When you go to work or drive your kids to school in the morning you don’t expect to be involved in a car crash. A side impact crash in particular can do considerable damage to your vehicle and maybe seriously injure you and your passengers.
Despite this, as long as the crash isn’t your fault, you should be able to claim compensation for the damage to your vehicle in a side impact crash without too much difficulty. However, you may need the help of a personal injury attorney to get the compensation you deserve if the insurer of the at -fault driver isn’t completely convinced that you weren’t at least partly to blame for the side impact crash.
The Cost of Repairing Damage From a Side Impact Crash
In the case of a side impact crash there are a number of repairs that may need to be done. These may include panel beating work to restore the shape of the car’s structure. This could run into several thousand dollars, depending on the extent of the damage and the model of your auto. A repaint of at least the damaged side of the car starts at $1,500, depending on the availability of matching paint and could easily reach $7,000.
Whatever the damage, the cost is likely to exceed what you have probably made available for general car maintenance. It’s important to get any repairs paid for by the person who caused the accident. This means you have to ensure any repairs you have had done are recorded on the invoice to send to the at-fault driver’s insurer.
You Must Provide Evidence Proving Fault for a Side Impact Crash
Before you are eligible for compensation from the driver of the vehicle that caused your side impact crash you will need to gather some evidence together first. This may include any of the following:
- eye witnesses accounts of the accident;
- police reports;
- photos taken of the damage to your vehicle and the at-fault driver’s vehicle;
- damage repair report and invoice from the garage that repaired the damage.
Once that has been done you should present all the evidence to the insurance company responsible for insuring the at -fault driver’s vehicle. In most cases the insurer should eventually concede that there is a responsibility to pay for the damage, as long as the evidence is convincing and doesn’t raise any doubt as to who, or what, caused the accident.
Reasons to Work With an Attorney
Not all insurance companies are eager to release cash to pay for vehicle damage in a side impact crash. They make excuses saying you are partially to blame and delay payments as long as they can.
This is when it’s useful to talk to a personal injury attorney who knows how insurers tend to react when asked to pay for car damage. An attorney will work relentlessly to get the compensation you deserve in a side impact crash that wasn’t your fault. Complete the Free Case Evaluation on this page to consult with a lawyer.
