If you are involved in a rear-end crash in Del Mar, Hillside, Nye, Laredo or elsewhere across Texas, you need to determine how to get your costs covered. If you were to blame for the collision, your own insurance company may cover injuries and property damage you caused to someone else but your own losses may not all be covered. You could sustain serious property damage and life-changing injuries even if your crash was a slow-moving accident. You need to make sure you protect your rights and your financial well-being.
An experienced rear-end accident lawyer can provide you with comprehensive advice and assistance in determining who was at fault. You attorney can also help you to prove the other driver should be held fully or partly liable for accident losses. In most rear-end crash cases, the driver in the back vehicle is held accountable and must pay for damages and losses. This is not always the case in every rear-end collision and you need to make sure you have a clear understanding of who was at fault because even property damage can total thousands of dollars in losses.
Rear-End Accident Costs Can Be High, Even for Minor Crashes
Even a slow-moving rear-end accident can cause significant financial loss. This is especially true when the vehicles involved in the accident are a car and an SUV, rather than two passenger vehicles. Bankrate provided information on the significant financial loss that can happen when a car and an SUV become involved in a rear-end accident. Property damage can be significantly greater in these types of crashes, even when vehicles are moving at just 10 miles per hour, because the bumper on an SUV does not line up with the bumper on a passenger car.
Because the bumpers don't line up, the front of a car is likely to slide underneath the back bumper of the SUV when the car strikes the SUV from the back. The car could experience significant damage to the hood, light system, and vehicle's cooling system. The SUV could also be badly damaged when the car slides underneath.
In situations where the SUV rear-ends a car, the sports utility vehicle's bumper may push up and over the bumper on the vehicle. This can badly damage the body of the car as well as the radiator of the SUV.
The insurance Institute for Highway Safety did a study of SUV-vehicle rear-end crashes when the cars were moving at 10 MPH. In SUV-to-car collisions, the most expensive crash of the two vehicles that collided in the study resulted in more than $7,000 in property damage. The costs came from a crumbled bumper cover; damage to the rear-body; and a broken radiator.
In car-to-SUV collisions, the most expensive of the crashes studied by IIHS caused almost $10,000 worth of property damage. Damage included costs of replacing a grille, a hood, headlights, the radiator support, the tailgate and the SUV's rear body panels.
Cost of injuries can be much higher than the costs of property damage, but thousands of dollars in losses is still significant. Be sure you know who is at fault for these losses so the right person can be held legally responsible.
If you were injured or a loved one was injured or killed in an accident, contact us today. The Law Office of John R. Solis has experience protecting the rights of accident victims in Del Mar, Hillside, Nye, Laredo and across Texas. Call 866-465-9093 for a free case consultation.