Car Accident Aftermath: 5 Tips to Help You Get out of Financial Hardship
Monday, January 29, 2018, 12:00 PM | Leave Comment
Car accidents involving personal injury can cause more than inconvenience—the financial hardships involved can be considerable.
Thankfully, help exists. You just have to know where to look.
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Be Prepared
The best time to begin dealing with financial hardship is before you get into an accident. Did you know your state has a Department of Insurance? Consult this resource about everything from whether your state is fault or no-fault to how to handle a lawsuit.
Your automobile insurance offers financial recourse, especially if your policy includes personal injury protection, medical payments coverage, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Reading your policy up front and asking about anything you’re unsure of can shortcut potential financial hardship.
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Slack Busters
If you’re seriously injured during an accident, you may be hit with medical bills, lost wages, and loss of income due to diminished capacity. The hole you find yourself in seems to get deeper every day, and while your own auto personal injury coverage may help, it’s not going to take up that massive slack.
Plus, suing the offending driver’s insurance company may not be as straightforward as you think. You may be surprised to learn states with no-fault auto insurance ban some claims unless they meet a specific dollar amount.
Fortunately, law practices like D Chadwick Calvert Law Office, which specialize in recovering damages from automobile accidents, can help you navigate these complicated waters.
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A Friend in Need
No doubt you have friends, and their friends have friends, and their friends’ friends have friends, and so on. Now that everyone is connected via social media, a plea for help can easily go viral. Crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe and YouCaring make it incredibly easy for you to ask thousands of people for financial help with the click of a mouse.
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Go Private
If you feel uncomfortable accepting a large-scale financial gift from friends, you may want to try a peer-to-peer lending site like Prosper, PeerForm, or Lending Club. These connect you with private lenders who might help you out at a low interest rate that makes it easy to pay the money back.
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Negotiate
Review your budget, line by line. Ditch or downgrade luxury services and contact utilities to see if you can negotiate a payment plan. Do the same with credit card and mortgage companies, renegotiating interest rates. There are experts that will help you do this, but stick to reliable firms like those listed in this Consumer Affairs article.
Bottom line, getting expert help and thinking creatively can get your financials back on solid ground.
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