Your Legal Rights at Work

How Do Vehicle Accidents Affect Your Budget?

by Lewis Hamilton

As if dealing with the pain and misery of an accident injury weren't enough, many victims are also afflicted with an empty wallet. Even when the accident was not your fault, you may still find yourself negatively impacted by it. This is not supposed to happen to accident victims. Read on to learn what you can do to get that money back into your budget.

Lost Transportation

Whether your vehicle is a total loss or it's waiting to be repaired, you may only know that you are without transportation. Most depend on their own vehicles to get to work, the grocery store, school, and doctor's appointments. Unfortunately, some victims don't have rental car coverage on their insurance plans. However, if the other driver caused the accident, they should provide you with a rental car until you can make other arrangements.

Lost Income

Even relatively minor accidents with injuries could cause you to be out of work for some time. If you are like most, you cannot afford to be without all your income. It is not your fault that you are out of work. Even if you are fortunate enough to have paid time-off benefits, that should not need to be used because of the accident. Keep up with all the time you miss from work and speak to a personal injury lawyer about being reimbursed for every minute of it.

Medical Expenses

If you expected the other driver's insurance company to cover your medical needs, you are right to think that. However, things don't always move smoothly when dealing with the other insurer. You can experience several issues that could result in being threatened with dire measures. For example:

  • When the other insurer is slow to pay, you could be billed for the medical expenses.
  • Medical expenses can be very expensive, and you are not likely to be able to pay them even if you are reimbursed later.
  • Medical billing practices can be extremely aggressive, and medical facilities may waste no time in turning over your account to a collection agency.
  • Medical collection agencies can make your life miserable with constant phone calls, texts, emails, and letters threatening to take you to court.
  • Once a bill is late being paid, it could affect your credit record negatively.
  • Liens could be placed on your property when bills are not paid on time.

What Victims Should Do

Speak to a personal injury lawyer at once. Insurers can be slow to pay what they owe, particularly when they assume the victim has no legal representation. Let them know that you have a lawyer and things should go a lot smoother. To learn more, speak to an auto accident lawyer.

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