What Losses Are Incurred by Car Accident Victims?
If you live in Belleville, Illinois, you probably already know it’s not the busiest city in the world, but it’s no quiet village either. Belleville sits in St. Clair County, right across the river from St. Louis. It’s got that midwestern mix of residential calm and urban spillover traffic, so while you may enjoy a peaceful neighborhood, one careless driver on West Main Street or near Route 15 can change your entire life in seconds.
When you think about the losses a car accident victim faces, you can’t just stop at bent fenders or an ER visit. Every car accident is different, but the types of losses victims suffer tend to fall into the same core categories. Some are easy to calculate, like your hospital bill. Others are deeply personal and more difficult to put into numbers, but just as important.
If you’ve been in a serious car crash, the best thing you can do is understand every kind of damage you’ve suffered and make sure you’re compensated fully. An auto accident attorney in Belleville is often your best shot at getting maximum compensation.
In this article, we’ll be focusing on the major losses that car accident victims incur.
Economic Damages
Economic damages are the ones that are more straightforward. They include actual bills, lost income, and anything else that affects your wallet directly. Here are the primary categories:
Medical Expenses
After a crash, medical bills often come in waves. You’d have to make payments for ambulance rides, surgeries, follow-up appointments, therapy, devices like crutches or braces, and sometimes even long-term care. And if your injuries are serious, you could be looking at years of treatment, or even a lifetime of support.
To claim these costs, they have to be reasonable, necessary, and ordered by a doctor. That means every appointment, every treatment, and every penny needs to be documented. Otherwise, the insurance company can and will push back.
Lost Wages and Future Income
Let’s say you miss work for a few weeks because of the crash. That’s money gone. But what if your injuries are serious enough that you can’t go back to your job at all, or maybe you can work, but not in the same role or for the same pay? That’s when reduced earning capacity comes into play.
Other Out-of-Pocket Costs
All the random expenses that pop up after a car crash. Need a rental car while yours is in the shop, paying for Uber rides to get to physical therapy, or even driving out of town to see a specialist, they can eat into your finances. The good news is that they’re recoverable, if you track them.
Property Damage
If your car’s been wrecked, you’re not just entitled to repairs or a replacement. You can also be compensated for personal items that were inside, or for the reduced value of your vehicle, even after repairs. But again, you’ll need solid documentation. Pictures, repair estimates, and receipts all matter here.
Non-Economic Damage
These damages are about what the crash did to your life, not just your bank account. They’re harder to measure, but sometimes even more damaging in the long run.
Pain and Suffering
Pain and suffering cover everything from the constant ache in your back to the sleepless nights, the flashbacks, and the fear of driving again. It also includes emotional distress like anxiety, depression, and trauma. Some people even develop PTSD after a crash; it’s called vehophobia, and it can seriously disrupt someone’s daily life.
Loss of Consortium
If you're married or in a long-term partnership, your injury doesn’t just affect you. It affects your partner, too. Maybe you can’t be as affectionate or supportive as you used to be. Maybe you can’t be intimate anymore, or your emotional struggles are pushing the relationship to the edge.
Your spouse or partner may be able to file a claim of their own for what’s called loss of consortium, because their life was changed, too.