31 Jan

The Hidden Costs Of Car Accident Injuries (And Why You Shouldn’t Pay Them Yourself)

Were you recently involved in a crash? If you were injured, there are some costs that you’d expect you have to pay, but there are many hidden costs of car accident injuries that may surprise you.

In 2021, the total costs of car accident injuries was estimated at $498.3 billion. Even when you factor in the amount of victims, this is a large number – what accounts for those costs? Medical bills, obviously (the costs of treatment), but that’s not all.

Here are a few other categories of cost that result from injuries sustained in a crash:

Lost wages

If you’re in a collision and injured, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to go to work the next day (depending on how severe your injuries were). You may not be able to go back to work for a couple weeks, or even a few months, in which case you won’t be paid either at all or what you normally would receive. Depending on where you work, and who relies on you for income, your crash could have a huge day-to-day economical effect on your life, even if you are able to obtain short-term disability benefits.

Lost overtime pay

If you work in a profession where you typically receive overtime pay regularly – for example, if you’re in law enforcement, or are a registered nurse, or are a mail carrier, or work any job where you are able to work additional hours and be paid extra for them – factor this into the cost of having to be off your feet healing for a few weeks or months. It’s not just your regular hourly pay you’re missing out on!

Lost PTO

If you are salaried, you may not stop getting paid entirely, but you may have to use up your paid leave, paid sick days, or other paid time off in order to rest and recover from the accident. This is time that you could have used for its intended purpose or received compensation for not using; time is money, so this is a cost of a car accident just as if it were a bill!

Future lost wages

It’s not just your current job situation that stands to be impacted by your car accident injuries. Depending on how severely you are hurt, you might need to adjust your role at your job – you might not be able to perform the same tasks as before with the same level of efficiency – you might be passed over for promotions you otherwise would have received, had the accident not occurred. If car accident injuries affect your work in the long-term, your financial opportunities will also be affected! Future lost wages are one of the most significant hidden costs of car accident injuries.

Career change

Say that you are on track to become an executive at your corporate office job. However, you are T-boned on your drive home from work. Because you received numerous back and neck injuries, a desk job is only going to exacerbate the pain you feel. After a few months of struggling and at the advice of your doctor or chiropractor, you decide you need to search for a new role, one that likely will not pay as much as your executive role would have.

Disability

Maybe your injuries are so severe that you are not able to work, period. You sustained a traumatic brain injury and now have trouble with memory and focus, or you sustained a spinal cord injury that left you unable to perform manual labor, which may have been the only kind you were trained to do. Maybe any job will worsen your suffering, and/or you have to take so much time treating your injuries that you can’t hold the responsibilities an employer would need you to have. There may be disability benefits available to you, but disability benefits aren’t as much as you would make working (in the long-term).

Dental bills

If you were involved in a car accident where the airbag went off – or even in one where the airbag didn’t function properly – then you could suffer from chipped or missing teeth, jaw injuries, or other injuries that require emergency dental work. Unfortunately, your insurance may not cover these types of procedures, which can be extraordinarily expensive. In some cases, your health and/or dental insurance will cover this cost. But all too often, insurance companies treat this kind of treatment as purely cosmetic, and therefore not covered by your policy.

Mental health counseling

Another of the many hidden costs of car accident injuries is the emotional/mental toll that getting injured in a crash can take on you. About 9% of car accident survivors develop motor vehicle accident-related post traumatic stress disorder; this clinically diagnosable condition affects between 2.5 to 7 million people in the U.S., and car accidents are the leading cause of PTSD among the civilian population.

It’s shocking and incredibly scary to be injured in a collision. It’s loud, it’s disorienting, and your body and mind remember that even if everything turns out “okay”. You may need to see a therapist in order to drive again without fear, sleep without nightmares, or go about your daily life without flashbacks. Most of the time, counseling isn’t covered by insurance, and it can be incredibly expensive – as much as a few hundred dollars per session.

Deductibles

Your health insurance may cover the costs of car accident injuries, but you still have to pay a deductible before benefits kick in! In some cases, this can be thousands of dollars.

You Shouldn’t Pay These Hidden Costs – Or The Obvious Ones!

If you were injured in a car crash, and it wasn’t your fault, you shouldn’t pay any resulting costs – it’s just not fair! Why should you be on the hook for someone else’s negligence or carelessness (or simple bad driving)? Simply put, their insurance company is responsible for any monetary damages you suffer. However, insurance companies lose money when they pay victims, so it’s important to have good legal representation on your side! Enter The Florida Law Group – we’ve recovered over $1 billion in damages for our clients. Call to schedule a free consultation!