Did you ever watch Animaniacs when you were little? It's a cartoon show about a lot of different side stories. One of my favorite was this skit about good ideas and bad ideas, and it was the first thing that popped into my head when writing about my "coming back" post, hahaha.
So while the other person took my information and I was done taking hers, I took some pictures. This is when having a camera everywhere you go is handy! The damages on my back bumper weren't as bad as the damages on her front part of the car. I wanted to be angry but the other person looked like she was scared enough as it is, so what use will it be for me to give her even more of a hard time, plus accidents happen all the time. And her insurance will take care of everything anyway.
Even though the insurance assumed responsibility, they will try to minimize how much they spend on you. First they marked my bumper as a refurbished one so that the value dropped, and then they didn't give me enough for the rental car fee. But once the check is issued, you can't change anything about it.
It was late July that I started feeling back pains and headaches that wouldn't go away. I was also feeling fatigue all the time and didn't know why. Then the pain started shooting up to my neck and shoulder. It was so bad that it was hard for me to hold my neck up and it feels like my throat is closing up. So Mr. M told me that I should go see a chiropractor. I called one that I found on yelp near my place that got 5 stars and made an appointment with a female doctor. On my first visit, Dr. K took some X-rays. The bottom part of my back is good, but my upper spine is curving forward instead of backward, which was causing my pain and headaches. Honestly before going in, I didn't think it was the accident because my car damages weren't that bad I though I couldn't be that... Now that I remember it I did have a little bit of discomfort after the accident, but thought nothing of it. Plus I didn't want to be one of those people that got hit with very little damage and claimed bodily injury just to get money, I believe in karma and didn't want that kind of bad karma on me.
Anyway, Dr. K asked if I did anything to have caused the pain and I said nothing out of the ordinary. I was biking and running ever since last August and even when I'm tired and sore it would go away in a day or two. So she asked me if I was in an accident and that's when I said yes. She said some people could have a delayed reaction to it, because the way my spine is protruding took time to be the way it is, not right away. So she suggested that I claimed bodily injury through the other person's insurance. Legally I have 2 years after the accident to claim it.
Long story short, because I took 3 months after the accident to seek treatment, there's no way I could prove that it could have been something else that caused me the pain. I wanted to get a personal injury lawyer, but they all said the same thing too, that the 3 months gap makes me look bad and they all declined my case. The insurance offered me $300 to settle the claim, which was pretty much nothing... Even though I wanted to fight it, the more I think and stress about it, the worse my back pain became. So I told them I would settle because there's nothing else I could do.
So that was the "bad idea", don't do what I did. Here are some tips on what to do if you get hit by a car or if the other person was found at fault.
1. Have the person at fault write a written statement that it was his/her fault, then both sign and date it. Because sometimes bad people will switch the stories around when they open a claim with the insurance.
2. Go to a doctor right away just to check if everything is okay. You'll never know what might happen later on.
3. When asked if you're hurt or okay, answer "I don't know" because if you say you're okay at the time, and you feel the pain later, they will use that against you.
4. Insurance companies are only in the business to make money. Even if the adjusters seems nice to you or care about you, they really don't. They only want to save the company as much money as they can. At the end of the day you have to look after yourself if you are hurt.
5. Which leads to, if the damages are big enough or/and you are feeling some pains, get a personal injury lawyer right away! and make sure everything is documented, a long with the doctor's check ups. Do not disclose anything to the insurance adjuster at this point. If they ask to record you, it is so they hope you'll say something wrong and use it against you.
6. DO NOT LIE! If you lie about feeling the pain even though you don't have any, the doctors will find out about it. So only claim injury if it's true.
I hope this will help other people, because that's the only thing I could try to do at this point. I will post about the "good idea" later!
Until my next post! =D
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