Personal Injury Claim

Bubleicious

Hi guys

This is my first post although I am an avid reader of these forums.
Anyway I am in need of some advice regarding a personal injury I suffered in car crash back in July. I am unsure of how to go about putting in a claim for injuries as the car insurance claim is still unresolved. I will provide a bit of info about the accident in order to clarify.

I was driving and approached a set of traffic lights at a junction which were green for me so I drove through. There was a car coming in the opposite direction who wanted to turn right across my path ie. they should have waited for the road to be clear or for the filter light to be on. This car failed to stop and hit me at the front drivers side . The driver admitted liability at the time of the accident but later changed her mind and disputed. There is no doubt in my mind that the accident was entirely her fault.

I phoned my insurance company to ask what the basis for dispute was and they had very little information but apparently the other driver claimed the accident was head on. I don't know why the claim is taking so long to sort out because all repairs made to my vehicle were for the drivers side and not head on .

So, my question is, can I make a claim for injuries I sustained in the accident even though it is in dispute? And if I can where do I start with this? I'm not sure how reputable the companies you see advertising on tv are.

dacouch

You can certainly put a claim in, a good solicitor will argue the case and will hopefully secure a settlement.

It is very common for people to change their mind after admitting liability. It is therefore important if you ever have another claim to take the contact details of any witnesses, photograph the damage to their car, damage to your car, take a picture of the driver and any passengers. This can all help later on in dealing with your claim.

It is also advisable to photograph where the accident happened, including any road markings and signs etc. You could still do this as if the other driver has said he is turning right then the road markings and signs may help prove the chances were you did not have a head on.

I assume the damage to your car is on the drivers side corner and his is also, this should also help indicate roughly what happened

Bubleicious

Thanks dacouch, any idea how to go about finding a decent lawyer for this sort of thing?

Unfortunately there were no witnesses. The drivers behind chose to drive round me rather than stop :eek:

I wish I had thought to take some pics with my phone but I was quite shaken as my 2 kids were in the car at them time. It was also my first accident so when she got out and apologised and admitted fault I naively thought it would be ok. The accident happened just outside a police station, where her partner was an officer, and he came over after while I waited for a tow, so I suspect he may have advised her to dispute but lesson learned for me anyway.

And yes the damage was to the drivers side corner on my car, and the damage was to the bumper of her car.

dacouch

If you have Legal Protection on your Motor Insurance they willl probably be able to handle it or speak to Crazy Jamie on here (Do a search of forums under his name) he is a personal injury solicitor and seems to be on the ball

Bubleicious

Thank you dacouch!

dacouch

No problems pick a good solicitor as like anything you get good ones and bad ones, if you decide to use your Motor Legal Cover let us know who it is with as some are very poor

fivetide1978

Why have you decided to claim now so long after the accident? Sounds like it would be a fairly low speed impact too so what injuries did you have? Not saying it didn't happen but you want to be careful about what you are claiming and why you are claiming especially so long after the event.

Doubt the change of admission has anythign to do with her partner, happens a lot. It will probably be put down as 50/50 by your insurance.

5t.

Horace

I must admit that something similar happened to me back in 1995 and I actually contacted the RAC because they had legal advice at that time and they found me a brilliant solicitor. It must have worked because I got awarded £7500:j

You could always ring the Law Society and ask for some numbers for some personal injury lawyers in your area.

There is one that advertises on the telly as Claims Direct which are Russell Jones & Walker - this is a good firm as they have one of the top disability lawyers working for them and they are the lawyers for the union Prospect.

Also if you are in a union, you can contact your own union solicitors for legal advice to do with your accident.

Bubleicious

Fivetide, the reason I am claiming now is that the injuries I sustained are still having repurcussions now. These are whiplash injuries. If they had gone away within a week or so then I probably would not have bothered but I am still undergoing physio now and there has been impact to both my personal and working life as the result of this crash. And also you say that it sounds like a low impact crash, that crash put my car off the road for 2 months and resulted in a lot of damage and all because someone wasn't paying enough attention to the road. As I understand it you have up to 3 years to claim?

Quentin

That is correct, so this isn't the late claim that fivetide1978 accuses you of. It's 6 years if you are only claiming for property damage.

lisyloo

I think fivetide does have a valid warning about the 50/50 liability though and it was something I was going to mention.

Unfortunately insurers are after the least cost route for themselves.
In the absence of any witnesses it will be cheaper for them to agree a settlement on a 50/50 basis rather than fight to prove you werenn't to blame.
There may well be some evidence in terms of the damaged parts of the cars, but often insurers decide to take half the blame in these cases because it's a lot cheaper than going to court when it's one persons word against anothers (even thought there is some evidence on your side in terms of damage).

In it does go 50/50 then this will be the pressumption of liability for your injuries and if you don't want to settle for that then your solicitor will have to fight harder to dispprove the insurers agreement of liability. This doesn't mean you won't be entitled to anything, but it does mean that the automatic presumption is you will get only 50% as you were "deemed" 50% to blame (for the insurers convenience).

Sorry, I know this is unfair, and I sympathise totally, but I think it's better than you are forewarned of such an eventuality.
Insurers aren't interested in fairness, they want the cheapest solution. (and to be far, customers want the cheapest premiums and shareholders want profit).