No matter how good your driving is or whether your car has the auto-drive feature, you can’t always prevent car accidents. Your car could be parked perfectly in a parking lot and someone might hit it there as well.

That’s why you should be prepared for handling the situation the next time you get into a car accident. It doesn’t matter if you were in the wrong, you got hit, or you were just a passenger in the car, having a car accident lawyer’s number on your phone can be very helpful.

An experienced car accident attorney can help by talking to the insurance companies, negotiating settlements, and helping you with all other related matters.

If you’re looking to hire a car accident lawyer or just have one for the next time you get into a crash, here are some tips for hiring an auto accident attorney.

Search for Specialized Lawyers

Among the biggest mistakes that people normally make when hiring lawyers is getting a general attorney who handles all types of cases. While their rates might suit you, they may have very limited or no experience handling your type of case previously.

When you hire a car accident attorney, you need a professional who specializes in this area of law. If they do, they will have years of experience handling all types of car accident cases in your city or town. They will know the law and the procedure like the back of their hand, and they will also be better at negotiations.

Get Referrals

When you’re looking for a lawyer, you should first ask your friends and family in the region if they have a good one they can recommend. Next, you can widen the search pool to your acquaintances and colleagues if you like.

If you still don’t have any luck, you can search online by looking up car accident lawyers in your area and writing down a couple of them.

Finally, you can also call the bar association and ask for a list of licensed car accident attorneys in your area.

Prepare Before Your First Consultation

With most lawyers, you can usually get a free first consultation. While some lawyers provide plenty of information and give you enough time in the meeting, others might simply try to impress you and get you to start paying them.

Regardless, you need to prepare well before going to your first consultation. It would be best to have some questions written down, and follow-ups depending on what answers you get from them.

When asking questions, make sure you ask about their experience, record of success, all fees and costs, who will handle the case, and their communication plan, among other things.

Evaluate Your Options

After visiting a few lawyers, asking them your questions, and getting a feeling of them, you may have narrowed down your list to a few.

Now, you need to ask yourself whether you can handle their fees, whether you think they can handle your case, whether you felt like the attorney will be good for you, and what your gut says about them.

This should help you narrow down your options further and select an attorney. You could also give them a call to ask a follow-up question or a clarification to test the efficiency of their communications.