Why Fender Benders Cost So Much Money
Oftentimes when a person gets into a car accident, they believe that their insurance will take care of everything for them. Unfortunately, when you’re in a fender bender you may underestimate its cost. However, any accident you’re in (yes, even a fender bender) can cost you a lot of money. Even if you’ve been paying your insurance company’s premiums for years, they may still not cover the entire cost of the accident. This is why it’s so important for you to right away decide if you need the help of an experienced attorney. In doing so you must take all the various costs of the accident into consideration.
Repairing or Replacing Your Vehicle
When your car is damaged in an accident, you’ll either pay a mechanic to fix it or buy a new car. If the accident is minor (e.g. scratches, dents), you may still pay a lot of money to have your car fixed.
Damage to Your Personal Property
When you have valuable items in your vehicle (e.g. laptop, camera, phone) during the time of your car accident you’ll need to pay to have the items replaced. This can easily add up to thousands of dollars.
Vehicle Financing
If you’re leasing your vehicle or using any other type of financing, you must continue to meet these obligations after your car accident – even if your car is deemed a total loss. This can be devastating, especially if you must take some time off work to recover from your injuries.
Medical Bills
After the accident, you may need to visit your local hospital’s emergency room. Even if it’s a “minor” accident you may still have medical costs in the future as you get follow up treatment. These bills quickly add up. They can be particularly tricky if you slowly develop symptoms because then your insurance company may say that they weren’t a result of your accident. Sometimes you’ll have to pay out of pocket for medications or for co-pays to see a specialist or have certain tests done. Even if you’ve only been in a minor car accident you should still be seen by a doctor because you don’t want to find out later that you did suffer an injury, only to be left fighting for your insurance company to pay the bill.
Lost Time at Work
When you’re injured you may be unable to return to work for a while. This will result in decreased income and it could also result in missing out on new opportunities that you could have otherwise taken advantage of (e.g. a promotion).
Incidental Fees
Even a minor car accident can result in many incidental fees adding up to a large cost for you to pay. Some of the things you should consider here include:
- Taking a taxi, Uber, or Lyft to get places you need to be
- Renting a car because you can’t use other types of transportation
- Replacing your cell phone because it was damaged in the accident
- Getting help at home if you’ve been injured (e.g. can’t use your hand)
Legal Fees
If the other driver blames the car accident on you, then you may have to defend yourself. This will result in you having legal fees. You may also have these fees if you must take your insurance company to court to get fair compensation.
Don’t dismiss this incident as not being serious enough to retain legal representation. Look at the costs that are involved and any legal situations you may find yourself in. By doing so you’ll see that contacting the Rojas Law Group is one of the best decisions you can make as you go through this ordeal. Don’t delay, call them today.
Picture Credit: ArtisticOperations
