It can be a terrifying call to receive: someone you care about was just involved in a car accident. Maybe it was just a fender bender, but maybe it was a serious crash.
Whatever the case, your loved one will probably need car accident support. Maybe they are young and inexperienced with driving. Maybe they are older; there are about 50 million people 65 or older in America. Or maybe they were just on their way to work when the unforeseen occurred.
When someone gets in a car accident, the first concern is always health and safety. Are there any injuries? Does anyone need to go to the hospital? That should be first on everyone’s mind.
However, they will need a lot more car accident support than just health-related matters. As the person outside of the accident, you may be in a better position to look at the situation will a cool head and take care of things like insurance, lawyers and other logistics. You can help out a lot by considering these things while your loved one simply concentrates on making sure they are physically safe and mentally OK in the wake of an accident.
It might be a good idea to consider these kinds of things before an accident occurs. Car accidents are unfortunately very common in the U.S., so it is not unlikely that you will have to consider these things at some point. By thinking about it before an accident occurs, you will be better positioned to calmly take care of a bad situation.
Here are 6 things you should consider when it comes to car accident support.
1. Help with Injuries
As mentioned above, physical injuries always come first and foremost. You should make sure no one is physically injured or is getting assistance if they are physically injured.
If a loved one contacts you for car accident support, it is likely they are OK enough to at least be out of immediate danger. Still, they could be very badly rattled and may have injuries they don’t even realize yet because of the adrenaline of the situation.
Encourage your loved one to get any medical help they need and to check on any other drivers or passengers who may have been involved in the accident. If they think they were might have been injured, convince them to seek medical attention. In the case of an accident, it may be a simple matter of accepting the help that arrives. A lot of times, police and ambulances will arrive at the scene because an observer has contacted them. Your loved one should accept the help offered in order to ensure they are not badly hurt.
There are, unfortunately, many instances in which someone is badly hurt, however. Many times in an accident, the ambulances do leave with people who have bad injuries. This requires a different kind of car accident support from you.
If a loved one is taken to a hospital, you should go meet them there if you can. Your physical presence can make them feel a lot better mentally while they are going through something potentially traumatic physically.
However, you can do more than just offer moral support in this instance. As an outside observer, you may be able to assess if your loved one would benefit from contacting a lawyer in this case.
A personal injury attorney is a good person to contact when there are injuries from a car accident. These types of lawyers are experts on getting compensation in these kinds of instances. If your loved one goes it alone, they may get a smaller settlement compared to if they contact a lawyer.
You may be well positioned to contact a lawyer on your loved one’s behalf, with their consent. First, you should get as much information as you can about the accident and injuries. This information will help the attorney assess what kind of treatments your loved one can be expected to need. This also means they can make an educated guess about health insurance costs.
All of this will help the attorney look at the bigger picture and provide appropriate car accident support in terms of compensation.
An even scarier situation arises when your loved one can’t contact an attorney. Perhaps their injuries are so severe that they are not capable of contacting anyone. In this case, you may have been contacted because you are listed as an emergency contact.
If this is the case, you might be required to take more drastic steps. Some lawyers specialize in these more severe cases. For example, a brain injury lawyer can help when there are traumatic brain injuries resulting from a car accident.
Again, do what you can to get as much information as possible about your loved one’s medical condition. Relay that information to the lawyer so they can get the full scope of the incident and assess the best way to move forward and get compensation.
2. Help with Damage to the Vehicle
That is some of the most dire situations related to car accidents. Fortunately, severe injuries are not always the case. Sometimes the bigger concern is damage to the vehicles involved in the crash.
You can provide much-needed car accident support simply by looking up auto body repair costs. To do this most effectively, you will need to know what kind of damage the vehicle has suffered. If you get a chance to see the vehicle, that is an easy way to size up the damage. However, if you don’t, you may need to rely on your loved one’s account.
Either way, do you best to give them an accurate picture of what the costs might be to get their vehicle repaired. If they are not harmed physically, it is common for their thoughts to fly directly to other things, such as the cost of repairs. An accident can be an unfortunately very pricey incident. You may be able to set their mind at ease by shopping around a little and finding some hard and fast numbers.
In the most fortunate cases, the damage could be minor. It might seem like a big deal in the moment, but something like a fender bender shouldn’t break the bank. Still, research things like dent removal cost and paint repair cost to help sooth their concerns.
3. Help with Work
Sometimes accident happen on the job.This isn’t a fun situation for anyone. Your loved one might be concerned about getting fired and need car accident support because they are too anxious to settle matters themselves.
Or your loved one might have been on the receiving end, such as in the case of a trucking accident. Maybe they weren’t the one on the job but were involved in an accident with someone driving for work.
Either way, this is a tricky and complicated situation. It is understandable that they might feel very flustered and need car accident support to sort through all the details of this kind of situation. You can do a lot for them simply by looking on lawyers who specialize in work-related accidents and injuries. These experts can take the burden from there. They know the ins and outs of filing claims with insurance and dealing with all the complications that arise from work-related accidents.
4. Help with Getting Insurance Payouts
Speaking of insurance, that is a beast of its own. Your loved one may rightly need car accident support that just helps with sorting through insurance. On top of dealing with their car insurance, they also may be dealing with health insurance if they needed medical attention.
The bills will come later and your loved one could need help just sorting through them all. In the wake of an accident, ensure your loved one doesn’t need to fight insurance companies while also trying to heal up physically and get their vehicle repaired.
You can contact someone like an accident lawyer for help if you need it. Certain kinds of lawyers are experts on getting the most out of insurance claims after an accident. They know the ins and outs of the system and how to get the maximum settlement possible.
If your loved one is overwhelmed by insurance, provide car accident support by finding them an expert who knows the system best. This can not only put their mind at ease but ensure they are well-compensated for physical and mental damage after an accident.
This can also help them avoid getting scammed. Insurance companies will give out as little as they can. After an accident, however, your loved one likely needs financial support to set things right. A lawyer can help them get it.
5. Help with Accidents that Are Their Fault
Sometimes your loved one will be to blame for an accident. This is an unfortunate reality and one that may even require a criminal lawyer.
Not all accidents where your loved one is at fault require a lawyer who specializes in criminal cases. If it isn’t a particularly bad accident and there aren’t extenuating circumstances, your loved may just need to be calmed down so they can exchange insurance information. Sometimes car accident support is just being a friendly and sympathetic ear for someone who is badly rattled.
However, you should try to stay objective. As much as you care about your loved one, you will provide better car accident support in the long run if you are objective about whether the accident is their fault and whether they need a criminal law attorney to help them.
If someone was seriously injured or died in the accident, such an attorney is probably a good idea. Other circumstances that would prompt calling an attorney include things like DUIs, any kind of inebriation and the person having previous offenses of any kind. If you suspect the matter could get complicated legally, getting an attorney on your side quickly is the best way to provide car accident support.
Waiting too long to contact an attorney may unfortunately just make matters worse. You don’t want to talk to the police when you are at fault for an accident unless you have a lawyer. Your loved one might accidentally make things worse for themselves. It is always a better idea to have the support of an attorney if the accident is severe and your loved one is at fault.
6. Help with Bond and Jail
In the most extreme circumstances, your loved one could be calling you from jail for car accident support.
This is obviously not a very happy situation, but being prepared for it ahead of time will allow you to calmly minimize the damage. For example, you could take a passing glance at bondsmen in your area. You don’t need to look into them deeply yet, but just knowing who they are and what kinds of services they offer might help you absorb some of the shock of a really unfortunate situation.
When it comes to car crashes, people may be arrested because they are intoxicated in some way. They might also be arrested because the accident is in some way their fault. As mentioned above, these are situations where the best car accident support you can provide is probably contacting an attorney or lawyer for help. You don’t want to face serious legal charges alone.
However, there are other considers as well. For example, the bond system. Helping a loved one with bond can allow them to leave detainment so they can get their affairs in order before any sort of court dates they may have pending.
Besides just looking up bondsmen in the area, you can also look into bail bond services. These kinds of services usually come with fees and conditions. Understanding them ahead of time will allow you to help a loved one more effectively. You don’t want to just recommend the first such service you find. It could end up saddling them with debt and making an already tough situation even worse.
Be There in Whatever Way You Can
When an accident occurs, the best car accident support you can provide is often just being there for your loved one. They might need medical or legal help, but often they will just be rattled and need to hear a friendly and familiar voice on the other side of the phone. If you are calm and knowledgeable, you will be better equipped to help them through a difficult situation.