Whiplash is by far the most common injury sustained in automobile accidents. Over one million people a hurt by whiplash each year. Whiplash injuries range from neck soreness to an incredibly painful injury that requires months of physical therapy to repair. Over thirty billion dollars will be spent to treat these injuries each year as well. Since so many auto accident settlement amounts involve some damage due to whiplash injuries, it’s important to know when you should seek a settlement for whiplash.
Whiplash is trauma that is suffered to the head, neck, and spine because of a violent snapping back and forward of the neck. They occur most often in rear end collisions when one car is at rest and gets knocked into by another car. If a driver uses improper car seat support, this causes the head to jerk back and forward, much like the end of a bullwhip, and giving the injury its name. Whiplash happens in almost every wreck like this, but is more severe in some cases than in others. In general, you should seek a whiplash settlement if you have to seek treatment for the injuries and incur any kind of medical costs. If you don’t seek treatment for your injuries, it will be difficult to prove in court that you actually sustained one, so if you do think you may have gotten some form of whiplash, make sure to visit a doctor or hospital.
If you do seek treatment, you can choose to settle with the insurance company yourself or hire a lawyer to negotiate with them on your behalf. If your injuries are minor it may save you money to negotiate yourself, but if your whiplash settlement involves large amounts of injury, you should more often than not hire an attorney. An attorney has experience in working with insurance companies and will be able to tell you accurately how much you case should be settled for and which cases should be taken to court.
Any settlement for whiplash should include all medical bill incurred as a result of the car accident, damages sustained to your car and property, any rental car expenses, and all time missed from work as a direct result of the accident. The settlement may also involve an amount known as pain and suffering, which compensates you for the harm to your emotional state the injury caused as well as other intangibles of enjoying life that the accident made you miss out on. This amount can be accurately determined by attorneys from prior experience, but in a jam, you can usually set it at three times the total of the other expenses.
When applying for a car accident settlement that involves whiplash make sure that you know the agreement inside and out. Sometimes the contract that you sign with the company can involve stipulations that aren’t in your favor, such that the insurance company will pay you in installments instead of in one lump sum. Also be aware that you are subject to a statute of limitation to when you can pursue your whiplash case, this varies in time from state to state. Past this time you can’t bring an insurance company to court over the accident.
Whiplash is one of the most common forms of injuries that is sustained in auto accidents. If you are forced to seek medical care because of someone else’s negligence, you are entitled to and deserve to be compensated for the time they cost your and the property they destroyed.