Hit Twice in an Auto Accident

Video Transcript:

Cindy: What to do if you’re in an automobile accident and you’re hit twice? That’s our topic on this episode of Main Street Law. My guest is South Carolina personal injury attorney, George Sink of George Sink Injury Lawyers and George, how are you doing today?

George: Doing fine, Cindy. How are you?

Cindy: I’m great. Thank you. Well, George, one difficult situation that comes up is when you’re involved in an auto accident and very soon afterwards, you get hit again? When does this situation typically come up?

George: Well, we call this a one-two-three collision. It’s usually when one car rear-ends the other and then a third car comes along and hits the second.

The other way we may hear about this is when car one struck by car two and then another car comes along and either strikes car one or the driver of car one after the driver of car one leaves their car.

Cindy: Alright, then what problems are presented when you are hit twice?

George: Cindy, it’s usually a coverage issue. For example, it’s very difficult at times to determine which damage was caused by which collision.

Cindy: Alright, and what is it that you look for in a situation like this, George?

George: We want to know if your client—car number one, felt one or two collisions. Usually, the amount of time that passes between the collisions is critical. If it’s a short amount of time between both collisions, it’s usually considered one incident for coverage purposes. If there was a lot of time that passes between the two collisions, there may be two incidents for purposes of allocating insurance coverage and responsibility.

Cindy: Okay now George, what would be considered a lot of time? Are we talking 30 seconds, five minutes?

George: There is no law determining the amount of time. It really depends on the circumstances.

Cindy: Okay and what should you do if you’re involved in one of these situations?

George: Cindy, I advise all of our clients to carry a lot of under insured motorist coverage—that’s coverage that helps you no matter how much coverage and the personal injuries you have, but the one thing you can count on is you can bet the insurance companies for the two cars that hit you are going to accuse each other of causing all of the damage to avoid paying the money for the damage that they caused.

Cindy: And that makes sense and I think that’s another reason why I hope people that listen to this realize the importance of having representation in a situation like this, and George if someone needs to talk with you personally, how can they reach you?

George: You can get us at 1-800-849-SINK or on the internet, www.sinklaw.com.

Cindy: George, thanks so much.

George: Thank you, Cindy.

Cindy: This is Cindy Speaker for State Law TV.