What Compensation Can Be Recovered After a Car Accident?

You have a legal right to recover compensation for your financial, emotional, and physical losses and harms resulting from a car accident. The law refers to these losses as damages.

Keep reading to learn more from our Orange County car accident lawyers.

What Compensation for Economic Damages May Be Recovered After a Car Accident? 

Economic damages are the losses you experience due to a car accident that have a specific monetary value. Insurance companies generally ask only about the cost of auto repairs and medical expenses.

However, compensation for economic damages may cover the following: 

• Lost employment revenue and benefits: Past and future wages, commissions, tips, bonuses, savings and retirement contributions, earned time off, and lost earning capacity
• Home and transportation modifications: Ramps and lifts for home mobility, wheelchair-accessible vehicles with ramp systems, and the cost of alterations to accommodate mobility challenges
• Out-of-pocket costs: Meals, mileage, and accommodations for appointments
• Service costs due to your injuries: Childcare, shopping, lawncare, house cleaning, and personal at-home care
• Future medical costs: Anticipated surgeries, therapies, medications, and cost adjustments due to inflation
• Costs due to a loved one’s death: Funeral costs, burial expenses, and lost financial support
• Other property damage: Items in a vehicle that are damaged or lost because of a car accident

Compensation after a car accident is specific to your claim. A local car accident attorney can work with you to maximize the recoverable compensation. Too often, the insurance company aims to minimize the compensation you have a right to legally claim.

What Compensation for Non-Economic Damages May Be Recovered After a Car Accident?

Non-economic damages have no specific monetary value, making it more challenging to quantify their cost to you. These damages are often the most challenging to recover after a car accident because the insurance company wants proof of these damages.

Non-economic damages may include:

• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of companionship
• Physical impairment
• Emotional and mental distress
• Pain and suffering
• Disfigurement, scarring, or amputation
• Diminished quality of life

Life can change dramatically after a car accident. You deserve compensation for your non-economic damages due to an accident. The cost or harm of non-economic damages to you can be more impactful than the economic damages you suffer. These losses often last a lifetime.

Will Compensation Cover All of My Damages After a Car Accident in Orange County?

California follows the comparative negligence rule in car accidents. You and other parties in a car accident will be assigned fault for the accident based on evidence. Insurance companies assign blame proportionately. Once they establish the cost of your damages, the insurance company then deducts your share of fault in the accident from your damages.

Receiving compensation for your damages can be challenging and complex, even when fault in an accident is evident. Sharing fault in an accident may significantly reduce the compensation you can recover. You become responsible for the costs to you that remain due to a reduction in compensation. 

Recovering the compensation you deserve after a car accident is not a straightforward process. Insurance companies benefit by reducing your compensation. The loss of financial recovery can be devastating to you and your family. Learn more about your legal right to recover compensation for your damages in a car accident in Orange County.