Road traffic accidents happen quite often. It is important to know how to behave properly if this happened to you. The main thing to remember is that an injured person in a road accident always has the right to compensation for material, physical (if being hurt) and moral damage.
To apply or not for compensation for the insured event?
If you are involved in an accident, but you do not think that you have suffered, it is still better to record the insured event and consult a doctor.
- First, if a person gets into a car accident and considers that the consequences for him are insignificant, and he will not spend his time on a medical examination and assessment of real compensation, then the victim saves the insurance company hundreds of thousands of shekels, for which he has a right. After all, he regularly pays insurance premiums.
- Secondly, forensic doctors confirm that the injured person in an accident, and especially during the first time after the incident, cannot independently assess the extent of his injury. Moreover, there are injuries that show themselves only with time.
History from our practice
In confirmation of these two theses, we will tell you about the case from the practice of the Patkin & Partners Law Office, when victims of the seemingly “minor accident” received insurance compensation of 400 thousand shekels. So, a young couple turned to our office, which had got into a minor accident, according to their words. The incident happened in November 2016. They drove into the parking lot, and another car sideswiped their car when leaving the parking space. It happened, as they described, “a small contact between two cars” during parking maneuvers. They doubted whether to open a case. In their opinion, the accident was minor, and everything went without consequences for them, so they did not see the point of wasting their time on medical and other related insurance procedures. However, on the advice of counsel, who argued that the consequences of the accident were not often immediate, the couple turned to doctors for a checkup. To their surprise, the results of medical examinations showed that the accident had left a mark on their health. They needed treatment. It was followed by several months of physiotherapy and consultation with other doctors. All medical treatment and expenses on it were recorded by clients and lawyers, and as a result, it formed the basis of the insurance claim. Naturally, when there are no serious consequences of the accident, the lawyers of the victims are simply sent the claim for payment to the insurance company where the vehicle has been insured, and these are usually modest amounts. We acted differently. We sent our clients to a medical examination and received confirmation that despite the accident was “minor", its consequences were traumatic enough for the victims. In Israel, the amount of pitzuim (compensation) for a road accident is established, including on the basis of the victim’s monthly earnings. In this case, both of our clients had a high income. It was a serious argument against the insurance company because according to the laws of Israel, the younger the victim is and higher his earnings are, the higher his pitzuim on the insured event is. After filing the claim, the representatives of the insurance company, after consulting with the doctors, understood that if the case reached the court and each victim was checked by a forensic scientist, their disability would be estimated at 5-7%. The insurance company concluded that it would be more profitable for them to settle the matter before the trial. After that, the lawyers calculated the nominal amount of compensation for the insured event, which amounted to 800 thousand shekels. The insurance company first offered to close the issue by paying 60 thousand shekels. But after lengthy negotiations, when the amount of compensation changed many times, a compromise was reached on the amount of 400 thousand shekels per couple, not including the services of lawyers that totaled extra 50 thousand shekels.
What mistakes do victims of traffic accidents
Do not be a doctor yourself and consult a real specialist. In our situation, the client found out that he had deviations in the structure of the spine. He did not immediately feel it, but over time, the problem would still become obvious. And perhaps in the future, he would not bind it to that minor accident and spend money on treatment, without thinking that he could have the decent insurance recoveries. Do not rush to close the issue with the insurance company. If you still decide to open a case for an insured event, do not be in a hurry to be tempted by the amount of compensation that insurance offers in the first stage. No insurance company will immediately offer the amount that it is ready to pay in reality. Time is a decisive factor in resolving the insurance situation. The more time passes, the better you can understand the situation and assess the seriousness of the damage. On average, the period for closing such a claim takes from one year to one and a half. But the amount received for this period is dozens and sometimes hundreds of times higher than the amount that the insurance company was ready to pay initially, 1-2 months after the insured event.
The recommendation of a lawyer in an accident:
- Carefully collect all the accompanying documents and checks for the insurance case itself and to eliminate its consequences. The more data on the damage you have, the higher the chances of fair compensation are.
- Insurance applies to anyone who was in a car at the time of the insured event, regardless of the relationship with the driver or owner of the car. The amount of pitzuim (compensation) is determined for each victim separately.
- The period of limitation of a claim for a car accident is 7 years, it means that during seven years at any time you can file a lawsuit against the insurance company and claim compensation.
Lawyer’s services will not be paid by you, but by the insurance company, depending on the amount of insurance compensation. The fee of a car accident lawyer is established by law and can be 8% or 11% or 13% of the total amount of insurance compensation.