When you are in a Utah car accident, there are several reasons to hire a personal injury attorney immediately.

Evidence Preservation.
(1) A personal injury attorney will know what evidence to preserve. Car damage photographs, immediate witness interviews, torn clothing, and documenting injuries. When you are hurt in a car accident, you will not be thinking about the legal side of your claim. And when this evidence is gone, it’s gone and can sometimes make the difference in recovering any compensation for your injuries.

Car damage pictures can be crucial in some cases for determining who is at fault. The location and type of car damage often tells the position of the car at the time of the collision. Documenting the damage is important.

Documenting your physical injuries helps paint a picture to the insurance adjuster. Personalizing your case matters. Just like icicles, the way your injuries appear will melt over time.
Roads are constantly under construction and the way the accident scene looked four years ago may be drastically different than how it looks today. A good personal injury attorney will document your case, allowing you to get better. Without a good idea of the roadway layout, it will be more difficult for your accident reconstructionist to do their job, if not impossible.

Medical Care.

(2) Getting the right medical and timely medical care is crucial to your legal claim. Ensuring timely and proper medical care is not about pulling strings or orchestrating a windfall. A proper medical workup is the way you demonstrate to the insurance adjuster how this car accident effected you. Your testimony at trial will not be enough for the insurance adjuster or the jury. Could you imagine being permanently hurt from a car accident, but the jury or insurance adjuster did not believe you? A good personal injury attorney will ensure your case is properly medically documented so the insurance adjuster and the jury will understand how these injuries have effected you.

Hiring a personal injury attorney immediately after the car collision will help you avoid pitfalls, such as gaps in medical treatment. Insurance adjusters and their attorneys love to point to gaps in medical treatment as a way to devalue your compensation. Without an attorney on your side, you will not know about gaps in treatment, how to avoid them, and why timely and proper medical care is important to proving your compensation claim.

Often people will try to tough it out after a car accident. Although admirable and well intentioned, waiting too long for medical care after the collision will be used against you. What is worse is when you are hurt, but want to tough it out, then you realize that you are even more hurt than you thought, but now the insurance company or the jury does not believe you.

Inadequate Offers.

(3) Even the small insurance companies handle a vast volume of personal injury claims. Insurance companies and their employees are well trained. Handling your own car accident case is like doing your own dental work, you simple will not know what to expect, what is normal and how much your injury claim is worth.

Utah insurance regulations do not allow an insurance company to make offers to settle your case until at least seven days after the collision. There is a good reason for this rule because people do not know what to expect and they need time to hire an attorney.

This author has personally seen very low offers immediately sent out after a collision in hopes of settling a claim cheap and fast. Don’t be fooled when an insurance carrier sends you an offer on day nine, asking you to settle for $750, or $1,500.

Adjuster Interviews.

(4) Immediately after a car collision, insurance adjusters will be calling you and asking for a recorded interview, mostly over the phone, but sometimes in person. You have no obligation to give a recorded interview for the at-fault driver’s insurance. You do have an obligation to give a recorded interview to your own insurance company, but you should wait and do so with your attorney present.

Call attorney Jacob S. Gunter for a free consultation concerning your Utah car accident. (801) 373-6345.