Pennsylvania car accidents are all too common. In 2019, over 76,000 people were injured on Pennsylvania roads, according to the PA Department of Transportation. Sadly, many accidents are avoidable, and when you’re involved in a crash that’s not your fault it can be hard to know what to do next. The impact on your life can last for years after your car’s repaired and you’re expected to go back to work. Recovering from your injuries takes time and money. We can help you get more of both.
We get this question a lot. The short answer is yes, you should always consult with a personal injury attorney. After an accident, all you want to do is have life return to normal. The insurance company will offer you some money, and it might seem like it’s enough to cover the medical bills you know you need to pay. But before you sign anything, you want to speak with a car accident lawyer PA.
Because insurance companies will always try to pay as little as possible, even if it means putting your health or well-being at risk. From requiring additional medical treatments in a few years to finding that you can’t enjoy your hobbies like you used to, the damages from your injury go far beyond what your medical bills show. The insurance company knows that, which is why they’ll try to pressure you into signing a quick settlement so they can pocket the profits.
If you experienced a serious injury, however, you need an attorney.
The car insurance company has an army of lawyers working for them. Their job is to make sure the company pays out as little as possible. If their driver caused your injuries, they’ll have to give you something, but will they give you enough?
You’re eligible to file a car accident lawsuit if you sustained serious personal injury or property damage. By law, drivers must have some form of car insurance, enough to cover minor accidents. However, if you suffered long term or serious injury, most plans won’t have the coverage your recovery needs. Even if your injuries don’t seem severe now, they could get worse.
If you are in an accident in PA due to the negligence of another driver, give us a call. We’ll review your case and let you know if we think we could help you get more compensation.
You never pay anything out of pocket. Our No-Fee Promise means exactly that. When you work with Console and Associates, you pay nothing until we win. Seriously.
Typically, the amount of money we receive is a flat percentage of your earnings. The percentage depends on several factors, including your age and the nature of your injuries. When you speak with your attorney, they’ll let you know what this will be for your case.
But remember, we only get paid if we resolve your claim. If we cannot convince the insurance company to pay for the damages the negligent driver they covered caused, you won’t owe us anything. Ever. This way, our goals align with yours.
When you’re injured in a car accident, the financial and physical costs can be high. Filing a lawsuit or personal injury claim could be the only way you get the money you need to put your life back together. So, how much can you get?
Unfortunately, there’s no simple formula to figure out how much each case is worth. Your injuries and the details about the accident are unique. At Console and Associates, we’ll look at several factors to determine the size of your claim, including:
After reviewing the details of your case, your attorney will have a claim estimate. While the final settlement may be different than this claim, our goal will always be to get you as much as possible.
A car accident can impact more than just those driving the vehicle. In some cases, being a passenger during a crash can lead to more injuries than if you were driving.
One question our attorneys get a lot is what people should do if their friend or family member is the at-fault driver. Worried that they’ll ruin a long-time friendship, many victims entitled to compensation choose not to sue. We think that this is a mistake.
At Console and Associates, we don’t sue your friend. When we file a claim on your behalf, we seek compensation from their insurance company. They have car insurance to help cover these costs.
Some clients worry that if they get money for their claim, their friend’s insurance company will increase their rates. While your friend’s rates might go up, this is not your fault. If the insurance company determines that your friend is responsible for the accident, they’ll have to pay more money, even if you don’t file your claim.
In Pennsylvania, driving without insurance is illegal – and rightfully so. But just because we purchase auto insurance doesn’t mean we understand how it works, what it covers, and what to expect if we ever need to use it.
Many of the clients who come to us for help with their Pennsylvania car accident claims don’t understand what they’re entitled to, or what their responsibilities are, under their own auto insurance policies.
Since the other driver caused your collision, it should be his or her responsibility to pay for the damage, right?
Not always – especially in states like Pennsylvania that have adopted No-Fault laws.
The No-Fault law doesn’t actually mean that no one is at fault for the accident – of course, someone is. Any driver who failed to follow traffic safety laws and contributed to the crash can be found at fault for the collision. What the No-Fault law means is that no matter who is actually at fault for the accident, each driver is responsible for paying for his or her own medical care.
When you have a Pennsylvania auto insurance policy, this means that your own insurance company will pay your medical bills through a portion of coverage known as Personal Injury Protection, or PIP.
When you set up your auto insurance policy, you had to choose an amount of PIP to purchase. Pennsylvania state law allows insurance companies to write auto insurance policies with as little as $5,000 in PIP coverage. When you’re in a serious accident, that $5,000 doesn’t stretch very far with today’s soaring medical costs.
Many drivers don’t remember offhand how much PIP coverage they purchased, especially if it’s been a while since you looked at your policy. If you’re not sure about your insurance, our Pennsylvania auto accident lawyers can examine your insurance policy and help you understand what it means for your accident claim.
If you have to go through your own policy to get your medical bills covered, you might wonder if you need to do the same to get your car fixed. The answer is – it depends.
The at-fault driver is responsible for the damage to your car. Pennsylvania state law requires all drivers to have at least $5,000 in coverage for property damage they cause to others. In theory, you should be able to promptly get your car fixed or, if it’s totaled, get the money to replace it from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. But that’s not always what happens.
Many times, the insurance company is reluctant to admit their policyholder was at fault and give you the money to fix your car. Instead, you’re stuck dealing with insurance adjusters who drag their feet on making a decision. We’ve seen insurers claim that they can’t determine fault yet even when their policyholder admitted fault to the police and got a ticket for breaking traffic safety laws.
Since you can’t get around until your car is drivable, some accident victims choose to go through their own insurer to get the repairs done quickly. There’s no delay in having to determine who is at fault, but there is a deductible that you have to pay out of pocket. Later, your own insurance company can go after the at-fault driver’s insurer for the repair costs, and you will hopefully get your money back.
As you can tell, even the property damage part of your car accident case can be complicated. While many Pennsylvania car accident attorneys won’t get involved in their client’s property damage claim, we will. We want to make this situation as easy as possible for you, so we’ll help with your property damage case at no charge.
Because auto insurance coverage is so complex, many drivers sign their rights away without even knowing it.
Choosing the “limited tort” option on your auto insurance policy can save you money on premiums. In fact, it’s one of the first suggestions insurance sales representatives make to help budget-conscious shoppers cut the cost of auto insurance. But when you get into an accident and need to use that coverage, this choice can cost you a great deal in the long run.
Limited tort means your right to pursue a car accident claim is limited. You’re not allowed to sue for pain and suffering or other non-economic damages you suffer because of the crash unless your injuries meet very specific criteria.
This means you could have a serious, life-changing injury and still be excluded from getting all of the money you deserve.
You’re better off having full tort when you have been in an accident, but it’s too late now to change the coverage you had at the time of the accident.
But don’t think that having limited tort insurance coverage will necessarily prevent you from pursuing a claim. Our Pennsylvania car accident lawyers have helped thousands of crash victims get full compensation, even if they had limited tort.
We understand the complexities of what injuries pass the threshold, what evidence is necessary to prove the severity of those injuries, and what exceptions could apply to your case.
Pennsylvania drivers have the option of purchasing uninsured (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. If you chose this coverage when you set up your auto insurance policy, you bought yourself financial protection in case of an accident like yours.
You see, the state requires drivers to purchase just $15,000 worth of bodily injury insurance coverage per person ($30,000 per accident, to be split among multiple victims). The total cost of your rehabilitation, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering could be far more than that $15,000 will cover.
But if you purchased UIM coverage, you can pursue that amount of additional compensation from your own insurance company. Your rights won’t be limited by their decision not to purchase enough coverage to reimburse the people harmed by their careless driving.
And if you get hit by a driver with no insurance at all, your UM coverage provides you with the only viable chance to get compensation for the accident.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s Auto Insurance Guide can help you learn more about auto insurance in general. But if you want help understanding your personal insurance coverage and legal rights after an accident, it’s time to turn to Pennsylvania car accident attorneys like our team at Console and Associates.
The statistics are alarming.
Pennsylvania ranked #7 in the nation in 2019 for fatal car accidents, according to U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
Every year, well over 1,000 people die in accidents on Pennsylvania roadways, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)’s JustDrivePA website reported.
And despite a significant decrease in total crashes since the mid-1990s, Pennsylvania roadways still see more than 120,000 collisions every year, PennDOT reported.
More than 3,000 of those crashes leave victims with major injuries.
Source: penndot.gov/
What’s behind these astounding statistics? Human error causes 94 percent of motor vehicle crashes, according to The New York Times.
Unfortunately, our area of the state sees more than its fair share of serious accidents. Nine out of the 10 Pennsylvania counties that see the most car crashes are concentrated in the Southeastern Pennsylvania region:
In Pennsylvania, crashes are common on roadways of all kinds. It’s hard to tell which routes are the most dangerous. State highways see way more crashes, injuries, and fatalities than other types of roadways, but local streets are the roadways that see more injuries per mile traveled, PennDOT reported.
Certain roads are more accident-prone than others – and they’re not always the ones you would imagine. Sure, there are infamously dangerous highways, like:
But local drivers often complain about the crashes on other roads, too, such as:
And Bensalem, Pennsylvania, in Bucks county happens to be home to “the most dangerous intersection in America,” Knights Road and Street Road, TIME reported.
Pennsylvania may have more than its share of traffic fatalities, but the United States as a whole has a tragic track record. Compared to 19 other high-income nations across the world, America has the highest rate of deadly accidents, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported. Measured by distance traveled, our nation still sees considerably more deaths per 100 million miles traveled. By number of cars? We have higher rates of traffic fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles, too.
Almost a third of deadly accidents in the U.S. involved intoxicated drivers, and 29 percent involved a speeding vehicle. Some countries had far lower rates of drunk driving and speeding – so it’s no surprise that they also had less deadly collisions, too.
Since you have auto insurance and you weren’t at fault for the accident, you might wonder why you would even have to file a car accident lawsuit.
But the more you understand about the insurance industry and Pennsylvania insurance policies, the more gaps you notice in the coverage available to you.
If you don’t pursue a case, you’ll never get back the money you lost. You might never be able to afford the medical care you need to make the best recovery possible. And if the financial consequences of the accident put your family’s financial wellbeing at risk, you might never be able to restore it.
Let our team of lawyers handle the details of your claim. But we don’t stop there:
There are aspects of a claim many lawyers don’t want to handle because there’s nothing in it for them. But we work for you. We think anything we can do to make your life easier and make sure more of your money stays in your pocket (where it belongs) is worth doing.
Over the past two decades, we’ve represented auto crash victims all across southeastern PA. We’ve seen crashes caused by distracted drivers‚ drunk drivers‚ and fatigue, or irresponsible driving. At Console & Associates, we’ve helped their victims get the compensation they deserve.
From Center City Philly to the Main Line, we’re here for you. Whether you got into a fender bender on the Blue Route or had someone hit you by city hall, we know how to argue your claim.
We’ve recovered more than $100,000,000 for our clients during our 25-year history as a firm.
After a serious car accident, you might not be up to doing very much. We make it easy to get help – even if travel is out of the question right now.
In Philly, our office is off Market Street in Center City, accessible by car, or public transit. We’re located within walking distance of Dilworth Park, Rittenhouse Square, and Suburban Station.
After you’re in an accident, getting around might be difficult, so you don’t have to come to our office to get help. We want to make this process as easy as possible for you. Our lawyers are happy to help you over the phone, through the mail, or even by email. If you can’t come to us to meet in person, we’ll come to you. We’ve met clients at hospitals, rehabilitation centers, doctor’s offices, or even their own homes.
Nothing should stand in the way of you getting help for your car accident case. Contact us at (215) 225-2040 for a free evaluation.
Rick is an exceptional advocate for his clients. He is extremely talented in navigating legal matters and shows an empathy to his clients that is hard to find. Rick is a good guy and I highly recommend him.
Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chris K.
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