An auto accident is one of the biggest traumatic events most people will encounter early in their adult lives. Driving is a difficult set of stacked tasks that you are asked to perform flawlessly while navigating a 3,000-pound or heavier vehicle through a crowded space, and the fact that most people perform these tasks flawlessly for years on end is a tribute to their abilities and strengths of the modern driver and modern driver’s ed programs.
On average, a driver gets into an accident every eighteen years. But when it happens, there are services you may need after an accident. You may not need all of them, but very likely you will need at least one. The most common and important are here, but you may find that you need more or a different combination than other people do.
Windshield Repair
Windshield damage happens in many car accidents – even relatively minor ones. A rock thrown from a truck can cause an instant huge crack in your windshield, and you can’t do anything to avoid it. Especially in northern states, where winter involves huge quantities of sodium and magnesium salts being poured on roads to melt ice and keep them clear.
In this environment, your windshield is not only subject to large debris, but the grinding abrasion of sand and salt all winter long, and well into the spring. Even if you avoid the big things, there’s no way to avoid the small abrasives. So, a very minor accident happens, and then, boom! A giant crack appears, seemingly out of nowhere. Windshield repairs are services you may need after an accident. Fortunately, insurance agencies often include very low-cost insurance riders to cover windshield repairs.
Tire Replacement
Many car accidents can damage or destroy your tires. Driving through the scene of another accident can result in driving over metal or glass that pierces your tires, and while sometimes you can have a small enough tire puncture that it’s ok and you can get a quick repair done, the tire will never be as solid again. In this case, it’s fine to admit that your vehicle needs a replacement and buy a new set of tires. Your car repair shop provides this among other services you may need after an accident.
Tire replacement services typically range between $400 and $1000, so it’s something to discuss with your provider. Accident tire replacements will often overrun your deductible unless you have a very high deductible insurance plan. People will often get lower-quality tires than the ones that were originally provided with their vehicle when they get in an accident to save money. While this is always an option, when you do this, you run the risk of needing a replacement sooner, which will cost you more money in the long run. Consider replacing tires with high-quality tires that are more durable and longer lasting than the cheap tires that you will often get in a standard replacement.
An Accident is a Time to Lawyer Up
When you get into a car accident, there is a serious chance that you will get involved in some major legal altercations. Insurance will cover typical car accident expenses, but especially if the accident was particularly bad, insurance will try to argue that they were not responsible for the expenses. You may find yourself sued or indicted for automobile-related driving offenses if you were the only participant whose vehicle was relatively unscathed or if one or more other accident victims ended up in the hospital.
Car accident lawyers‘ services you may need after an accident include consultation to determine potential liability. You should have this consultation, if you’re concerned about the effects of your accident, within a week of the accident. You can be in legal jeopardy and not realize it. A lawyer can help mitigate that jeopardy. Call your car accident lawyers as soon as you know you need them.
Personal Injury Lawyers
It’s not just your car that needs attention in the wake of a car accident, it’s you, too. Your body just underwent massive deceleration and even a full airbag system and properly worn seatbelts can’t completely erase that. Whiplash and sprains are common after a car accident.
Make sure that you’re legally represented for your injury needs. Car accident-focused personal injury lawyers have services you may need after an accident, and you should be taking care to avail yourself of them. Car crash lawyers have secured big wins for their clients. Your opposite number in your accident will almost certainly “lawyer up” if they feel they can win money from you. You need to make sure that you’re doing the same.
Services Specific to Your Car
When you have a new car, make sure that it’s seen by repair technicians who are certified and licensed by your car company. Your car is in better hands and will receive better care when you have people working on it who know how to handle the specific parts and maintenance that your car requires. A Toyota or Volvo car repair company can save you hundreds or thousands on services you may need after an accident.
Make sure that your car is in the right hands when you present it for repair services. When you have a vehicle serviced by the people who know it best, they’re more efficient and have a better chance of finding the problem and diagnosing it the first time.
Wheel Alignment
A car accident will certainly knock all your wheel alignments off. Even if your vehicle is drivable after the accident, you’re going to need to make extensive repairs before the car is ready to drive again. Make sure that your wheel alignment services are performed at the same time your tires are replaced. Bringing your car back into alignment once the tires are back on the vehicle is a service that the repair shop should automatically offer you when you’re bringing your car in for accident repair. Most shops will not want to see a difficult, damaged car on the road.
An easy way to tell if your car is out of alignment is the amount of force needed to keep it driving in a straight line. Most automatic transmission cars will naturally want to pull slightly to the right and need a small amount of pressure on the left side of the wheel to keep them centered in the lane – this is because automatic transmission, front-drive cars have their engines mounted in a transverse mount to minimize the gearing needed to transmit power to the axles, and there will be a slightly lesser amount of axle, generally to the right of the transmission than to the left. If your car pushes hard to the right or drifts to the left, it’s probably out of alignment.
Engine Repair
The most expensive single part of a car repair is the engine. Often, an engine might simply be replaced. Auto body garages will offer a variety of services related to engine repair, from minor corrections of damaged sensors to a full crate engine that can be installed in your vehicle in place of the stock engine. When engine repair or replacement is on the docket, insurance companies will often try to simply total out the vehicle and you may fight with your hands to repair rather than replace the vehicle.
Towing Service
If your car’s been disabled in an accident, you will need a car towing service just to get it away from the scene. Towing services after the accident will take your non-drivable car from the scene even if the only damage you need to have taken care of is a flat tire. Typically, the towing fee will be covered by your insurance (you are driving with insurance, right?) and what happens next will be negotiated between you and the insurance company.
Cars for Cash
An unfortunate truth that must be addressed is that in many car accidents, one or both vehicles will be destroyed after the accident, or damaged past the point where the insurance company would deem them totaled (at least 80% of the assessed value of the car, typically Kelly Blue Book). Cash for cars services you may need after an accident will help you get some of the value of the car back. They take cars in any condition and give you fair market value based on the scrap value of the vehicle, typically with a floor minimum for the junk car.
Suspension Repair
Suspensions often receive damage in car accidents even if no other part of the vehicle does, and an auto repair shop can put that to rights. A broken tie rod or damaged brakes can be quickly and inexpensively repaired, often costing less than $500 for the full repair job.
Insurance Company
Your insurance company may drop you after an accident, especially if you were at fault in a fault state. A new car insurance quote is crucial if you want to drive again.
Medical Attention
After a car accident, you may have immediate injuries that need attention. If you’re in this boat, an ambulance ride could be in order. You could refuse, of course, but you will be marked AMA – that’s short for “against medical advice,” and it could come back to haunt you. It’s always a good idea to at least get your injuries checked out. When you’re in the world of car accidents, make sure that you have the best medical attention.
If anything hurts right after the accident, see that you have medical attention to take care of the immediate hurt to your body. You need to be together to make sure that your car is going to get the services it needs. You’re going to need medical services right after your car accident, whether you know it or not. Toughing it through an accident is the worst thing you can do. It can lead to injuries snowballing as you try to use the injured body parts to get through your daily life.
Chiropractor
Chiropractic care is emerging in the 2020s as being good for many kinds of bodies after accidents of all sorts. Chiropractic care practices are services you may need after an accident. Chiropractic doctors specialize in neck and back injury treatment, especially whiplash, which is a condition you will often experience after a car accident, related to a concussion.
Whiplash injuries will often get worse over time if you’re not actively seeking help for them. Use of injured body parts seldom ends with those parts healing correctly unless you’re seeking care for them.
Therapy
It’s not just your car and your body that need care after a car accident, but your mind as well. Car accidents are traumatic events. Post-traumatic stress disorder after a car accident is a real thing, and you deserve help for the invisible injuries as well as the ones that have visible and tangible components. Licensed professional therapists have a duty of care to help you understand and mentally process the traumatic event you have just been through.
When looking for a therapist to talk through your car accident experiences, your best results will be from someone who can offer graduate credentials in family therapy (LMFT), clinical social work (LICSW and LCSW), or psychology (Psy.D). Your mental health is too important to leave up to chance. Psychology Today maintains a directory of therapists and other mental health professionals which can be sorted by local area, specialty, and personal preference to find a therapist who can work well with you and support your post-accident mental health journey.
All of these are services you may need after an accident. If you have questions about accessing any services you may need after an accident, make sure that you contact your car insurance navigator or other professionals, preferably on the day of the accident, to ensure that your car and your life get on the road to recovery. Your finances deserve help after a crash.