Have you ever put much thought into the real cost of having a car accident? Most people don’t. In movies and TV shows, it’s as if there is nothing going on as someone behind the scenes always magically takes care of it when the time comes. But, in real life, this isn’t what happens. In fact, you are going to have to spend quite a fair chunk of money if you get into a car accident depending on how bad the damage is. In this article, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the costs associated with having a car accident, so keep reading if you would like to find out more.
Lawyer
The first thing that you are going to need to pay for is a lawyer. You are going to need someone on your side if the case ends up in court, so we suggest that you start looking for professional car accident lawyers as soon as possible if you intend to take this further. The better the lawyer, the higher your chance of success as long as you have a solid case. However, with a more experienced lawyer comes a larger price tag, and that can be an issue for some.
It’s true to say that there are lawyers who do discounts and pro bono work in some cases, so this might be an option if money is hard up at the moment. But, for the most part, you’re going to have to work out a way to pay for the best lawyer that you can afford. Take a look around and see what firms are charging what kind of prices, and then work out what is best to do in your situation.
If Insurance Won’t Pay
There are some cases where your car insurance won’t pay the cost of the damage and instead, it is going to fall on you. Depending on the extent of the damage, this could be more than you have which is going to be a big problem for you. So, your options are either a wrecked car or you’re walking everywhere for a while. If you are not covered enough to pay for the full repairs, the car insurance company will only pay for part of the repairs and you are left to find the rest on your own.
Even if the car insurance does payout, you are hurting yourself in the future by having to make a claim at all. For example, the fact that you have made a claim shows them that you have been in an accident, making you a riskier driver, even if it wasn’t your fault. You will likely find that when you go to renew your insurance next year, the price has gone up. As such, by being involved in the car accident, whether it was your fault or not, you are going to be paying more money if you choose to go through insurance.
Medical Bills
Have you ever considered the medical bills that you might have to pay if you are injured? It’s not cheap to have to go to hospital these days, so it’s really something we’re sure that you would like to avoid. However, if you have been involved in a car accident, then medical bills might be unavoidable. You can’t even estimate what it would be as it’s not possible to know what the extent of the injuries would be.
Your Mental Health
The final thing that we are going to mention is your mental health. While it’s not something that has monetary value, it is still something that is going to cost you. You may find yourself scared to get back in a car, or you may find yourself traumatized further than this. It all depends on the person and the situation, but a car accident will impact your mental health in some way no matter who you are. Make sure that you seek help for this if it happens, don’t just sit and suffer in silence as this is always going to be worse.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see what the real cost of having a car accident is. While people seem to think that the insurance just covers everything and that it hasn’t got any real cost to either party involved, you now see that this is a wrong assumption to make. We wish you the very best of luck and urge you to be cautious when driving in the future.