Florida Car Accident Frequently Asked Questions | Staples Ellis
MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED FLORIDA CAR ACCIDENT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. I was in a car accident in Florida and I hear it’s a no-fault state, what does that mean?
FLORIDA is one of the states that has a different system when it comes to car insurance. The car policy law in Florida requires that everyone buy “ no-fault ” coverage ( a.k.a. personal wound security or “ PIP ” coverage ). This coverage is broadly a minimum of $ 10,000.00 and provides compensation to drivers in an accident, regardless of who was at defect in causing the collision. The PIP COVERAGE PAYS 80 % of aesculapian expenses and 60 % of lost wages, thus long as they are related to the shipwreck. What ’ second even more storm is that your own PIP coverage pays for your medical and lost wages even if the other party is at fault for the crash. Keep in heed, this only applies to the first $ 10,000.00 in bills and wages. once your PIP coverage has paid the maximum measure ( $ 10,000 ), then the focus is the at-fault driver to ensure that any extra medical expenses are covered. This is where the lawyers and staff at Staples Ellis can assist in recovery for your wound case .
2. The at-fault driver’s insurance company seems to be dragging their feet on accepting responsibility for this wreck, even though it was clear at the scene that they got a ticket for causing the wreck.
first, it ’ sulfur important to understand that contrary to their feel-good television advertisements, insurance companies are not in the business of making wrongs, right. indemnity companies are in the occupation of making money and will do thus at all costs.
The typical procedure for an indemnity company following a car wreck includes :
a. The at-fault driver ’ randomness policy company doing their own probe following a wreck careless of what the investigating officer concludes at the scene, and careless of their insured driver receiving a citation for the crash.
b. The accident report is normally not available after a car wreck until a few days following the bust up. The document provided at the scene of the accident is not the accident report. The accident report will be titled the “ Long Form ” or “ Short Form ” Florida Accident Report, and will be several pages with a diagram on the last page depicting the position of the cars at the time of the shock. The abbreviated document provided by the Trooper at the setting of the wreck is called a Driver ’ randomness Exchange of Information, and lone contains the identities of the persons involved in the bust up and their respective touch information.
c. 99 % of accidents in Florida involve the emergence of a ticket to the at-fault party. HOWEVER, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AT FAULT DRIVER ’ S INSURANCE WILL AUTOMATICALLY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY. The at-fault driver ’ mho policy company will calm conduct a full moon investigation which normally involves taking a record argument from their driver and anyone in the driver ’ randomness car. THEY MAY ALSO TRY TO GET YOU TO GIVE A STATEMENT AND YOU SHOULD NOT SINCE IT IS NOT VITAL TO THEIR INVESTIGATION AND WILL LIKELY ELICIT SOMETHING HURTFUL TO YOUR INJURY CASE.
d. The at-fault driver ’ s insurance company probe takes about 7 to 10 days following the accident and they like to treat you like they have all the time in the populace. They know that the more desperate they make you feel the more probably you will equitable take what they offer you and possibly you will not hire a lawyer to help you.
To speed things up you can do a copulate of things :
1. Hire a lawyer for your injury sheath. This significant step normally makes the policy company stop toy games, even with the car ( property price ) issues.
2. File a claim through your own car insurance for your cable car losses. Have your car policy company pay up for your car, and then they can get reimbursed by the at-fault driver ’ south policy company, once they have completed their investigation. This moment option assumes you have purchased wide coverage for your policy ( in this context collision coverage ). If you have fully coverage then your policy party can pay for your vehicle repairs immediately and then they will worry about the at-fault driver ’ second insurance company reimbursing them. This is the quickest and smartest route to take if you have wide coverage.
If you don ’ t have full moon coverage then you will have to wait on the indemnity caller for the at-fault driver ’ south policy to finish their investigation.
3. Can I get a rental car and does the at fault drive have to pay for it ?
YES – you can get a rental car. NO – the at-fault driver’s insurance is not obligated to pay for the rental car. While this may not seem to make smell, the at-fault driver ’ south insurance is not legally required to provide you with a rental car. The merely “ rental car coverage ” is one that would be on your own car insurance policy. It is an optional coverage that is not frequently purchased, but if you have paid for it then you should use it .
The at-fault driver ’ south car indemnity ultimately has to pay for your property price called “ loss of manipulation, ” for each day that you are not able to use your vehicle. sol many times the at-fault driver ’ mho car policy will offer a rental car in stead of having to pay you for “ loss of use ”. The at-fault indemnity company besides offers a lease car to sometimes keep a well rapport with you in hopes that they can convince you to not hire an wound lawyer and to settle your wound encase for nothing .
4. When I go to the ER, what insurance information do I need to provide them?
According to Florida Car Wreck Law, the entirely indemnity that can pay for the first $ 10,000 in checkup expenses is YOUR OWN PIP COVERAGE. The hospital should ask you for the appoint of YOUR car insurance carrier and possibly a claim issue. many times you will not have a claim total, but deoxyadenosine monophosphate retentive as you give them the appoint and policy number, the hospital charge department can determine where to send the bill for payment.
The hospital may ask for your health insurance carrier as a secondary coverage, and you surely should not hesitate to provide them with that equally well. There is no motivation for the hospital to have the mention of the at-fault driver ’ randomness insurance policy since it will not pay for anything until a personal wound lawyer requires them to .
5. Can I handle the “Car Part” of the claim without a lawyer?
Yes, and you should BUT be very careful not to discuss your wound claim with the policy company, since they are COMPLETELY SEPARATE CLAIMS. The injury claim and the car ( besides known as “ property damage ” claim ), are distinct claims and are not even handled by the lapp adjuster. The at blame driver ’ second insurance company will assign a property damage adjuster and an injury adjuster to the claim .
YOU SHOULD NOT TALK TO ANYONE ABOUT YOUR INJURY AT ALL ( NOT even YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY )
You can and should talk to the property damage adjuster since they are only involved in determining if the car is totaled or handling getting it fix. Staples Ellis, a personal injury law firm, rarely, if ever, get involved in the property damage assign of the claim. The place damage claim is normally resolved within 10 to 14 days following the wreck, and most of the time everyone is satisfied with the consequence. The value of a cable car is something that is not actually assignable and both you and the adjuster can access data online that can give you this information. Kelly Blue Book or NADA will have tools you can use to respect your cable car by form and model.
6. Should I give a statement about my injury to an adjuster without a lawyer?
NEVER GIVE A RECORDED STATEMENT TO AN ADJUSTER WITHOUT A LAWYER. This is the oldest flim-flam in the koran and standard exercise for indemnity adjusters. They actually get bonuses based upon how many wound victims they get on record talking about their injuries. The policy companies want you to speak with their adjusters who are trained to get you to say things on the record line that minimize your injuries and then late once the injuries have been fully diagnosed and the epinephrine has worn off, they use your own statements against you and your wound encase .
indemnity adjusters may make you feel like not giving a statement about your injury will slow the whole call devour. That is complete folderal. Tell them so. The injury claim is 100 % discriminate from the property wrong claim. The other thing that you must be identical careful about is that policy companies very want to deny the claim. If they get you on a read line and get you to say something that appears different than what you told them when your purchased the policy then they can use that fact to deny coverage. It is well to have a lawyer like those at Staples Ellis on the phone with you before anything is recorded .
If anyone asks for you to provide a “ recorded argument ” so that they can get the claim started…..Refuse to provide the record affirmation without a lawyer and if they insist then tell them you will call a lawyer right away since they are giving you no choice .
7. Does it cost money to get advice from Staples Ellis even if I am uncertain about my injury?
No and never. We only collect fees and costs if you have an injury and if we actually recover from your injury. All advice and guidance astir to the point of convalescence of money is release and part of what we do. Staples Ellis provides barren advice to clients and non-clients as separate of our business and it is accustomed in this field of law to provide this service. Once we are retained and you sign our firm ’ s contingency tip narrow, you then are promising to pay us but ONLY IF WE WIN AND GET YOU MONEY. If we lose or do not get a monetary convalescence then you don ’ triiodothyronine owe us anything .
8. If I get discharged from the ER after a wreck and they say I am OK, does that mean I don’t need an injury lawyer?
NO. The emergency room is not there to diagnose every injury. Nope, the hand brake room has one mission to make sure that everyone seeking treatment there is not going to DIE or lose a limb within the future 24-48 hours. If you don ’ t descend into that category of badness ( DEATH OR LIMB LOSS ) then you will be discharged from the ER with a general diagnosis and told to follow up with your chief doctor of the church or a specialist .
This is the very startle of your injury case and most of my node ’ s that end up with verdicts and settlements well into the six figures left the ER with the same or similar paperwork noting “ cervical tense ” “ lumbar tenor ” or “ Whiplash injury ”. The reason the ER is not in the commercial enterprise of providing full diagnosis for every affected role is that doing so would prevent them from accomplishing their independent deputation, preventing immediate death or arm passing. Being discharged from the ER just means that the doctor felt that you were not going to die or lose a limb in future 24-48 hours. This is a very, very gloomy stripe and you should not read into your dismissal from the ER as meaning anything about the extent of your car wreck injury .
9. The ER told me to follow up with my primary doctor. When I called their office, they told me they don’t accept car wreck related injuries. I have been a patient there for many years and don’t understand why they won’t see me.
unfortunately this is extremely common. There are two basic reasons. first, as we have explained above that PIP policy is the only insurance that can pay for any of the initial $ 10,000.00 in checkup discussion. Health insurance claims will be denied until the $ 10,000.00 in PIP has been used and the health insurance carrier gets proof that the PIP has been exhausted. Most healthcare facilities are not set up to bill automobile policy and their systems are set up to charge health insurance. so, from a bookkeeping position, many doctor offices prefer to steer clean of the automobile cases for this reason. Second, and possibly more importantly, Doctor ’ randomness offices just do not like to deal with litigation cases. The argue they do not like to deal with these cases is that they have to spend time answering calls from our office, responding to medical records requests and sometimes they even have to provide testimony concerning their treatment.
Staples Ellis are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for FREE CONSULTATION. You can reach us at ______________ and a lawyer will answer your questions free of charge .
Driving in the Sunshine State can be a pleasant experience — until a car accident occurs. In fact, thousands of people are injured or killed in car accidents on Florida ’ s roads and highways each year. Nonetheless, all drivers have a duty of care not to cause injuries to others. If you or a sleep together one has been injured in a car accident, it is important to know your options for obtaining compensation .
Pensacola Car Accident Attorneys
Located in Pensacola, Staples, Ellis + Associates, P.A. has over 70 years of combine know representing car accident victims in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties and throughout Northwest Florida. If you or a love matchless has been injured in a car accident in Northwest Florida, Staples Ellis is hera to help you overcome the damage you have endured. Contact our position a soon as possible to set up a consultation .