value claims to every unrepresented claimant, there would likely be far fewer lawyers practicing in the field of personal injury.
But, since an insurance adjuster is always trying his or her best to keep the amount paid out per claim as low as possible, you’re not likely to ever get an offer from an insurance company for the full amount of your claim.
That said, hiring a personal injury lawyer, such as Greene, Reid & Pomeroy will almost always end up getting you more money than if you would have gone through the claim process unrepresented.
When to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?
There are certain situations when hiring a personal injury lawyer is extremely important immediately after a motor vehicle accident has taken place. This includes:
- If the accident has caused death.
- If the accident incurred injuries that require hospitalization.
- If liability is being questioned and you’ve suffered a moderate or severe injury.
- When an insurance company is denying a claim due to the nature of the accident and you’ve incurred a serious injury.
- If you’ve incurred a serious injury, which may result in the loss of future income.
Read tips on finding the best personal injury lawyer here.
The reason is that it’s so important to hire a lawyer in such situations because it’s vital that an investigation is carried out as soon as possible after the accident before any evidence is lost. The lawyer will also need to obtain a variety of reports from experts to ensure the claim is properly and wholly developed.
Furthermore, a personal injury lawyer can provide you with a wide range of information throughout the early stages of your claim. This ensures that you start the claim process properly and your injuries are all properly documented.
Although personal injury lawyers typically provide a bill based on the amount recovered from the insurance company, in most cases, they will be able to obtain an offer from the company in excess of what you’d likely be able to get on your own.
In other words, you’re far more likely to recover more compensation, even after paying him or her their legal fee, than you would be able to get without being represented. This also gives you peace of mind knowing that you’re offer is reasonable. And lastly, you’ll never have to deal directly with the insurance company.
When Not to Hire a Lawyer?
With all that said, there are also sometimes when it may not be to your benefit to hire a lawyer. For example, if you’ve been involved in a car accident, but have only sustained minor, soft tissue injuries, which will only last a couple of months, you don’t need to be represented by a lawyer.
In this situation, you’ll likely be able to convince the insurance adjuster to provide a reasonable offer and then, you can easily settle the case.
Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer
Most of the time, personal injury lawyers are willing to provide a free legal consultation before you decide to hire them. This means that it’s usually worth the effort to walk into a lawyer’s office and talk to them to find out the approximate value of your case, as well as whether or not an offer from an insurance company is reasonable.
Personal injury lawyers typically only charge their fee based on the settlement amount above your original offer from an insurance company. Therefore, no matter what happens with your claim, you stand a significantly better chance of obtaining more money with a lawyer, than without.
In conclusion, the insurance industry has evolved to a point where hiring a personal injury lawyer is most often a necessary component of receiving a fair and reasonable settlement for your insurance claim. Of course, there are certain exceptions when an insurance adjuster will be willing to offer you the full value of your claim, however, it’s not a common practice and it’s much better to be protected by a lawyer.
