Last Updated on March 19, 2025 by pm_author_91ksj
If you have an accident, then you may have injuries with which you must contend. If your accident involved a car, then you will also to deal with the aftermath of that. This time might challenge you mentally, and perhaps physically as well if you have some injuries.
You may also find in the time after the accident that you have a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. If you didn’t have much of a nest egg when the accident occurred, or no money in the bank at all, then this single event can turn your life upside down.
Filing a personal injury lawsuit to recoup out-of-pocket expenses might help, but you can only realistically do that if you can blame someone else for what happened. If you feel that you can, then hiring a personal injury lawyer and getting them to represent you makes sense.
In this article, we’ll talk about how out-of-pocket expenses can wreak havoc on your life after an accident. We’ll also discuss what you might do to counteract them.
What Does the Term “Out-of-Pocket Expenses” Mean?
First, let’s define the term “out-of-pocket expenses,” so we can be sure that you know what we mean when we use it. Out-of-pocket expenses following an accident usually mean expenses that your insurance doesn’t cover. If you don’t have an insurance policy that covers the expenses after an accident, or you do have insurance, but it doesn’t cover whatever happened, then you will need to pay these expenses yourself.
On some occasions, you can’t reasonably expect any insurance policy to cover your expenses because you injured yourself, and you can’t really point to anyone else’s action or a defective product as the reason why you sustained the injury. When that happens, it’s unfortunate, since you have little choice but to come up with the money on your own.
The Cost Might Wipe Out Your Savings
If you have some out-of-pocket expenses following an accident, then you might have to use whatever money you have in savings. For instance, if an accident injured you, and you know that you have to go see a doctor, then you might have health insurance through your work that you can use to offset most of the expense. If you work for yourself, then maybe you bought a health insurance policy through your state’s marketplace.
Either way, your insurance might cover some of the money for your appointments, but you may also have some hefty copays. If you don’t have great insurance, then you may have to pay quite a bit in copays before you hit your yearly deductible. Once you hit that deductible, then, in theory, your insurance should cover the rest of your medical expenses for the year.
Just imagine if you need to have surgery, though. Maybe you also need to spend money on medical devices or prescriptions while you’re recovering. Those expenses that you’re paying for out-of-pocket can quickly wipe out whatever small amount of money you had in savings.
You May Have to Ask a Relative or Friend for Help
If you don’t have any money in savings, then maybe you feel like you have little choice but to ask a friend or a relative for help. That’s not an ideal situation.
Even if your friend or relative says that you can borrow the cash to cover your out-of-pocket expenses, that might sour your relationship. You may not know when you can pay that money back, so you start avoiding the friend or relative to whom you owe money out of feelings of shame or embarrassment.
You Might Have to Go into Debt to Cover These Expenses
If you don’t want to ask a friend or relative for the money, or you don’t know anyone who has it, then you might have to use your credit cards, even if you have no way of knowing when you can pay them off. Many individuals feel they have to do this if they have urgent, out-of-pocket expenses after an accident, and they can’t think of any other means of getting the money they need.
If you carry a balance on several cards for months after the accident, it’s often hard to pay all of that off. It could take years in some cases, and you’re paying interest on your debt that whole time.
You May Have to Sell Off Your Belongings
If you have any belongings worth money, you may have to sell some of those off to raise the cash to cover your out-of-pocket expenses. If you valued those belongings, then you might feel awful about having to sell them.
For example, maybe you have some old family jewelry that you have to sell. Perhaps you have some collectibles that you very much cherished for which you can get a little money. You’ll have the cash you so desperately needed, but you may regretful you had to take this action for a long time afterward.
You Might Face Eviction
If you have to use what money you have to pay off those out-of-pocket expenses after your accident, then you might face eviction if you can’t pay your rent. If you can’t pay your rent or mortgage payments for months on end, then your landlord can eventually kick you out, or the bank that holds your mortgage might foreclose on your property.
Then, you may have to see whether you can live with a friend or a relative for a while. If that happens, then it’s easy to see how this single accident and the out-of-pocket expenses you incurred afterward wrecked your life.
Can You Pursue Legal Action?
If you’re dealing with any of this, make sure to consider whether you can hold anyone besides yourself legally responsible for the accident. If you can, then pursuing a lawsuit becomes obligatory. If you can’t, then you must take whatever action seems best to try to eventually get your life back on track.
