Car accidents. Not only are they an inconvenience, but they can also be damaging to your vehicle and your life as you know it.
In 2020, over 35,000 car crashes resulted in death.
If you are someone that was the victim of a car crash and did not get paid out for everything by insurance, you may need an auto accident attorney.
But where do you find an auto accident attorney in Spokane? How much do auto accident attorneys cost?
This is your guide.
Contingency Fee
The most common answer to this question is that for an auto accident case, a lawyer is most likely going to ask you for a contingency fee. For those of you who are unaware, a contingency fee means that the lawyer is going to take a percentage of the money that you are potentially awarded rather than an hourly fee.
So, how much is this fee? The answer is it depends on the lawyer that you hire. The average contingency fee, according to the American Bar Association, is between 33-40%.
You may find that a lawyer tries to charge you closer to 40%, but if you shop around, you could find somebody that asks for closer to 33%. Judge how important the percentage is to you and if you are willing to give a bigger cut to a more skilled lawyer.
Retainer
In some cases, a lawyer may ask for a retainer. This is a fee that is given to a lawyer to essentially keep them on call. It pays them for their time, and it ensures you that they will still be available for your case.
Now, while most lawyers will simply ask for a contingency fee, others may want a retainer on top of that. This usually happens when a case is going on longer than the lawyer expected.
An example of this is when an auto accident case goes to trial when the lawyer was not originally expecting it to. These types of cases rarely ever make it to trial. Rather, they usually end in a settlement before it gets to that point.
So, if you find yourself with a case that unexpectedly goes to trial, you may have your auto accident injury attorney ask you for a retainer.
Flat Fees
This type of fee is not used nearly as commonly in car accident cases. However, it can come up if there is a minor task that needs to be done before the real legwork of a case.
An example of this is a demand letter. A normal person might need a lawyer to write this to get the defendant party to comply. Lawyers may sometimes charge a separate flat fee to do this.
Hire an Auto Accident Attorney
This should give you a better idea of how much it costs for an auto accident attorney. Most of the time, it is merely a contingency fee where if you win, you have to give your lawyer an agreed upon percentage of your payout.
Do you need an attorney for auto accidents? Message us today for a consultation from the best personal injury attorney in Spokane.