After a frightening motorcycle accident along Spokane roads, victims are often given little time to catch their breath and focus on healing. Some victims immediately face enormous repair bills and tedious coordination with body shops trying to get a bike repaired. Other, less fortunate patients will be feeling the pressure of mounting unpaid hospital bills as a serious injury builds medical debt.
If a careless driver were to blame for an accident, a motorcyclist would need to rely on an insurance claim to help cover these bills and other damages. Unfortunately, car insurance companies make it hard for victims to earn the full support they need, especially for riders. Knowing how an insurance claim works and the obstacles insurance adjusters throw in the way can help riders ride off with more in a settlement.
Preparing for a Motorcycle Accident Insurance Claim
You’re preparation for your accident claim should start in the minutes after a scary Spokane collision. If you are strong enough and it’s safe, you should try to collect some vital evidence on the scene before it’s cleared away.
Try to complete these steps after your accident to give your claim a better chance of success:
- If you are hurt, call for an ambulance and let paramedics document every injury
- Go to the emergency room if necessary
- Give police officers a full report on what you witnessed so they can create an accurate accident report
- Take photos of your damaged motorcycle, your helmet, the damage done to a car, and any visible injuries
- Get witness contact information
- Swap information with the driver unless an officer has already collected this information for you
- Alert your insurance company on the day of the accident
- Contact your physician and get checked out in the days that follow, even if you’ve already been to the emergency room
- Follow your doctor’s instructions closely, including seeing specialists and completing physical therapy
- Save all invoices and medical documents
- Contact a lawyer if you are seriously hurt with an injury like a bone fracture, neck or back injury, or a head injury
If your injury is serious, i.e., will take longer to heal and be more expensive, car insurance companies will work harder to avoid having to pay up. They can try to blame your actions for what happened. They may question your doctor’s judgment about how long you’ll need to heal or try to claim that your injuries were preexisting.
A Spokane Motorcycle Accident Lawyer protects you from their desperate attempts to escape financial responsibility. Your lawyer also has a good chance to secure you much more in support than you could by filing a claim yourself.
The Motorcycle Accident Claims Process
Once your case is backed with strong evidence, it’ll be time to submit your claim. There are a few major steps in the motorcycle accident claims process.
Preparing Your Claim: This refers to everything in the list above and more. You may want to consult with a lawyer and decide how to proceed. Your lawyer will be conducting a full investigation into what happened and gathering evidence. This can include surveillance video, witness testimony, and even the testimony of motorcycle accident reconstruction teams. This evidence, combined with the evidence you’ve already secured, forms the foundation of a strong case that an insurer will have a hard time rejecting.
Filing Your Claim: You’ll file your claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Your claim must include every hardship you’ve endured since your accident. If you leave something off, it becomes something the insurers can leave for you to pay. Your lawyer makes sure you include every damage and even seeks support for some things you may not have known could add to the amount on your motorcycle accident settlement check.
Negotiation: Your lawyer should have plenty of experience and be an aggressive negotiator. When you receive a settlement offer, you and your lawyer must weigh it carefully to see if it covers everything you’ve been through and will go through. If it’s not enough, your lawyer rejects it on your behalf and demands more.
Potentially Filing a Lawsuit: If a car insurance company denies your claim, you may have to file a lawsuit to get what’s fair. You may also have to drag the insurer to court if they offer you a “lowball” settlement, but won’t pay all of your medical bills and cover all of your lost income at work. This is another benefit of having a lawyer handle your case. Your lawyer will already have a case prepared for court. Your lawyer also represents the threat of a lawsuit. This scares insurers. They want to avoid going before a judge because of the cost of defending themselves and the hit to their reputation. If an insurance provider knows you have a lawyer who has trial experience, they’ll often work harder to please you with a better settlement offer.
Getting Paid: If your case is successful, you can expect a check from a settlement or from a court judgment. If you have a CCD Law Motorcycle Accident Attorney, you won’t have paid them anything for their services until your case is won. (If your case is unsuccessful, you don’t pay CCD Law anything.) Even if you win, the attorney’s fee doesn’t come out of your savings. It’s drawn from the money that an insurance company must pay you.
Contact a Spokane Motorcycle Accident Attorney
If you only suffer minor scrapes and bruises in a motorcycle accident, you might not need a lawyer’s help for your case. But if your injuries are more serious, it’s a good idea to speak to Crary & Domanico, P.S. about your options. It’s a safeguard for being blamed for your accident. It’s also a great way to maximize what you receive in a settlement check.
Contact CCD Law for a free, no-obligation consultation. Let’s go over your case and figure out how to get all of your medical care paid for, so you can ride again without financial worries.