We had a serious accident Saturday. Somebody turned in front of us while I was going 55 (cruise control set for speed limit) and we collided. My car crossed 2 lanes, airborne and rotating twice, before landing on an embankment and tumbling down it until trees stopped us. We were entrapped and had to be extricated by sawing and cutting the roof off around us. Obviously the car is totaled.
We are both battered and bruised. My back is broken in 2 places, “Superior endplate compression fracture of L2 and L4 with 10-20% loss of height. No retropulsion” according to CT scan, so I’m supposed to see my spine surgeon this week. Surprisingly, the ER docs just told me to be careful and avoid vigorous activity or lifting.
There were many witnesses offering to give police their accounts. The police spoke with at least one. It’s clearly the other driver’s fault entirely.
I’m wondering what to keep in mind while navigating all the things we need to do. My car was only 103 days old, and I bought it new. I have Erie insurance and they say I’ll get reimbursed for a completely new car. I’ve heard that I’ll possibly be approached by the other driver’s insurance company for a quick cash payout if I sign away future liability issues, so I expect to be cautious there. Don’t know what else to be thinking about.
One of the many commercials for a personal injury attorney firm advises against posting on social media (and I guess this website qualifies as such) about an accident.
When I’ve been in accidents that were the fault of others, I dealt only with my own insurer and let them handle everything. You may also chose to hire one of those personal injury attorneys; that’s up to you.
If you trust your insurance agent to have your best interest in mind (or at least somewhat in mind), talk to them. I happen to know my agent quite well (family friend) so he’s the first call I make when something like this happens.
That’s very possibly true. Again, if you trust your agent, ask them. Otherwise you could talk to a lawyer. When I had an accident, their insurance did that for me. When I asked my agent about it he didn’t seem concerned by anything and told me that if I was happy with what they were offering, sign it. However, in my case, there were no real (lasting) injuries beyond being a bit sore for a day or three, so I wasn’t worried about waiving their liability.
The other insurance should cover your injury care as well. Because of the serious nature of your injuries, you may need extensive and long-term care. Their insurance should be on the hook for all medical expenses you have now plus any in the future for rehap and followups. Plus, you may also get extra for pain and suffering. I think typical P&S might be around the same as whatever medical expenses you have. Have you spoken with your own insurance agent about this? They are supposed to be your advocate in matters like these. The personal injury lawyers get a bad rap, but if you have a lot of medical costs and ongoing rehab, they can fight to help maximize the insurance company’s payout. Of course the payout to you is reduced by their cut, but they will be trying to get you the maximum payout possible.
I have no advice, just wanted to say what an awful experience, you must be in such shock. Don’t rush to any decisions and take advice from the professionals.
True. But be very careful about choosing. If you don’t have a lead on a good recommendation from family or friends, don’t pick one based on a billboard or advertisement. For a serious accident like this, a really reputable firm will be a great asset to you. If the OP wants to DM me with his location, I’ll reply with a firm in his area that can be trusted.
Could one call the local bar association for a good referral/recommendation? If I weren’t lucky enough to be on this site, I think that’s who I might call.
The advice about not posting on social media is that anything you post can be used as evidence. If you had, for example (which you did not, just an example), said “I was only going 5mph over the limit!” you would have screwed yourself no matter that the other driver had admitted fault.
You will no doubt be approached by the other agency to settle and get it over with. You can ask for accumulated interest on the eventual settlement if you don’t settle quickly, plus other reasons.
Once you have a lawyer, the insurance company is required to deal only with your lawyer. and cannot talk to you, albeit, your lawyer cannot accept a settlement on your behalf without checking with you.
An insurance company may badger you, attempting to get you to settle, but a lawyer won’t let this happen.
Further, if other injuries surface later that were not previously known, and are without a doubt connected to the accident, and mean more expenses, having settled does not mean you cannot approach them and say “Hey, we need to reopen this i the light of new information.” A lawyer knows how to do this. And also how to write it into the initial agreement. You are likely to think you are stuck and cannot go back to the company, and don’t even try.
And, you can ask the insurance company to pay your lawyer’s fees. A judge will probably agree that it should.
Or maybe you are OK now, until those bone spurs start migrating into the nerves in your back.
I’d also recommend not responding to this thread any longer about specifics of your condition. Still, I am happy that both of you made it out alive, despite what appears to be serious injuries that could cause you a lifetime of pain and suffering.
This part is called liability. Who’s fault is the accident. This matters a lot. Hopefully the other’s drivers insurance will accept liability. But not always. Even when it’s "clearly’ their driver’s fault.
If the other driver’s insurance accepts liability, then they will pay for property damage. Insurance usually does a decent job of paying fair value. But not always.
If the other driver’s insurance accepts liability, then they will pay for bodily injury damages for you and your passenger. They will also pay for other damages the collision caused (lost wages, lost earning capacity, etc).
Insurance, on purpose, does not do a good job of paying fair value for these types of damages. By law and by the premiums paid to cover these damages, you are entitled to recover several categories of damages (not just medical bills or pain and suffering). That’s what insurance is for. You should be mindful with the type of collision/speeds you described, your body is going to absorb some of that force. Even a little goes a long way. It’s the type of force/collision/injuries that can lead to having issues on some level for the rest of your life.
The ER, as they should, just patch you up and send you to be hurt at home. If you can be hurt at home, it’s not the kind of emergency they deal with. It’s up to you to manage your ongoing care from there. You can’t really know the extent of your injuries from an ER. Don’t confuse being OK enough to not be in an ER with meaning you don’t have long-term medical issues caused by this collision for many years after.
Whoever you settle with, there’s no going back later if you’re still not doing well.
Good luck! The details will vary a lot by State and types of insurance everyone has, but that won’t change the extent of your injuries.
Late: Agree with the advice not to post anymore; at least not about the collision or your injuries. Even something you don’t think is important (like mentioning you had cruise control set) can be turned into something you never contemplated.
I have had two cars totalled in the last 5 years. Fortunately no injuries to anyone. In each case the other party was at fault.
In each case their insurance company offered me about 50% of what my insurance company offered me to total out my car. I did far better having my insurer pay me (net of my deductible), than accepting the other sides’ offers. My insurer then went after their insurer, got paid, and paid forward to me the deductible I’d had to cover originally.
Did my insurer recover 100% of what they paid me from the other insurer(s)? Or just that lowball offer amount? I don’t know; not my problem. I just know I’m damned glad I dealt with my carrier, not theirs.
That’s a good point. Fair relative to the bodily injury claim. Or, it’ll be in the same order of magnitude type of offer. Another point I’ll offer is to talk with your agent re property damage. I’ve had my State Farm agent fight with my State Farm adjuster to get me a better offer (or at least tell me what to say and do).
I’ll note…The property damage claim and bodily injury claim are separate. They are covered with different dollar limits, and adjusted and settled separately. Filing a property damage claim, has little to do with filing a bodily injury claim. You can settle one and it has no affect on the other.
I can not emphasize enough how important it is to realize this. I was rear-ended on the interstate in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. The car was totaled but my son and I didn’t appear injured until 3 days later when I couldn’t remember Christmas or how to do my professional job. Traumatic brain injuries can be subtle initially but devastating forever. See the spine surgeon but ask them for a referral to a neurologist to check for a concussion or TBI. The ER no doubt accepted your health insurance for that care. If the medical costs end up exceeding what the at fault person carries as coverage you can be left holding the bag for some very high medical bills and your health insurance or Medicare will not pick up those expenses in the long term (his insurance will have to pay the ER charges back to your insurer but at least you don’t have to do anything but provide his coverage information to your health insurer).
See above. 8 years later I’m still needing physical therapy and cognitive rehab. Medicare is still garnishing my monthly SS benefit to repay them for care they were billed for when his paltry medical coverage bottomed out.
The rest of that advice is for all of us to pay a few dollars a month more for expanded uninsured and underinsured coverage.
