Claiming car insurance myself

t8769

I had an accident and would like to make a claim for treatment.

I'd like to see a psychologist for trauma from the accident.

Has anyone had experience with this.

Can I negotiate with the insurance compnay myself, or do I need to go through a 'no win no fee' lawer.

Would I be able to claim for treatment, though it was a small accident.


Thanks

lisyloo

I'd like to see a psychologist for trauma from the accident.

Have you been to your GP i.e. tried through the NHS.

Can I negotiate with the insurance compnay myself, or do I need to go through a 'no win no fee' lawer.
Would I be able to claim for treatment, though it was a small accident.

If the other party was at fault then you can claim off them.
However this can take some time.
I have jsut had a case settled after the statutory limit of 3 years.
I presume you want your treatment before that, so your best bet would be to use the NHS system unless you are loaded or the liability is very straight forward.

Has the other insurer accepted liability? or is their version of events different to yours?
Did you have independent witnesses? did they? did the police attend?

If you are going to get into arguments about liability then it can take months or years so any private treatment would be at YOUR risk and hence I suggest going NHS (or private medical insurance if you have it).

If liabilit is very straightforward or they have admiitted liability then by all means get treatment and put in a claim.
You would be better off using a solicitor especially if their fees are covered.
They are likely to be able to get you a better deal than you could yourself.

t8769

Thanks for the info.

I would prefer to see my psychologist, not the NHS's, is that possible?

The other party claims it wasn't their fault..

I wonder if it is still possible for me to get treatment by my Psychologist - via GP, if this is the case.


Thanks!

lisyloo

t8769 wrote: »

I would prefer to see my psychologist, not the NHS's, is that possible?

Do you have conprehensive cover?
Does it cover you for this kind of treatment?
The best way to find this out would be to ring your insurer.

Normally in this situation where liability is not yet settled, people claim off their own insurance and then it gets sorted out a leisure.
I don't know off the top of my head whether comprehensive cover offers this so you will need to check and rather than trying to interpret the policy then you'd be better off just asking the insurer.

cogito

lisyloo wrote: »

Do you have conprehensive cover?
Does it cover you for this kind of treatment?
The best way to find this out would be to ring your insurer.

Normally in this situation where liability is not yet settled, people claim off their own insurance and then it gets sorted out a leisure.
I don't know off the top of my head whether comprehensive cover offers this so you will need to check and rather than trying to interpret the policy then you'd be better off just asking the insurer.

Very limited - normally up to £100 so probably not enough.

We know nothing about this accident i.e. what happened, who was to blame, why was it so bad that the OP was traumatised (in his/her own words it was a small accident) and you can be sure that even if the other side was at fault, their insurers will not just take the OP's word that (s)he was traumatised as a direct result without investigating. OP should see his GP first if only to avoid shelling out money that he may not get back. And I'm not sure what to make of the OP's reference to 'my psychologist'. This would suggest that he may already be receiving treatment for something which might make the insurers suspect that the trauma is unrelated to the accident.

lisyloo

Agrre with you.

If there is no comprehensive cover then it has to be sought from the otehr party which cannot be assured when they are denying liability.

Any private treatment would have to be paid for privately and this would be at risk of not recovering the money (unless private medical insurance is in place).

So the GP would be the best port of call IMO.

t8769

Hello

I have fully comp insurance. The other party did not accept liability.

Interesting points... thanks

mog_ktfc

Unless you have some physical injury from the accident you will not be entitled to claim for mental trauma.

lisyloo

mog_ktfc wrote: »

Unless you have some physical injury from the accident you will not be entitled to claim for mental trauma.

Can you please tell us why you think that?

I'm not saying you are wrong but for my education (and the general education of other readers) I would like to know the justification for that.
In general law you can claim any financial losses and insurers (whatever their policy) are not exempt from legal statute.
If this claim is genuine and can be righted with money then I'm not sure I see the difference between this and physical suffering (and you can definitely claim for physical suffering even though it doesn't relate to a financial loss).

I would be interested to know/get educated.

geri1965_2

mog_ktfc wrote: »

Unless you have some physical injury from the accident you will not be entitled to claim for mental trauma.

That used to be the case, but there have been developments since which enable you to recover damages for purely psychological injuries - however, I believe they have to arise from a potentially life threatening event.

mog_ktfc

If it has changed I stand to be corrected, but insurance law is different to other contract law, like disclosure of material facts and so on.

Certainly when I worked in claims no insurance company countenanced claims for mental suffering without some physical suffering. Even if that has changed I would be very surprised if anyone paid for any kind of professional counselling following a minor accident.