How Long Should You Wait Before Calling a Lawyer About a Car Accident in Texas?

Right after a car accident, two clocks start ticking–and most people only find out about one of them. If you’ve done some research on your right to recovery after a car crash in Texas, you’ve probably learned that our state has a two-year statute of limitations for car accident cases. That means you have two years from the time of the accident to file a lawsuit for compensation. And many people assume that means they don’t need to think about legal recovery for at least a year or so.

On the surface, that makes sense. Right after you’ve been injured in a car crash, you need to focus on healing and trying to find your way forward. You don’t know what the long-term impact of your injuries will be. You may be waiting to see whether the insurance company contacts you about a settlement. For all these reasons, you probably see no reason to contact an attorney right away. And that can be a big problem.

An experienced accident attorney can help in numerous ways immediately after an accident, and when you wait too long before seeking legal advice and representation, you can miss out on a lot. So if you don’t want to read this entire blog, we can tell you right now—you don’t need to wait at all before calling a lawyer about a car accident in Texas. Here’s why.

The Two Clocks That Govern Your Ability to Recover

From the moment of impact, two clocks start running that determine the time you have to secure compensation for the injuries in a car accident in Texas. The statute of limitations is on a clock with a snooze alarm, but it’s not the only clock you need to watch.

The second clock has a much more urgent alarm time. It’s the evidentiary clock, and it’s set according to practical facts rather than arbitrary legal deadlines.

Your ability to recover compensation after any type of accident depends on having evidence to show that someone else’s conduct caused the accident and your injuries. Evidence doesn’t just sit around waiting until you have time to collect it. You have to act quickly to secure it before it degrades or disappears entirely.

An Attorney Can Help You Collect and Preserve the Best Evidence

The quality of evidence is at its highest in the moments immediately after an accident. Each hour that passes reduces the quality. So the best time to gather evidence is as close to the accident as possible. 

It is not feasible for most people to get out of their hospital bed to photograph the skid marks at the accident scene or to track down witnesses while their memories are still fresh. But if you start working with a personal injury attorney, your legal team can start collecting and preserving evidence to build your strongest case for recovery.

As the time clicks by on the evidentiary clock, witnesses become harder to find. Memories fade. Footage from traffic and security cameras will be overwritten. Broken glass, skid marks, and other evidence at the crash scene will be cleaned up. Damaged vehicles will be repaired or salvaged. When you have an attorney working on your case, your lawyer can take steps to preserve everything so it is ready to use when the time comes.

An Attorney Can Protect You from Predatory Insurance Practices

In most car accident cases, it is not the driver who pays for injuries and damage to your vehicle. The compensation comes from the driver’s insurance company.

Car insurance companies love to project a friendly, helpful image. But that is just a mask for a profit-driven enterprise that has no shame in protecting profits. While a car accident may be a unique or rare experience for you, it is something the insurance companies deal with every day. They use a variety of tactics to minimize what they have to pay after an accident. For example, they might:

• Trick you into saying something that allows them to argue that you’ve admitted responsibility for causing the accident. If you said “I’m sorry” for anything in any conversation with anyone, they could use that as evidence against you.
• Get you to say or do something they can use to argue that you’re not really injured. If you politely said “I’m fine,” when someone asked, they may insist that proves you’re fully recovered.
• Pressure you to accept a small amount of compensation to settle your claim. If you accept anything, you lose the right to seek additional damages if your injuries need further treatment in the future

Anything you say or do can potentially be used against you. This puts you in a very difficult position, particularly when you consider that insurance company representatives are likely to contact you at a time when you are feeling weak and vulnerable. However, when you have an attorney working for you, your lawyer can handle all communications with the insurance companies, so you don’t have to worry about doing anything wrong.

An Attorney Can Advise You About the Value of Your Case

Most personal injury cases settle before they can go to a full trial. Knowing that, many people think they can come out money ahead by skipping the services of an attorney and just working directly with the insurance company.

However, it is hard to negotiate effectively from a position of power when facing an insurance company unless you have an extensive knowledge base and understand its strategic approach and pressure points. A seasoned personal injury lawyer can evaluate the factors that determine the value of your case so that you understand what a reasonable settlement would be. 

That allows you to decide whether to accept an offer and proceed with the case. Years of experience enable a personal injury attorney to know the evidence and arguments they need to present to convince the insurance company that they will lose if the case goes to trial. Only when faced with that knowledge will the insurer finally make a settlement offer that provides the compensation you deserve.

You Have Nothing to Lose and Everything to Gain by Contacting DeKeyzer Law Today

At DeKeyzer Law, we offer free case evaluations so you can discuss your case with us at no cost or obligation. If you choose to work with our firm, you won’t pay anything until your case is concluded and we’ve recovered compensation for you. If we don’t succeed, you don’t pay any legal fees. So you put nothing at risk by contacting us right after a car accident. 

To talk to Holland or Meghan DeKeyzer about your recovery options after a car crash, call us at 713-904-4004 or contact us online now.