6 Steps to Stabilizing Your Finances after a Major Car Accident
Monday, June 1, 2015, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
There are many hidden costs associated with even the smallest of car accidents, which is why it stands to reason that major car accidents can bring a plethora of problems.
The largest of those problems concerns your finances. You’ll have medical bills, lawyer fees and insurance cost increases all on top of the fact that you need to pay some amount to get your car repaired so you can drive it again.
Couple this with the income you’ll lose if you have to recover from injuries, and your finances will be even more strained.
Let’s examine six things you can do to stabilize your finances after you’ve been involved in a major car accident.
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Minimize Your Costs
A major car accident means that you’re going to have a plenty of bills and fees that you’ll need to foot. Your insurance companies may even require you to pay a deductible before you can get your car or your body fixed.
The first thing you should do after a major car accident is to minimize your expenses. This will enable you to afford the extra gas, additional bills and added fees associated with recovering from a major car accident.
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Seek a Doctor Immediately
Waiting to seek help for injuries you sustain during a major car accident is one of the worst things you can do. It costs significantly more money to treat old injuries when injured people take a “wait and see” motto to their injuries rather than treating them immediately.
Couple this with the fact that the losses associated with personal injury participants is increasing by 4 percent each year, and the costs associated with waiting to seek help can become exponentially more expensive.
By seeking treatment immediately, you also expedite the diagnosis part of any claims you might file. This helps you with the next point by reducing the overall length of the claim process.
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Seek Compensation
When you’re not at fault for a major accident, you should immediately work to seek compensation for every cost you would otherwise be forced to pay.
If you wait to file a claim, this could lead to hefty late fees added to medical bills, repair fees and legal costs that you already can’t pay. This can hurt your finances for years to come.
Seek legal aid from an accident lawyer like those from the Johnston Law Firm as soon as you can. This will help you not only reduce your long-term costs, but also make it easier and faster to successfully win any claims that you might have to file.
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Acquire Rehabilitation
Car collisions generally have thousands of pounds of force involved. The sudden deceleration associated with the sudden stops common to car accidents can wreak havoc on your body.
Rehabilitating yourself after you’ve been injured is not only something you should do, but it’s something that you should do as soon as possible. Physical rehabilitation for serious injuries is more effective the sooner and more consistently you participate in it.
While this might require a greater investment in the short term, it will result in fewer missed days of work and an increase in the quality of your life. You may even be able to save on some hefty medical bills by simply trying to get better as soon as possible as well as for the long term.
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Focus on Stress Management
While your level of stress does not directly affect your finances, it does affect numerous things related to your finances. Stress can influence everything from your ability to recover to your emotional stability during a period of crisis.
Focus on managing it as best as you can. Seek support groups to talk about how you feel. Use the resources available to you to learn how to recover from your accident. Focus on the joys of tomorrow rather than the pain of yesterday’s accident.
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Reducing Your Car Collision Bills
Recovering from a car accident is difficult enough without having to worry about your finances. That’s why seeking prompt medical treatment, focusing on getting better, reducing your living expenses and seeking prompt legal help will work to keep your finances stable in both the short and long terms.
In addition to making your finances more manageable, following this advice will tremendously reduce the headaches and other stress you might experience while you’re trying to recover from your accident.
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Anica Oaks is a Freelance writer and web enthusiast. Read some of her published work on her Google+ page.
