The repercussions of a car accident can last for weeks or months. You may find yourself out of work for an extended period, dealing with painful injuries and medical appointments.
At the same time, your car could be damaged, and your bills still arrive every month.
Most people turn to the at-fault driver’s car insurance company for help with these difficulties, but accident claims can also be challenging. The other driver might say you’re at fault, or their insurance adjuster could arrive at that conclusion.
Or, the adjuster might offer far less than your claim is worth.
It helps to be prepared for these possibilities, and the best place to start is with your police car accident report. Once you have the report, we recommend consulting an experienced car accident lawyer to learn more about the situation and your options.
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm offers free consultations for anyone injured in a car accident. We’ll review your report, respond to your questions, and identify all options for pursuing compensation.
Where Can You Find Your Goose Creek Police Department Car Accident Report?
Car accident records are maintained for a limited time at the City of Goose Creek offices. You can visit them in person, Monday through Friday, from 8 AM to 5 PM. The address is:
The City of Goose Creek
519 North Goose Creek Blvd
Goose Creek, SC 29445
Traffic collision records become available as soon as the investigating officer submits them. This process usually occurs within a few days of the accident, but you may need to check back with the office a few times until it becomes available.
Accident records are then maintained for 14 days after they are submitted. There is no charge for the report if you visit the office in person and the report indicates you are not at fault in the collision.
Otherwise, there is a fee of $5.
If an in-person visit isn’t practical, you can call the Records office at 843-797-6220. When prompted, enter Ext. 2300.
You can also fill out an online contact form or mail your request to the address listed above. Be sure to include the incident or case number and the date, time, and location of the collision. There will be a $5 fee for obtaining a report this way.
Once 14 days have passed, you may still be able to retrieve a copy of the report by placing a FOIA request. Fees will be based on the amount of research required to fulfill your request.
What if the Car Accident Report Says I’m at Fault?
A car accident report includes the responding officer’s understanding of how an accident happened. They will briefly describe the collision and draw a basic diagram of it. The officer’s conclusions are based on interviews with the involved parties (drivers, passengers, witnesses) and evidence at the scene, like vehicle damage or tire marks on the road.
However, sometimes this evidence can be conflicting, such as when two drivers have wildly different accounts of what occurred. Physical evidence may be limited or obscured by weather or other conditions at the scene.
In these situations, the officer will do their best to determine what happened, but sometimes they may arrive at an incorrect conclusion.
If you believe that your report is incorrect in any way, please speak to a lawyer immediately. We can challenge the report if we find additional evidence to support another version of events.
It’s also important to understand that an accident isn’t always 100 percent the responsibility of one driver. In many situations, both motorists contributed to the collision through driving errors.
When this occurs, a driver who is over 50 percent responsible is considered to be primarily at fault, and the other driver can collect damages from them (or their insurance company, in most cases).
Although you can recover damages if you are less than 50 percent at fault, you will lose whatever percentage of responsibility you do have. For instance, if you are 10 percent to blame, you will lose 10 percent of your recovery.
This becomes much more complicated when insurance adjusters for both drivers examine the evidence and try to determine fault. Regardless of what the responding officer believed about fault, each insurance adjuster will want to make a case that their client had as little responsibility as possible.
The adjusters then negotiate with each other until they agree on a fault breakdown that satisfies them both.
Unfortunately, an injured party can lose some of the damages they deserve in this negotiation process. The insurance adjusters are primarily concerned with saving their respective companies money, not ensuring the injured party receives a fair settlement.
How Can You Get Help With Your Car Accident Report or Claim?
Don’t leave the fate of your car accident settlement up to an insurance adjuster. The best way to protect your right to fair compensation is to seek legal advice from a seasoned car accident lawyer immediately.
Please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation about your car accident. We’ll analyze your SC police report, answer your questions, and investigate further if needed.
There is no obligation, but if we take your case, you won’t owe us anything until we win or settle it.
Once we take on a new case, we’ll work to ascertain how much fault, if any, the client has. If the insurance company has overestimated your contributions, we’ll fight for a more equitable accounting so you can get the settlement you need.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, which is now one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. He and his team have over twenty years of experience handling personal injury claims with a 99.5 percent success rate.
When he’s not busy working on a case, Mr. Awad posts entertaining yet informative videos about legal topics for over a million followers on social media.
To work with the CEO Lawyer, call us at (864) 664-3865.
