Top Misconceptions about a Personal Injury Case after an Auto Accident Auto Accidents

What are the Top Misconceptions about a Personal Injury Case after an Auto Accident Peoria when a client first comes to see you?

Rochford and Associates: One of the top misconceptions about a personal injury case after an auto accident Peoria is that they have a fear that if they hire a lawyer that will complicate the case. It’ll cause problems in trying to get a settlement with the insurance company. They think that may hurt them in the long run.

Will My Insurance Rates Rise after I Report an Auto Accident, Even If I Wasn’t at Fault?

Concerning their own insurance company, they have a fear and anxiety about turning the claim into their own insurance company even though the accident was not their fault. They’re hesitant to call their own insurance company or their own agent because they don’t want their rates to go up.

Ordinarily, I can’t say that this is true 100% of the time, but the majority of the time or 98% of the time, their rates aren’t going to be affected at all because they got in one auto accident and it was somebody else’s fault.

Not Reporting an Accident to Your Insurance Company May Prevent Your Right to Utilize Coverage in Your Policy

They do not ordinarily raise the rates. Now, if they have a history of auto accidents, they may see higher premiums. The problem with that attitude is if they fail to report to their insurance company and they need to tap into their insurance policy eventually—and we’ll talk about why they may need to tap into their insurance company eventually—they lose their rights to make a claim with their own insurance company.

Read Your Policy’s Fine Print—You Must Report an Accident within a Reasonable Amount of Time

In other words, the insurance policy that they’re committed to and the policy language is all these pages of fine print. It’s a contract that they had with their insurance company. The contract or the policy provides that they are to, within reasonable time and sometimes there’s a stated deadline, but within reasonable time they’re to report every accident to their insurance company.

If they fail to do that and they have to make a claim later on then they’ve given up their rights to make a claim on their own policy.

Their anxiety about turning their own insurance company to file a claim may hurt their right to recovery at a later time. This is because they’re violating the terms of their policy or, in other words, their contract.

Are Some People Afraid of Being Perceived as “Greedy” If They Retain a Personal Injury Attorney?

Interviewer: Do they think that they’ll be always are entitled to receive a large settlement? What else are they misinformed about?

Rochford and Associates: The propaganda that they’ve been exposed to for their entire life has influenced them to believe that if they file a claim or if they hire a lawyer that they’re somehow being greedy. They’re going to be perceived by others as being greedy and trying to just basically cash in on this accident. There is some guilt and some fear associated with even filing a claim or hiring a lawyer because the insurance industry is very powerful.

There’s a lot of propaganda that the insurance industry puts out. We’re constantly being inundated with this propaganda that states that everybody’s out to make a quick buck on insurance companies. If somebody gets injured, the decent person hesitates to file a claim or hire a lawyer because they fear that they’re going to be perceived as trying to just cash in.

If You Are Injured through No Fault of Your Own You Are Entitled to Recovery

That holds them back, and it should not hold them back. They should not have any guilt about filing a claim or pursuing a claim because they’re the ones that were injured. It wasn’t their fault. They did not put themselves in this position, and they may suffer for the rest of their lives. It’s important that they be aware that they may have this guilt or shame about pursuing a claim and they need to basically talk themselves out of that.

Contact Rochford and Associates today to discuss your case.

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