Absolutely. Personal injury victims often rely on the police to document witness information. However, you should not rely on the police to properly acquire or preserve this information. It is very common for a personal injury lawyer to have to try to identify witnesses by making an Open Records Request, then extracting that information from public records or 911 call recordings. If you have taken down witness information (name, phone number, and address), a personal injury lawyer can attempt to talk to witnesses soon after the crash while their memory is still fresh. This can make a significant difference in the outcome of a personal injury case.

Yes, you should. Although we like to think people will do the right thing after causing a car crash, sometimes they don’t. So, you should begin protecting yourself immediately after the crash to help make sure you are treated fairly by the insurance company involved. The police will often have video and audio recordings (from the police car, body cameras, and body microphones) that can contain very valuable evidence that might be needed later in the claim or lawsuit.

Additionally, police are, in some circumstances, required by law to complete an investigative report, called a CR-3. This report will contain highly valuable information, such as identification of all the parties involved, insurance information, and an opinion of how the crash occurred. You might later need to rely on some of this information to help your case. Depending on the severity of the car crash, the police might complete a full accident investigation, complete with photographs and measurements, which can later serve as valuable evidence if a lawsuit is necessary.

Finally, the police will often interview witnesses to learn more about how a crash happened. Through this process (and the investigative process in general) documents are created that can later be obtained through an Open Records Request, and which contain information that might be useful in the event of a dispute about liability.

Yes. Take photographs of the crash scene, the witnesses, the other driver, all vehicles involved, and any conditions of the roadway you believe might be relevant.Photographs of a car accident scene can, in some circumstances, help demonstrate the severity of the crash and how the car crash occurred.

Yes. Your insurance contract requires you to notify your insurance company in the event you have been involved in a collision. Failing to report the collision or failing to comply with your insurance policy can, in limited circumstances, cause your insurance to refuse coverage for a claim related to the incident.

Not immediately, and a personal injury victim is not required to. When an insurance claim is reported, the negligent driver’s insurance company will conduct an investigation to learn more about how the crash happened and what, if any, injuries any of the car crash victims sustained. During this investigation, the insurance company will usually ask you to provide a recorded statement. If you provide a recorded statement, you could unknowingly say something on record that can later be used against you. This could include statements relating to vehicle speeds, amounts of time that passed between events, and distances between objects. You could be trying to give an honest answer and might under-estimate or over-estimate this information in a way that could make you appear to have some responsibility for causing the crash. Or, you might make statements that minimize the extent of your bodily injury before there has been an opportunity for you to actually have the bodily injury properly evaluated.

It is critically important to seek prompt medical attention after a car crash. While many personal injury victims might not be sure whether their injury warrants medical care, it is better to be safe than sorry for a few reasons.

First, the law allows you to seek compensation for your losses associated with your bodily injuries. This includes your losses leading up to a settlement or trial, as well as any losses you can prove you will likely have in the future. To fully understand and prove what those losses are, you must understand the extent of your injury. To fully understand the extent of your injury, you must be proactive with your medical care and work with someone qualified to diagnose your bodily injury. Since many permanent injuries do not seem that bad in the beginning, it is important to explore all injuries, even those that might seem like they will resolve on their own.

Second, if you are not proactive about getting medical treatment, you will potentially create a “treatment gap.” Insurance companies will find any reason they can to deny or undervalue a personal injury victim’s bodily injury claims. When there is a large lapse of time after a car crash before you have sought medical care, or large gaps in your medical care, there is a much higher chance the insurance company will refuse to fully compensate you for losses without a long, difficult fight.

Finally, and most importantly, we want you to get better. The best way for you to get better is to put your medical care in the hands of a medical professional who can help guide your recovery.

Many personal injury victims fail to obtain prompt and thorough medical care after being injured because they are concerned about the costs. We have found this to be true even for people with health insurance. May people worry about the burden of high deductible costs or co-pays. It is important to know that you have several options to pay for your medical care when your injury was caused by the carelessness of another. This is true whether you have health insurance or not.

Individuals with health insurance who would be financially burdened by their co-pays or deductibles, or those who do not have health insurance, can often work with medical providers who will agree to accept payment for their services once you have settled or otherwise resolved your personal injury case. Also, many people have a type of insurance coverage called “Personal Injury Protection” (PIP) or “Medical Payments Coverage” (MedPay), which are more thoroughly discussed on our insurance coverages page. In some instances, PIP or MedPay can be useful tools to help you pay for your medical treatment after an injury.

If you have been injured, and are interested in learning more about your options for obtaining medical care for your injuries, you should call a personal injury lawyer. There are important pros and cons associated with your options for receiving medical care, and you should understand them fully as soon after a personal injury event as possible.

It is common for personal injury victims to receive many unexpected medical bills after being injured. This can be very unnerving. Exactly how a personal injury victim should handle their medical bills after a personal injury depends on the circumstances. Factors to consider include the availability of health insurance, auto liability insurance from the careless person who caused the injury, and Personal Injury Protection.

For individuals who have health insurance, many medical providers who have treated them will refuse to bill the individuals’ health insurance. This can result in being held liable for the full medical bill. Sometimes, it is in your best interest to force the medical provider to submit the bill to your health insurance. Sometimes it is not, depending on your specific financial situation and the facts and circumstances of each case.

For those who do not have health insurance, there are steps that can be taken to prevent the medical bills from causing serious financial burden or damaging your credit. These steps are frequently time-sensitive, and also depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. Some medical providers will stop their collection efforts until you have received compensation for your injuries. Some providers require a minimum monthly payment. And, of course, if there is Personal Injury Protection or Medical Payments Coverage insurance available, you might be able to seek some relief from your own car insurance policy.

Often, the insurance company for the careless person who caused the personal injury will try to convince you to settle the case early in exchange for prompt payment of your medical bills. This is usually a bad idea, and you should understand your rights before you entertain an offer like this. While it might seem uncomfortable to pick up the phone and ask a personal injury lawyer for advice, any good personal injury lawyer will gladly take the time to explain your options so you can make an educated decision.

In Texas, hospital have the legal right to file a lien in the county where they provided emergency medical services to a personal injury victim. The purpose of the lien is to protect their bill for services provided in connection with the injury. In the event the personal injury victim is able to reach a settlement or otherwise recover money from the careless person’s insurance, the insurance will not pay the personal injury victim until they know the hospital’s bill has been paid. This lien is very similar to a lien a bank would have if they loaned money to someone to buy a home or a car. The person could not sell the home or the car without paying the bank back. Similarly, the personal injury victim cannot settle their case with a liability insurance company without paying the hospital back.

Unfortunately, it is common for hospitals to abuse the hospital lien. When a hospital knows a personal injury victim has been injured in a car crash, the hospital sees an opportunity to get paid more for their services by asserting a lien against the victim’s settlement. This is particularly true when the personal injury victim has health insurance. Rather than submit the injury victim’s bill to health insurance, where the hospital will likely be required to substantially reduce their bill, the hospital will simply file the lien, notify the liability car insurance company about the lien, and hold a settlement hostage until the lien has been resolved. By doing this, the hospital will then argue they are owed the full billed amount, rather than the reduced amount they would have received if the bill had been submitted to health insurance. With proper guidance, though, this scheme can be successfully fought and defeated.

By calling a personal injury lawyer, a personal injury can learn what their options are for handling a hospital bill and dealing with a hospital lien. If the personal injury victim waits too long to take action against the hospital lien, the victim might lose very important options, including the ability to force the hospital to submit the bill to the victim’s health insurance. A mistake like this can cost the personal injury victim thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.

That is a difficult question and depends on the circumstances of each case. Car crash victims who have full coverage on their damaged or totaled vehicle have more options than victims who have no insurance or only liability insurance.

For those with full coverage (Collision Coverage) on the vehicle, there are two options. First, you can rely on the careless driver’s liability insurance company to handle the property damage and rental car. Second, you can rely on your own insurance company to handle the property damage. However, if you do not have rental coverage on your own policy, you will either have to rely on the other driver’s insurance to provide a rental car, or pay for a rental car out of pocket and seek reimbursement later.

There are pros and cons associated with each option. If the car crash victim uses their own insurance, it is less likely there will be delays in processing the property damage claim and placing the victim into a rental car (if the victim has rental car coverage). However, the car crash victim will likely pay a deductible, and face the possibility of an increase in their insurance premiums. If the car crash victim relies on the careless driver’s liability insurance, they are, to some extent, at the mercy of that insurance company. Because the careless driver’s insurance company is allowed to investigate the circumstances of the car crash, and the careless driver might not always be honest about what happened, the car crash victim will frequently be required to wait until a police report has been completed and filed before the careless driver’s insurance company will take responsibility for the crash. This can cause significant delays in the car crash victim’s ability to get their vehicle repaired or replaced, and the victim’s ability to get a rental car.

Unfortunately, car crash victims who do not have full coverage (Collision Coverage), have few options with regard to who will pay for their property damage. Because your auto insurance company is not required to pay for your property damage if you do not have full coverage (under most circumstances), you must rely on the careless driver’s liability insurance company to pay for the damage and put you into a rental car. Because the careless driver’s liability insurance company has the opportunity to investigate the case, and does not have a contract with you, you must often wait until an investigation has been completed before the property damage claim will be processed and before you will be provided a rental car.

Usually not. This is not because the personal injury lawyer does not want to help you, but because the law in Texas puts car crash victims who have only sustained damage to their property in a difficult position. There is usually very little to argue about when it comes to the value of a property damage case; a personal injury lawyer can do very little to help increase an individuals’ recovery in a property damage case because the value of the car’s damage is pretty easily determined. So, if you wish to hire a personal injury lawyer, you will either have to pay the personal injury lawyer hourly, or pay the personal injury lawyer a percentage of the damaged vehicle’s value. Since Texas does not allow a successful car crash claimant to recover their attorneys’ fees, hiring a personal injury lawyer to represent them for a claim involving only property damage will usually be a losing proposition.

This is a difficult position to be in. Because the insurance companies are only required to pay the replacement value (i.e. what the car crash victim’s totaled car was worth immediately before the crash), insurance companies are generally not responsible to pay off the car crash victim’s full loan when the loan balance is more than the replacement value of the car. However, some car crash victims maintain GAP coverage through their bank, which would cover the difference in the event the victim is “under water” on their loan. Additionally, the car crash victim can, in some circumstances, work with their bank to roll the remaining principal balance into a new loan when the victim purchases a new vehicle.

Short answer: not much. In a total loss situation, Texas law requires only that insurance companies pay the fair market value of your vehicle in its immediate, pre-crash condition. If your vehicle was paid off and reliable, then you probably never would have sold your vehicle for the amount they are offering. Arguing that your vehicle was special or irreplaceable simply won’t work here. Instead, focus on the insurance company’s assessment of the fair market value.

Start by gathering information. Insurance companies rely on third party services to compile reports about sales and advertisements of comparable vehicles within a given geographical area and time-frame. Ask the adjuster for the total-loss evaluation report for your vehicle. Read the report to make sure they are basing their evaluation on the average “private party” value and/or “dealership” value, and NOT “trade-in” value. Check to make sure they are using your vehicle’s exact year, make, model, and trim package. Perform your own online research of vehicles for sale in your area. You might even email the sellers to ask if they would take the amount the insurance company is offering. Send the “no” responses to the insurance company along with the corresponding advertisements.

You should be able to achieve a modest increase in their offer. Just be aware, there will be very little time to vacate the rental vehicle after the total loss offer is made. Holding out for an extra $100 could cost you $200 if the insurance company cuts off your rental car. More on that in the next question: Can the insurance company cut off the rental car before I receive the total loss settlement money?

Assuming you are not the cause of any delays, no. Many insurance adjusters still believe that “loss of use” (i.e., the rental-car claim) is not owed under Texas law in the event of a total loss. That used to be true. In 2015, however, the Texas Supreme Court decided J&D Towing, LLC vs. American Alternative Insurance Corp. Now, the rule is reasonableness. The insurance company has to allow a reasonable amount of time to arrange the purchase of a new vehicle. If your adjuster claims they don’t owe for “loss of use”, tell them to google the J&D Towing case. Ask them to review it with their supervisor. Just remember that “reasonable” is in the eye of the beholder. To minimize the risk of having to pay out of pocket, contact online sellers, dealerships, and finance companies ahead of time if you can. Decide what you are buying. Find out if you can get into your new vehicle with a “letter of guarantee” from the adjuster. That way you won’t have to wait for the insurance company’s check to process to get out of the rental car.