Information About Filing a Florida Truck Accident Claim

Truck accidents kill or injure almost 100,000 people each year. If you have recently been involved in a Florida truck accident and are wondering what steps you should take, feeling lost and confused is easy. A lot of people make common mistakes that prevent them from accessing the funds they need and deserve.

As you move forward, you will want to know as much as you can about the process so that you can give yourself the best possible odds of obtaining enough compensation to cover the related expenses, such as medical bills, vehicle repair fees and time away from work. Learning the proper steps when it comes to filing a Florida truck accident claim will significantly improve your odds of success.

Truck Accident Fallout

Standard accidents are bad enough on their own, but when such collisions involve large trucks, the damage can be even more devastating. Truck accidents can total vehicles, inflict serious injuries and result in death. Those who survive such accidents are often left with physical and mental disabilities from which recovery is all but impossible. Even if you make a full recovery, you will likely face time away from work that will make it challenging to cover your medical bills and the cost of living.

Filing an Insurance Claim and Determining Fault

Your goal is to protect yourself from the damages you received as a result of your accident, and to seek compensation that makes you and your family whole again. One of the first things you will need to do is file an insurance claim.

It is always wise to contact a Florida truck accident attorney BEFORE calling your insurance company. One of the main reasons for this is you may be asked to make sworn statements about the accident and unintentionally admit fault where it doesn’t exist. For instance, you may admit to committing a traffic violation that you were not aware of that had nothing to do with the accident. An experienced truck accident lawyer can attend these sessions with you and interject if they disagree with a question or need to clarify an answer you have given.

Filing an insurance claim for an accident involving a commercial vehicle is not all that different from filing a claim involving a non-commercial vehicle.
With the help of your attorney, you will file a claim with your own insurance company. They in turn will contact the other driver’s insurance company on your behalf and determine who is primarily responsible for the accident and what percentage of fault they will accept. It’s important to note that percentage of liability assigned through this process is not legally binding should the case go to court.

Initial Settlement Offer

Once liability has been determined the process of gathering and submitting medical records and other information related to the damage of your vehicle to the liable insurance company begins.

Based on this information and arguments that your attorney will make for you, the liable insurance company will typically make a settlement offer that falls within their policy limits. Your attorney will work to ensure the settlement offer is fair but if it isn’t, you may decide to go to court and present your case to a jury. This is often a difficult decision and one that your accident attorney can help you make. See our article Truck Accident Cases: Settlement vs Trial for more information about this process.

Contact an Orlando Truck Accident Attorney Today

While the process of filing an initial insurance claim in truck accident cases is not much different than a car accident case, the negotiation, settlement, and potential lawsuit process can be dramatically different. You do NOT want to go through this process alone.

The insurance companies working on behalf of the trucking companies have seemingly endless resources and will work relentlessly to minimize or deny your claim. You need a firm like David & Philpot, P.L. on your side who will fight for your rights to ensure you receive fair and just compensation. You pay nothing for our services as we are reimbursed from the money we fight to earn for you. Contact David & Philpot, P.L. today at 800 360-7015 for a free, no obligation consultation about your truck accident case. We are here to help!