Property Damage vs. Injury Claims
After a crash, there are often two separate buckets of losses:
- Injury claim (bodily injury): losses caused by physical injuries, like medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost income if you couldn’t work because of the injury.
- Property damage claim: losses tied to the vehicle itself, like the value of the totaled car and loss of use (what it reasonably costs to have substitute transportation while you repair or replace the vehicle).
When someone misses work because they had no way to get there, insurers often argue that the proper way to address that is loss-of-use transportation costs (for example, a comparable rental or other reasonable substitute), not wage loss. But if you missed work because your injuries kept you from working, that is typically handled as lost wages in the injury claim.
What to Document
- Proof the car was a total loss: photos, valuation paperwork, and any written determination that the vehicle was totaled.
- Transportation “loss of use” proof: rental invoices (if you rented), ride-share receipts, public transit costs, or other reasonable substitute transportation expenses.
- Work-loss proof (if injury-related): pay stubs, a work schedule, a letter/email from your employer confirming missed time, and any written work restrictions or notes you received from a medical provider (without sharing more medical detail than needed).
- A simple timeline: crash date, dates you were without a vehicle, dates you missed work, and the reason for each missed day (injury symptoms vs. transportation).
Common Resolution Paths
- Negotiation: The adjuster typically asks for proof of (a) the total loss, (b) how long it reasonably took to get a substitute vehicle, and (c) what substitute transportation reasonably cost. If you’re also claiming injury-related wage loss, they typically ask for wage documentation and confirmation you couldn’t work because of the injury.
- Dispute over “why you missed work”: A frequent sticking point is causation—whether the missed work was because of injury, because of transportation, or both. Clear documentation (and consistent dates) often matters more than long explanations.
- Small claims or court options: If the dispute is only about property damage or loss-of-use amounts, some people consider small claims or court. Whether that makes sense depends on the facts, the proof you have, and the risks and costs of litigation.
How This Applies
Apply to your facts: If you missed work partly because you were dealing with back pain, headaches/head-injury symptoms, and hand/wrist pain after the rear-end crash, that time may fit more naturally under an injury-related lost wages claim—so long as you can document the missed time and connect it to the injury. If you also missed work because the vehicle was totaled and you had no immediate substitute transportation, North Carolina law commonly treats that as loss of use—measured by the reasonable cost of a comparable substitute vehicle (or similar transportation) for the reasonable time it takes to obtain a replacement when a substitute isn’t immediately obtainable.
What the Statutes Say (Optional)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52 – North Carolina’s general three-year limitations period that commonly applies to personal injury and property-damage claims arising from negligence.
Conclusion
You may be able to recover money connected to missed work, but North Carolina claims usually separate injury-related lost wages from property-damage loss of use (the reasonable cost of substitute transportation while you replace a totaled vehicle). The outcome often turns on clean documentation and a clear timeline showing what caused each missed day. One practical next step is to gather your pay records, employer confirmation of missed time, and transportation receipts so you can present a consistent, well-supported claim.
