How Much Is My Car Accident Settlement Worth?

Being involved in a serious accident in Alabama can be devastating. Not only can the experience itself be harrowing, but between hospital bills, lost work time, and repairing your car, this accident could cost you thousands of dollars. If you are like most people, you don’t have spare thousands of dollars that you can afford to spend without warning. Your only chance of avoiding significant financial strain may be to get a fair settlement from the insurance company responsible for paying for the accident. But how do you know how much your car accident settlement will be worth and whether it can cover all of your losses?

Here’s what you need to know about car accident settlements in Alabama.

The Basics of Car Accident Settlements

When you are involved in a car accident, the wheels of the insurance system begin to grind. The process is designed to ensure that all insured parties get the compensation they need for their injuries.

When You Are the At-Fault Party

Typically, if you are the at-fault party and you have the appropriate type of insurance policy, you will get compensation for any losses or expenses related to the injury up to the maximum compensation value of your policy. This often means you will get compensation for:

• Medical bills
• Lost wages due to missed work time
• Costs to repair your vehicle
• Miscellaneous other costs associated with your injury.

However, while you should get compensation for these losses, the value of your compensation may be less than the total of all costs and losses, even when that total is less than the maximum compensation value of your policy. This is because the insurance company may deny portions of your claim or pay less than expected for some expenses.

When the insurance company calculates the settlement it offers you, it may undervalue your claim for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is that it is unaware of specific costs because you didn’t provide it with evidence of those costs.

For example, hospital bills aren’t always forwarded to the insurance company. If you don’t provide the insurance company with documented evidence of every bill, expense, and loss, it has no way of knowing what compensation you are legally entitled to. The attorneys at Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana, PC can help you avoid leaving out documentation when filing for insurance.

Were you seriously injured in a car crash in Alabama? Contact our law firm at (251) 444-7000 to discuss your accident claim with experienced car accident attorneys.

When the Other Party Is at Fault

If the other driver is at fault, the process is roughly similar, but you may be entitled to additional compensation. Losses like medical bills and lost wages are known as economic losses. When the other party is at fault, you can also claim non-economic losses. This means you can get compensation for the pain and suffering you endured due to your injuries.

However, there is a caveat. All compensation will generally be limited by the maximums of the insurance policy of the at-fault driver. Unfortunately, in Alabama, drivers are only required to purchase a 25/50/25 policy, and many drivers maintain only the minimum. This means you can get at most $25,000 for bodily injury claims and another $25,000 for property damage claims. If your injuries surpass this threshold, you may need to sue the other driver or file a claim with your underinsured driver policy, if you have one.

Average Car Wreck Settlement in Alabama

Every car wreck has different circumstances, so it’s difficult to calculate what an average car accident settlement in Alabama would be. Instead, to determine how much your car accident claim is probably worth, the lawyers at our law firm consider the following factors.

Extent of Your Injuries

In general, the more seriously you are injured, the greater the value of your settlement. If you suffered a broken arm, for example, it may prevent you from working for a few weeks and require a few thousand dollars of medical care. Conversely, if you suffered a spinal cord injury, it could require several operations costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and keep you out of work for years. The value of the latter is much higher than the value of the former.

Furthermore, if you are eligible to get compensation for pain and suffering, the value of this compensation may be determined as a multiple of the value of your other expenses. Thus, if you are more seriously hurt, you will usually get more compensation for your suffering.

Fault

If you are even partially at fault for your injury, you are likely to get significantly less compensation than if the other party is entirely at fault because Alabama allows contributory negligence as an affirmative defense in civil litigation. If you are even 1% responsible for your injuries, you are ineligible to get compensation from civil proceedings.

Insurers recognize this and will often refuse to offer a settlement if they believe they can prove that you were partially responsible. If it is a close call, insurers may offer a much lower settlement to avoid court costs but are unlikely to offer you a full settlement. This may force you to get most or all of your compensation from your insurance policy, limiting your potential compensation.

If you are even partially at fault for your injuries, you may receive a lower settlement than if the other party was completely at fault.

Contact Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana, PC Today

There is another key factor that can significantly impact how much your settlement is worth. If you are represented by an experienced personal injury attorney throughout the claims process, you may be more likely to receive proper compensation than if you try to navigate the process on your own. This is where the seasoned team at Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana, PC comes in. We are dedicated to protecting the rights and futures of injury victims throughout Alabama.

Don’t wait to exercise your right to compensation after getting hurt in a car accident in Alabama. Contact Caldwell Wenzel & Asthana, PC at (251) 444-7000 as soon as possible.