Difference Between Personal Injury and Property Damage

When injured in a car accident, you must make a claim to pursue a personal injury case, but you are not required to have significant injuries or damages to make a claim.  If this is applicable to you, you have two separate components of your claim: the personal injury component and the property damage component. Each aspect is fundamentally different and may even require different lawyers. But here at Quattrochi, Torres, and Taormina, P.A., we handle property damage for free (that’s right, free!) as long as it is a personal injury case as well. Many attorneys do not address the property damage aspect,leaving you as a claimant to fend for yourself against experienced insurance adjusters. Contact us today and we can handle all of your needs at one time.

Now let’s look at the difference between the two:

Personal Injury:

When you are injured in an accident and sustain injuries you may require immediate hospital treatment. If you seek legal assistant for these injuries then your are pursuing a personal injury case.  If you do not seek emergency transportation or immediate hospital treatment visit our “ Common Mistakes made after a Car Accident ” blog post, which can be helpful immediately after a motor vehicle accident. Not every accident requires hospital treatment, but common injuries rant from broken bones, slipped disks, aching joints, soft tissue injuries.  Your attorney will organize your medical records and bills to track the physical and financial loss that you have endured as a result of the car accident. Your attorney is responsible for minimizing the trials and tribulations of the claims process and maximizing the overall value of your personal injury case. At Quattrochi, Torres, and Taormina our goals is to make you whole by ensuring that your receive medical treatment and maximizing the amount of money you walk away with in your pocket. 

Property Damage:

Unlike our bodies, property damage can be simple .In most situations, the value of the car prior to the accident (fair market value) is assessed and that owner should be reimbursed for that full value.  However, there are a few tedious acts that must be thoroughly done in order to maximize the potential of your property damage. First, you want to immediately contact both insurance carriers to notify them about the accident.  In turn, the responsible insurance company will assign an adjuster to your claim, send a representative out to inspect your vehicle (or request the vehicle be taken to a specific entity for inspection) and make you a monetary offer. If the amount offered is less than the value of your vehicle, it would be advisable not to accept the offer.  Because property damage claims can be short and straight forward, many attorneys find it unnecessary to take on the claim.  However, here at Quattrochi, Torres, and Taormina, P.A., our property damage lawyers want to do their best to make you whole and that includes your vehicle too. So, don’t hesitate, contact us today!