Do You Need the Services of an Auto Accident Lawyer?

Some accidents necessitate an auto accident lawyer while others do not. Whether or not you should hire a personal injury claim attorney following a car crash you were in can prove to be a difficult decision to make for anyone.

In order to determine whether or not you should hire an auto accident lawyer consider whether you suffered a serious injury in the accident you were in or not. Insurance providers have two broad categories in which they place injuries in. There are soft injuries and hard injuries. You need to understand the difference between the two types of injuries.

A soft injury describes a minor injury that takes place to a muscle in the body or to some other soft tissue. For instance a soft injury would be a sprained ankle, a strained neck, a pulled muscle or a thigh that was bruised.

A hard injury on the other hand is more serious and can bring about a more permanent and long-term effect on your health and your life. For example a hard injury could be a broken bone, a head injury or the loss of a limb. If it has a lasting impact on your future and could bring about changes as a result of it then the injury you sustained was a hard injury.

Hard injuries are major and constitute more serious outcomes in comparison to soft injuries because they can cause more pain to the individual and the suffering can last over a longer duration of time. Due to the more painful nature of hard injuries the chance of getting a bigger insurance settlement is there. It is these types of injuries that would necessitate the services of an experienced auto accident lawyer.

Soft injuries do not have as lasting an impact and the discomfort of them often does not modify the life of the sufferer to any long-term degree. These injuries are not permanent nor are they long lasting. If you were to hire an auto accident lawyer for a sprained ankle or a pulled muscle in your shoulder then you might end up spending more money to hire the personal injury attorney than you would get in a settlement if you were to win the case.

Most auto accident lawyers will take approximately one-third of the total that is won in an insurance settlement. The settlement a client would win for a soft injury case (if it was won) would be a great deal lower than that for a hard injury case and hiring an attorney would not increase or guarantee that the final settlement you received would be any higher.

From a financial viewpoint it would be better for you to deal with the insurance provider on your own if you suffer a soft injury in a car accident. However for a hard injury hiring a lawyer who deals with auto accident victims is very wise. Find out what rates the personal injury lawyer charges first before you make a final decision. As a rule of thumb, the more serious your injury was the more likely it is that you should seek out the services of a car accident attorney.