If you have been involved in an auto accident before, you would have noticed the process you went through when filing your claims. This includes things like determining who was at fault, who would pay the compensation, what the compensation covers, and so on. That may lead you to think that all accidents involving vehicles are handled that way, but that is not true. Settling truck accident claims is more tasking than auto accident claims. This is because of the nature of trucks themselves and the circumstances surrounding the accident. To handle a truck accident claim, you would need a truck accident lawyer from Barrios & Machado LLP to help you with your case.
While truck accident claims and auto accident claims might have some things in common, like the fact that they both take place on the road, it always involves another car, it results in injuries, and so forth, they are both approached differently and a lot of things are considered when dealing with a truck accident injury claim. For example, both state and federal laws guide truck operation and this could make your case trickier. To win your truck accident injury claim, you would need the services of Barrios & Machado LLP to represent you in court and help you fight for justice.
In this article, we would be looking at what makes a truck accident claim different from an auto accident claim.
Truck Accidents Result In More Damages
Compared to auto accidents, truck accidents result in more damages and injuries that could change the nature of the case. Some of the injuries resulting from a collision with a truck can lead to permanent disability and some may even require an extended stay at the hospital for proper treatment. It may take months or even years before one realizes the true nature of their injuries and for them to come up with the total treatment cost. This can slow down the case until you are sure of the true nature of your accidents.
Trucks Are Guided By Both Federal And State Laws
When on the road, trucks have both federal and state laws that help guide their manner of operation. These laws relate to things like operation time, insurance, as well as records that could help you. When filing a truck accident claim, you would have to specify which of the laws were violated and this could be very confusing to do, seeing that both federal and state have almost the same laws at times.
Truck Accidents Involve More People
In a typical auto accident, you would only be up against the at-fault driver and their insurance agency, but a truck accident involves so many people and this makes it very difficult to determine who is at fault. There are so many people to blame that you might not know where to begin. Some of the people involved include:
- the truck driver
- their employer
- the truck manufacturer
- the owner of the goods that were being transported
- as well as a host of insurance companies.
Every party that gets involved in a truck accident claim would have an insurance company representing them and all that helps to make the whole thing more complicated. As expected, there would be counterclaims from some of the parties involved and the whole case could drag on for years. The more people involved, the more difficult it is to find who to hold responsible.
Truck Accidents Require A More Thorough Investigation
The scale of investigation to be conducted following a truck accident is always wide and involves a lot of things you would not encounter in your normal investigation of an auto accident.
An auto accident would require investigation into things like the extent of damage on both cars, camera footage showing how the accident happened, statements from witnesses, as well as a survey of the area where the accident happened. But a truck accident investigation involves more than that. This is because you need every bit of evidence you can get to strengthen your claim. The investigation would also, one way or the other, affect all concerned parties linked to the accident.
Some of the things that may be examined when investigating a truck accident include the qualifications of the driver, the vehicle’s maintenance history, driver’s record information, any information about past accidents, data from systems in the truck, and so on. All of that has to be properly evaluated and investigated to push your claims ahead. The investigation could take months or years just to finalize.
Truck Accident Claims Involve More Insurance Companies
One other thing that makes truck accidents more complicated are the many insurance companies that would be involved in just a case. This is because different insurance policies and companies cover separate parts of the truck. The driver of the truck would be covered by one company and a kind of policy, but the truck itself would also be under another kind of policy and would be covered by another company. The cargo being hauled by the truck would have a separate policy cover and company. This makes it increasingly difficult to find out the insurance company to hold liable.
Truck Accidents Require A Truck accident lawyer
Truck accidents fall under personal injury claims, meaning that you are entitled to some compensation. But not every personal injury lawyer would be helpful in this case. What you need is a truck accident lawyer. Again, you have to be careful. There are auto accident lawyers and they only handle cases that deal with cars, from sedans to SUVs. A lawyer who specializes in auto accident claims would not be able to take your truck accident case. You need a lawyer experienced in truck accident cases. An experienced truck accident lawyer would know how to conduct investigations and uncover evidence, they would be familiar with both federal and state truck laws, they would also find out the parties involved in the case, and know how to determine liability.
That is why you need to go for an experienced and qualified truck accident lawyer who would provide you every necessary assistance and help you recover your compensation.
