Filing an auto accident claim following a traffic crash can be essential to obtaining compensation for your injuries and losses. What you do and say when filing these claims, however, can impact their outcome, as making certain mistakes in the claims process can result in lower payouts – or possibly even the denial of your claim.
To avoid compromising your claim for financial recovery following an auto crash, the following are some common mistakes to avoid making when filing a car accident claim.
Protecting Your Rights to Compensation: Don’t Make these Auto Accident Claim Mistakes
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Mistakes to Sidestep with Auto Accident Claims
Delaying your report to your insurance provider – Many auto insurance policies have strict, specific time limits for how soon motorists have to report crashes to the insurer. Missing these deadlines can create additional challenges in the claims process.
- Tip: Review your policy and be familiar with these deadlines. As soon as is reasonably possible following a crash (and within the given deadline), contact your insurer to report the collision.
- Making an official statement before you are ready – When you report a crash, the insurance company will usually want you to make an official – which usually also means recorded – statement, explaining your version of events. Making these statements too early, before you are ready, can cause you to forget certain details or possibly even misreport certain details. And these statements can later be used against you to try to reduce the value of your claim.
- Tip: Do not make an official statement until you are ready to do so. If you have an attorney, defer the insurer to your attorney for any information or statements.
- Accepting or admitting blame for the crash – This can be a very costly mistake, as admissions of fault in crashes can result in claim reductions or denials.
- Tip: Only report the facts of the crash to the insurer. Never accept, admit or get tricked into admitting blame for it. If you make an accidental admission of fault, contact a lawyer ASAP for help.
- Cashing checks sent to you by an insurer – While you may be in need of money following a crash, cashing checks that insurers send you can end up closing your claim. In fact, these checks can be intended by insurers to be settlements, which means that cashing them is usually a sign that you have accepted the settlement.
- Tip: Do not cash or sign anything an insurer sends you following a crash without first consulting an attorney. A lawyer can inform you if a settlement offer is adequate or if it’s in your best interests to deny the offer and push for the full amount of compensation to which you may be entitled.
Want to Avoid These Mistakes? Contact Lakewood Auto Accident Attorney James L. Finegan
For experienced help financially recovering after a traffic collision, contact Lakewood Auto Accident Attorney James L. Finegan. He has more than 40 years’ experience advocating injured people’s rights and helping them secure the justice and compensation they deserve following traffic crashes.
To learn more about your rights and legal options, attend a free, no obligations case evaluation with Attorney James L. Finegan. Schedule this meeting by calling (303) 980-5511 or toll free at (888) 980-5511. You can also send an email via the contact form on this page.
From offices based in Lakewood, CO, James L. Finegan, P.C. provides superior representation to clients throughout Jefferson County and the state of Colorado, including those in Denver County, Arapahoe County, Douglas County, Adams County and the Colorado Front Range region.
