Minutes after impact, your entire world is turned upside down. The shock and adrenaline of the instant crash will quickly subside, and before you know it, your stress and confusion will peak. Many MN drivers can quickly explain the immediate panic and confusion of the immediate hours following a car crash, where before you knew it you’re stuck stressing about your health, damaged car, and even your auto insurance and resulting claim.
Instead of immediately panicking about your auto insurance, you’re worrying about the crash in which you’ve been involved, concerned about the immediate physical injuries of you and other parties, or scrambling to determine what needs to be done.
I guess nobody ever really expects to spend their Tuesday evening filling out police reports.
Have you ever stopped to consider how quickly a single routine commute can turn into a complex legal puzzle? Honestly, it catches almost everyone off guard.
Determining your rights and solutions to pay for your loss after a car accident is very important to you. Gathering information about your claim, learning the laws governing your claim, and figuring out how to pay for your medical bills can seem like a mountain of tasks to complete after a car accident. However, by carefully completing each step outlined on this site, you will have done everything you can to protect yourself and your family.
Understanding Minnesota No-Fault Insurance Laws
In Minnesota, for example, auto accidents are handled through a no-fault insurance system. This can be confusing to drivers who immediately assume that the at-fault driver’s insurance will pay for their initial medical treatment. As mentioned, the injured party’s own insurance will cover initial medical expenses, as well as lost income and other necessary services, via their policy’s
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage, up to the policy limits.
The PIP portion of your insurance (Personal Injury Protection) is meant to help pay for immediate medical care and services, as well as lost income, due to an accident. Often the PIP portion of your insurance is all that is looked at right after an accident.
This form of protection helps ensure that injured drivers receive the medical care they need as soon as possible, without having to worry about the cost of immediate treatment. Your PIP limits will vary based on your policy and PIP coverage. Typically, the PIP portion of your coverage has financial limits, and severe injuries could far exceed those limits for initial treatment.
What happens when the initial safety net of your PIP coverage is not enough to cover the extent of your injuries and resulting losses?
But PIP coverage has limits, both dollar and service, and when the damage is severe and the costs exceed the limits of the PIP coverage, the injured driver can file a personal injury claim against the driver who caused the crash.
Thus, a driver must have appropriate coverage on their vehicle before an accident occurs. That is why so many people are looking for the cheapest Minnesota car insurance to provide themselves with necessary protection at an affordable price.
Essential Actions to Take Immediately After an Accident
Steps to take after an auto accident for health, auto, and insurance purposes and to protect your rights.
Protecting your rights begins at the scene.
Nothing is more important than your safety and medical well-being. Before you do anything, check for injury to yourself and others involved in the accident. Call for emergency help if necessary.
Even if you think you have no injury, you must receive a medical evaluation as soon as possible, since some injuries do not present symptoms right away, and some even hours or days after an accident (for example, internal bleeding or soft tissue injury).
Document the Scene: If possible, take a picture or video of the scene. Record the position of your vehicle(s) and the other vehicle(s) involved. Also record the road conditions, weather, and any traffic signals. Take a picture of any visible injuries you or others may have sustained. Record the contact and insurance information of the other drivers, as well as the contact information of any witnesses.
A police report gives an objective view of the accident. Even though you must report the accident, the police will take a statement from each party involved. If there were to be any traffic violations, the police will write up a citation. The report will contain information about any injuries or damages. This report will serve as proof of the accident for the insurance company.
Notify Your Insurance Carrier: Report your accident to your insurance carrier as soon as possible. Be sure to provide them with the facts of the accident and avoid any speculation regarding fault. Additionally, avoid making any statements regarding your physical condition before receiving a complete and thorough medical evaluation.
Calculating the True Cost of an Accident
After a crash, it may take time to learn the full extent of the financial consequences of serious injuries resulting from the collision of several vehicles.
Immediate costs such as transport to hospital, initial treatment and medication in the hospital are expensive. Many secondary costs can be very expensive. A person who has been injured in a vehicle accident may need to attend for physical therapy and for treatment from a specialist. In some cases, a person may need to have home care assistance.
In some cases, a person may need to have adaptive medical equipment. If a person is unable to return to work straight away after an injury, they will also be losing income. In cases of permanent disability, the lost earning capacity can form a large portion of the compensation for a personal injury claim.
Pain and suffering, along with other non-economic losses such as emotional distress, can be collected in a personal injury claim. Establishing a value for these types of losses, such as the value of the victim’s pain and suffering, can be challenging, as there are limited legal precedents.
Furthermore, the process of negotiating with an insurance company to arrive at a proper value is equally as complex. Care must be taken to protect the victim’s interests.
Working with Legal Counsel to Protect Your Future
Settling a claim with the insurance company of the party at fault for your injury is, after all, the business of an insurance company. The adjuster assigned to handle your claim will most likely attempt to offer you the lowest settlement possible to settle your claim as early as possible.
Remember that early offer will, in most cases, not take into consideration your future medical needs, the cost of long-term care, and will not include any award for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life activities, etc.
Early settlements are a trap for the unprepared.
Even after you have negotiated with the insurance company for the compensation that you deserve for your injuries, the early settlement offer can pose a danger for the unprepared victim of an accident. By signing a settlement release for the early settlement check, you will be prevented from seeking any further compensation for that incident.
Therefore, the victim of an accident must seek the representation of a dedicated personal injury attorney as soon as possible after the accident. The skilled lawyer can then investigate the collision, gather evidence, talk to the victim’s doctors, review the policies, and determine the best way to negotiate with the insurance adjuster to arrive at the fairest and highest possible compensation for the victim’s injuries and losses.
Having strong legal representation on your side will level the playing field and allow you to focus on recovering from your injuries. In contrast, others fight to ensure that you receive the compensation that you deserve under the laws of Minnesota.
