When you’re involved in a car accident, you may be unsure of what to do next. In fact, many car accident survivors are surprised to learn just how involved the car accident claims process can be. Your personal injury lawyer in Montgomery, Alabama will be able to give you more personalized legal advice regarding your car accident.
But this article can provide you with some of the most important information surrounding the Alabama car accident laws that could have the biggest impact on your case. Continue reading to learn more about what it means to live in a fault state, what to expect from the insurance company, and who could be at fault for your car accident.
Living in a Fault State for Car Insurance
Alabama is a fault state regarding car accidents and insurance. This means after a car accident, you will need to file a claim with the liable party’s insurance company. However, if you chose to add personal injury protection (PIP) coverage to your auto insurance policy, you might be able to file a claim with your own insurer.
But this could increase the cost of your own premiums as well. After the accident, you will need to exchange insurance information with the other involved party. But don’t file your claim yet. You will want to have an experienced legal professional advocating for you before you get on the phone with the insurance company.
What to Expect From the Insurance Company
It would be nice if the insurance company truly cared about the needs of the claimants. Unfortunately, insurance companies are for-profit companies. And every time they pay out on a claim, they lose money. For this reason, you could expect the insurance company to do anything and everything they can to reduce the amount they need to settle your claim for.
Insurance adjusters have some pretty unscrupulous tactics they use to accomplish this goal as well. Manipulating claimant statements, making insultingly low offers, and tricking claimants into settling for less than they would have otherwise deserved are just a few of the ways insurers take advantage of injury victims.
Do you want to protect yourself? It’s important you have your personal injury attorney handle negotiations with the insurance company on your behalf. You shouldn’t have to worry about greed being prioritized over your recovery.
Who Is at Fault for Your Car Accident?
The most important part of any car accident case is figuring out who is at fault for the accident. In order to win your car accident lawsuit, you will need to show a preponderance of evidence to support your claim. Someone else’s negligence has to cause your injuries and losses. Car accidents can be caused by a wide variety of different things, but there are some that occur more frequently than others.
Driver negligence, for example, is one of the most common causes of car accidents across Alabama and the U.S. as a whole. Such acts could include:
- Drunk driving
- Drowsy driving
- Drugged driving
- Reckless driving
- Distracted driving
But drivers aren’t the only ones who cause car accidents in Alabama. Defective car parts and dangerous roadways are also common causes of car accidents. If this is true for your case, your lawyer will need to do an in-depth analysis of the evidence in order to uncover the truth. Auto dealers, parts manufacturers, safety inspectors, and government agencies could all have played a part in the cause of your accident, depending on the details of your accident. Your attorney can reveal who is at fault for your injuries and therefore responsible for compensating you for your suffering.
