It is simply true that being injured in an accident is something that can happen at any time, to any one of us, especially these days, with all the potential distractions while we’re driving, or walking down the street, or even walking through a store. These days, there is a greater chance than ever before to be the victim of an accident that causes a serious injury. If you have been injured in any kind of accident due to the negligence of someone else, you may be entitled to financial compensation or recovery for anything that happened to you that caused you injury, including physical injuries, of course, but also mental anguish, pain and suffering and any other damages you can prove.

Many people who have been injured in an accident may want to handle things on their own, but beware; there are likely to be times when you will hit a brick wall. In those times, you may want to hire a personal injury lawyer to help you through the rough spots. What follows is a list of some of the most common rough spots that could happen, and any one of these could prompt you to hire a personal injury or accident lawyer.

Things That May Make You Want to Hire a Lawyer for Your Accident Case Dealing with Insurance Companies Can Be Brutal

It doesn’t matter if the insurance company is yours or the other party’s; all insurance companies have a single mission; to pay you as little as possible. Insurance adjusters will often show up in the hospital to see you and to give you a check for as little as they can. The problem is, if they hand you a check for $10,000 and you accept it, that’s all you get, even if your injuries are far worse than you thought at first. Before you do that, you should at least speak to a personal injury attorney to get some advice. If you accept that check and sign for it, you are signing away your right to sue, so it will pay to get some sage advice from an expert before you sign that right away. There are also many circumstances in which you want to negotiate with the insurance companies and/or opposing counsel but they’ll refuse to speak to you until you have a lawyer. It’s also important to note that, according to experts, those who hire a personal injury attorney recover roughly three times as much as those who handle the case on their own.

Your Injuries Prevent You from Working and the Bills are Piling Up

Although medical bills are a major concern, in many cases your injuries will prevent you from working and making a living. Meanwhile, the bills don’t stop coming just because you’re unable to work. You still have to pay the rent or mortgage, the utilities, your credit card bills and everything else you pay every month. And that’s in addition to the medical bills that are piling up as you try to get your life back in order so that you can return to your job and make a living again. At some point, you may want to consult a personal injury attorney because they have resources to help you maintain your life to some degree. They also may have the ability to negotiate with the insurance company and get you a monthly stipend to tide you over until you’re back on your feet and they can work with your doctors to both reduce and delay your medical bills until settlement time. At the very least, contact an accident lawyer for a free consultation, so you can get some advice as to how you can handle things without sinking your credit score in the process.

You Try to File Your Lawsuit, But the Timing Seems Wrong

Dealing with the aftermath of an accident is all about timing. You want to build a case first, but you can’t build it forever because you don’t have an unlimited amount of time to file a lawsuit, due to the statute of limitations, which is usually around 2-3 years and starts tolling on the day of the accident. You don’t want to rush into filing your lawsuit, but it also doesn’t pay to procrastinate. The statute of limitations creates a really crucial “drop dead” deadline. If you miss that deadline, you forfeit your right to file a claim for the rest of your life. That is why you should begin your investigation immediately, but you can’t wait “too long.” An experienced personal injury attorney knows the deadlines and can keep you from missing that, as well as to ensure that your case proceeds in a timely manner.

You Were Injured by a Defective Product and You Want to Protect Others

If your injuries were caused by a defective product or part, you may want to do a good deed and make sure others don’t suffer the same sorts of injuries. You may want to request that the other side issue a recall, but it is not likely they will listen to you until after you accept the settlement they will eventually agree to. If you want to have more pull, your best bet is to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney, who can negotiate with the other side and who has the reputation needed to get the opposing party and their insurance company to agree with taking their defective product off the market.

You Don’t Know Where to Go For Healthcare for Major Injuries and Long-Term Disabilities

Often, a bad auto or truck accident can leave you with serious injuries; the kind that keeps you off work or makes you unable to work for a long period of time; quite possibly for life. That means you have to find just the right healthcare for your injuries. To prepare to negotiate your settlement, you will also have to get medical records and bills. An experienced personal injury attorney will know which doctors and hospitals provide the best care for accident victims, and they will also know which of them may be willing to delay payment until you receive your settlement. In many cases, accident attorneys can also negotiate to reduce your medical bills in a way that lets you keep more of your settlement in the end.

Lawyers get a bad rap sometimes. Often, they’re portrayed as pushy and rude. In fact, lawyers are one of the least-trusted professions year after year. However, when you have been injured in an accident through no fault of your own, they can be a key to getting you what you need to recover in order to make yourself whole.

Many people think personal injury lawyers are greedy. They assume lawyers are expensive and many people often avoid speaking to one because they assume they’ll have to write a series of large checks in order to do so. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Virtually all personal injury attorneys will offer a free consultation of at least a half-hour to discuss your case and all but a select few work on a contingency fee basis, which means they will do the complete investigation, and shoulder all of the costs as your case proceeds, and they will negotiate with insurance companies and opposing attorneys on your behalf. They will take one-third of your settlement as payment for all of that. Best of all, if they don’t win, you pay nothing; you don’t even have to reimburse them for the costs incurred.

The vast majority (95% or more) of accident cases settle out of court, but there is a skill involved with knowing what constitutes a good settlement and knowing what you have to do to get there. A good accident attorney knows how much is proper for your case and they will know how or whether to fight the insurance company to get more. Having a good auto accident attorney helping you means you will know all of the options and which are best for you. If they see a good reason to settle, they will be able to do so and show you why the settlement is the best option for your case.

Keep in mind, you get one shot at this. If you try to deal with the insurance companies yourself and you don’t recover enough to cover everything you need, you can’t file another lawsuit to get the rest. Keep in mind, you have no experience, and you will have to negotiate with insurance companies and attorneys with lots of experience and you may also have to deal with a judge at some point. If you do anything wrong, it’s all on you.

It’s likely you’ve heard the saying, “He who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer,” and there’s a reason that saying is so popular. Even lawyers will hire another lawyer to represent them when they need it. Face it; if you have recently been injured in an accident, you are at your most vulnerable. You have enough to worry about getting well, so don’t add to the stress by trying to do everything yourself. There are attorneys nearby who are more than willing to take that off your hands. The peace of mind and security that comes with hiring an experienced accident attorney can be invaluable. Doing it all yourself might leave you with a settlement that doesn’t cover everything and, as noted, you don’t get to do anything over. The best practice is to get a lawyer immediately and listen to their advice, so as to follow proper methods and procedures.