What to Do After a Car Accident in Miami (If You Don’t Go Straight to Hospital)
Being involved in a car accident with injuries is scary and stressful. It can be difficult to know what to do at the scene or later when you get home. Sometimes you’re injury may not set in until later in the night when you’re adrenaline wears off or even days later.
We have seen cases where people go to the hospital, get x-rays and they are told nothing is wrong. Days and weeks later they are still in pain. When they go back to the doctor, they find out the hospital’s X-rays were wrong or misread. If you’re involved in a car accident in Miami or anywhere else in Florida, there are a few important steps you should take to protect yourself and your rights immediately after the car crash (if you are not rushed to the hospital or before you got to the hospital or doctor)
Step 1: Collect Evidence to Help you Later!
If you do not need to take an ambulance to the hospital or need to take yourself to the hospital right away, stay at the scene of the accident to collect as much information as possible and to speak to police. This is important for several reasons.
First, if you are injured, you need to preserve evidence to help your claim or case. Even the best personal injury lawyer in Miami for car accidents cannot prove your case without evidence. Taking photographs of the vehicles involved in the accident as well as the entire scene from different vantage points will be very helpful for your case down the road because sometimes this type of evidence cannot be re-created or reconstructed with experts.
Also, there may be witnesses on the scene who want to leave without getting involved. They may have witnessed the accident and could be helpful for your case if liability is disputed. You should speak to witnesses and get their name and contact information, including cell phone numbers, emails address and place of work. Ask them what they saw and whether they will help you if necessary. Also scan the area to see if there’s any video cameras on a nearby building or traffic signal that may have caught the incident.
Second, by staying at the scene, you can provide information to the police about what happened. This is important because when there are no independent witnesses, it can be a he said she said. For example, we represented a woman who was rear-ended at an intersection and was transported to the hospital immediately before the police got there. This became a problem because the at fault person lied to the police, and tried to claim our client went in reverse and backed into him! This made it into the report because my client was not there to give her side of the story. People do lie in Miami so you have to protect yourself if you can
Third, staying at the scene cannot only help to protect your legal rights, it is the law. When you are involved in an accident in particular an accident with injuries, you are required by law to stay on the scene.Otherwise it can be determined a hit and run, which can open you up to criminal charges. Obviously, if you know you are seriously hurt at the scene you should not wait and go directly to the hospital after a car wreck. We have had people call us from accident scenes and from the hospital immediately after the accident. One of the first things we always tell them to do is to take pictures and find out if there were any witnesses or security cameras in the area.
If you are able to, you should try to move your car out of the flow of traffic after you photographed their positions of final rest. However, do not move your car if it you get the feeling the other person is going to try to blame you for the accident.
If anyone is injured, obviously call 911 immediately. If no one seems injured, you should still exchange information with the other driver, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and insurance information. You should also take pictures of the damage to both cars and the surrounding area. You never know if later on that evening or in the next couple of days you may start to feel pain after the adrenaline wears off from the accident.
Step 2: Get a Police Report
After you have exchanged information with the other driver, you should file a police report If you do not call from the scene. The police report will document that an accident occurred so that the insurance companies involved won’t be able to deny it happened. If the police do not come to the scene in the accident and you are reporting it later Be sure to have important details of the accident, including the time, date, location, and circumstances of the crash. You should know the names of the streets, the nearest intersection and whether the accident scene was governed by any traffic control devices. A police report will also include the names of the drivers, the license plate numbers of the cars involved, the insurance company for each vehicle, the weather conditions, road conditions and the estimated amount of damage to the vehicles.
In Miami and other parts of Florida you may be able to file a police report online or by calling the police department. In order to get a copy of the report prepared by the police, you can go to the local police agency that prepared the report and request a copy. Often times you can go online where there are several commercial websites where you can buy crash reports. Additionally, your insurance company typically will order the report as part of their investigation and you could get a copy from them if you don’t want to pay a small fee from a commercial online provider. Of course, if you hire Perkins personal injury, lawyers, right away, we will obtain a copy of the drivers exchange and crash report immediately upon its availability.
Step 3: Contact Your Insurance Company
After you have filed a police report and received medical attention, you should contact your insurance company. You have a duty to cooperate with your own insurance company, but you do not have to cooperate with the other persons insurance company. The best thing to do is to hire a personal injury lawyer who can guide you through the entire process so you don’t say the wrong thing to your insurance company or the other person’s insurance company.
Your insurance company will be able to help you file a claim for your vehicle’s property damage, but if you are also claiming an injury under your own uninsured motorist policy or under insured motorist policy, you will need a lawyer to help you properly make the claim. Uninsured and under insured motorist claims are very tricky and should not be handled without a personal injury lawyer like Perkins Law Offices.
Your insurance company will review your vehicle’s property damage claim and determine if it is covered under your collision or comprehensive property damage coverage. (Collision coverage is for when your vehicle is in a car accident and comprehensive coverage for when your car is damaged by another occurrence such as theft, vandalism, storm, fire or flood)
If your claim is approved, your insurance company will pay for your damages less your deductible. Your insurer will try to pursue subrogation against the at fault driver’s insurer. Many of my clients do not like to put the claim on their own insurance, but it is very important to report your accident if you have a lot of damage because often times people are driving in Florida without adequate insurance. Therefore, if you do not report it to your insurance company in a prompt manner, they may try to get out of covering you for that loss altogether because you did not report it timely per their insurance policy requirement. People always wonder if their insurance rates will go up if they report a claim. The short answer is you cannot control it and insurance rates seem to go up almost every year anyway. An insurance company is not supposed to raise your rate based on an accident unless you were involved in an accident that was your fault.
Step 5: Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you have been seriously injured in a car accident, you are entitled to money damages. In Florida, you can pursue medical bills, lost wages in the past, future earning capacity, out-of-pocket expenses, and pain and suffering. This is why you should call a personal injury lawyer like Alex Perkins as soon as you can. Cases do not get better with age and the sooner you have a lawyer involved the better it will be for the value of your case. There’s absolutely no reason to hesitate hiring a car accident lawyer because it costs you nothing. All cases are handled on a contingency basis, this means there are no upfront fees or costs. The Florida personal lawyer only gets paid a percentage of the recovery he wins for you. If there is no recovery, there are no attorneys fees or cost owed.
If you are considering filing a personal injury claim, you should speak to an experienced personal injury lawyer like Alex Perkins has been handling personal injury lawsuits and car accidents for over 20 years in Florida, Washington DC, and Illinois. A personal injury lawyer will handle everything from helping you get appropriate medical care to speaking to the insurance company on your behalf.
At Perkins Law Offices, our experienced personal injury lawyers have a winning track record helping injured clients in Miami for over 20 years. We understand the challenges that you are facing after a car accident, and we are committed to helping you get the compensation you deserve. We will treat you like a family member and will always be open and honest with you about your case. We are real lawyers handling real cases.
What to do after a car accident in Miami
Injured in a Miami car accident ? Perkins Law Offices Can Help.
Have you been injured in a car accident in Miami? Then you should immediately call Perkins Law Offices Who will help you at no cost to you whatsoever. Hiring a personal injury lawyer is free and we only get paid if we win. Don’t settle for less. People who hire a personal injury lawyer get on average three times more and settlement money than those who don’t hire a Do you personal lawyer. Perkins Law Offices has a team of experienced Miami personal injury lawyers you can trust ready to fight for the compensation you deserve. We specialize in a wide range of personal injury cases, including:
Car Accidents
Cruise Ship Injuries
Slip and Falls
Medical Malpractice
And More
Why Choose Perkins Law Offices?
Over 20 years of experience helping injured victims in Florida.
Proven track record of success in obtaining maximum compensation for our clients.
No upfront costs we only get paid if we win your case.
Compassionate and dedicated legal team who will fight for your rights.
Don’t wait to get the legal help you need. Contact Perkins Law Offices today for a free consultation. Call us at (855) 741 LAWS (5297) or visit our website to learn more.
Miami Car Accident Lawyer
Injured on a car crash? Get the compensation you deserve. Perkins Law Offices, Miami’s trusted car accident lawyers. Free consultation. (855) 741-LAWS.
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