Being in a car accident can be a traumatic experience that changes your view of the world. However, you have to make sure that you present an appropriate car crash claim in order to seek compensation from your insurer. Since car insurance companies only care about maximizing their profits, they try to find ways to reduce the amount of money they offer victims of car accidents. Therefore, you have to avoid social media mistakes at all costs. Read more on how social media can hurt your car accident claim.
The fact is that you need to be careful about your social media posts when you file a car crash claim. The last thing you want is for your case to be opposed and ruled against your best interests. It is crucial that you hire a personal injury attorney to discuss all your concerns and ensure that you have an expert representing you in court. In fact, it might be a good idea to stop being active on social media until the claim is settled. The reason why you have to be extremely cautious is that every post or comment on social media can be used by the other party. Car insurance companies are always looking for ways to disregard or decrease the claim and tend to turn to social media to keep an eye on victims.
Why You Must Be Vigilant About Your Social Media Posts?
The world we live in today is completely different from how it used to be 10 to 20 years ago and social media is one of the developments that has been responsible for much of the change. It has transformed the way we communicate with one another. Most people tend to share their lives publicly on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok for everyone to see. Even though it can be quite fun to share what is happening in your life online, it comes with its fair share of consequences, especially if you have been in an accident and have filed a car crash claim.
Social media posts can be used against you which is why you have to think things through before you upload anything on the internet. It could jeopardize your chances of recovering damages. Defense attorneys and insurance companies want you to make social media mistakes in order to minimize your claim. In fact, they might even monitor the accounts of your family members and friends by creating fake profiles and sending connection requests to them with the hopes to access valuable details about the accident. When you put something on social media, it is there for everyone to see and makes it harder for your car crash claim to be successful. It is due to this reason that you need a personal injury lawyer from The Injury Firm to avoid making any social media mistakes.
Here are some of the things that you need to be on the lookout for.
- Comments May Be Misconstrued
When it comes to social media posts, you have to understand that comments may be misconstrued. Even if you write something as simple as “I am fine”, “He came out of nowhere”, or “I wish my brakes were working”, it can affect your car accident claim. Each comment can easily be implied as something else. Hence, you have to be very careful when writing a comment. In most situations, it is best to not write anything. Similarly, your friends and family members must avoid bringing the subject up in any of the comments. It is easy to feel comfortable online. However, you have to be extra vigilant until your case has been settled. Also, you don’t need to talk about feeling remorseful. If you claim to feel bad online, it would be used against you.
Besides, comments about the incident could result in a reassessment of your case and might be considered as an admittance of fault. Even if you are careful online, what others say about the incident could be used as evidence. For example, if a friend comments “You shouldn’t have driven so fast” or “I told you to be careful while driving”, it could harm your case. This is why you need to have a discussion with your family and friends so that they don’t disclose anything about the incident.
- Posting Too Much
Anyone who has a car experience needs time to recover. If you constantly post on social media, it would be considered that you are perfectly fine and that your car accident claim is bogus and an exaggeration. You need to understand that posting a lot would result in the defense attorney arguing that the incident didn’t affect you negatively and that you don’t even require any compensation for physical or emotional suffering. There is a fine line that you shouldn’t cross as it could have an impact on your claim.
- Sharing Contradictory Photos
Another social media mistake that you have to be on the lookout for is sharing pictures that contradict the story presented in your claim. For instance, if you take a picture of yourself smiling after the incident, it could be used as evidence and the defense attorney could argue that you didn’t get injured and don’t need to get compensated. Similarly, if you post a picture of the crash and it seems like you are perfectly fine, it would contradict your claim and make it harder for you to get the compensation that you desire. No matter what your actual pain level might be, it is best that you don’t share any picture whatsoever as it will indicate that you have not been as badly hurt.
- Overlooking Confidentiality
If you share images about the accident, your confidentiality would be hurt. Whatever you discuss with your personal injury attorney would remain confidential unless you share something online. You don’t want your personal information to be out there for everyone to view. Some of the things that you simply can’t talk about on social media include your driving ability, physical health, and emotional state. Otherwise, all of these social media posts would be used as evidence and you would have no one to blame but yourself. It doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong as you are responsible for telling your side of the story and ensuring that your confidentiality is not compromised. You must not mention the accident as the information needs to be kept private.
When you discuss your case online, confidentiality protections would be nullified and your information would simply become public. It could hurt your case and make it harder for you to get reimbursed. Once you share the details on social media, you no longer would have any control over them. It could cause a fire that you are likely to struggle with. Also, it is worth mentioning that information shared by social media is covered by the Electronic Communication Privacy Act. These laws have been created to protect your personal details. But law enforcement officers can access this information as well as the defense attorney when you file a claim. Therefore, you must be as cautious as possible.
- Affect Your Good Faith
The car crash claim needs to be made in good faith. You have to prove that you have no bad intentions and just want to be compensated for the physical and emotional distress caused. However, if you bad mouth the insurance company or the other party, your intentions would come into question and your claim might not be allowed. Besides this, negotiations would be a lot more difficult for you as the defense attorney would strive to prove that you have filed the case with mala fide intentions.
- Reveal Your Location
In addition to the above, social media posts can easily reveal where you live or are at a specific point in time. It can be far too dangerous to disclose your whereabouts online. Also, sharing details about your location such as where the crash took place and where you went afterward can affect your claim. The truth is that social media apps like Instagram, Foursquare, and Facebook can let others know where you are and the information could be used against you. Hence, you must not bring up your location online.
Best Tips for Social Media Use After an Accident
Now, you might think that setting your social media profiles to private would prevent others from accessing your information. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Once your claim makes its way to court, you need to understand that the defense attorney would get access to your social media details including private messages and even deleted or archived posts. This is why it is very risky to post anything on social media following a car accident.
Even if you don’t post anything related to the accident on social, any new post could be twisted by the defense attorney to change the narrative. For instance, if you state “I didn’t see the other car come out”, it would suggest that you didn’t pay attention and that you are to blame for the incident. What you post can be made contradictory by the other party. Here are some tips that will help you steer clear of trouble.
- Don’t Share Online: If you share your life on social media after the incident, it would affect your case. You should avoid it even if only your close friends can see your posts. It is best that you refrain from posting until the case is over. If you do decide to chat with your friends on social media, you should talk about anything but the accident. Also, you need to ask your friends to meet you in person if they want to discuss anything important.
- Don’t Accept Unknown Friend Requests: Keep an eye on any new friend requests you get on social media as the profiles could be used by the defense attorney or car insurance company.
- Avoid Posting Your Location: Another tip that is worth considering is not using any check-in features or geotagging as it would suggest where you are. Similarly, your friends or family members shouldn’t post anything about you or mention the location.
- Don’t Mention Anything Negative About the Case: As much as you might want to talk about your experience, you shouldn’t discuss anything negative about the car insurance company or the other driver. Otherwise, your post would be used against you.
- Disable Tagging Features: Make sure that your friends or family members are unable to tag you by restricting tagging features.
As you should get an idea by now, posting on social media must be avoided until the claim has been settled. If you do decide to post anything online or chat with friends, you must avoid mentioning the accident at all costs. It is vital that you ask your friends to meet you in person if you want to discuss anything or simply need to update them. You also have to warn them to avoid mentioning your incident on social media. Best of all, you could deactivate your social media profiles for some time until your case has been settled. If you decide to do so, all you have to do is let your friends and family members know about your decision so that they don’t get worried.
Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
Have you been involved in a car accident? You need to reach out to The Injury Firm to ensure that you have the best attorney to represent you. We employ the leading auto accident attorneys who have significant experience and can help you win your case. It is advised that you discuss everything on your mind with a lawyer so that you don’t make any mistakes. To get started, you just have to reach out to us. We will make sure that you have the best lawyer to represent you. As we have helped countless victims of car accidents, you can rest assured knowing that we will provide you with the results that you are looking for.