Compensation claim - length of time taken to come through

Gray-Fox

Hi all,

I was informed last week that the third party insurer in my PI claim has relented and admitted liability.

My solicitor sent them the numerous losses we're claiming for last week. (The insurer is Provident btw)

Any ideas how long it will take all in all to get the money at this point? I mean, there are no more arguments to be had over liability, so one imagines it's a straightforward thing hereafter...no?

pastra

I would guess that they still need to consider what they feel is the correct compensation to be paid.
Probably not the amount you want.

no.1swimmum

Well it can take years - it can be strung out, continually, I had a PI when for an accident that I had when on holiday at 17yrs old and finally got my payout about 9 years later. Now I am not saying that yours will go on for that long, mine was a little complicated and I won't go into to much detail but I was on a canal boating holiday with family booked through a specialist company and at the time (approx 1982/3) we had to take out their holiday insurance to cover all 9 people on the boat. When a claim was made it was discovered that the policy did not cover such holidays! , you do however need to be aware that it can take sometime for medicals, expenses etc and an acceptable offer to be made. I was lucky and qualified for legal aid at the time, but for instance I remeber one medical taking 10 minutes but about 6 weeks for the report to be written. Good luck, I hope you get it settled quickly.

dogbot

The UK legal system is very different to that of the 1980's. The civil proceedure rules lay down deadlines for defendants (in this case being handled by the insurer) to respond/investigate the claim. Chances are they came up to this time limit and want to look at quantum to avoid litigation.

It will be unlikley to be instant unless the quantum (value) is fairly clear cut - there will be a period of negotiation. Hopefully, with a good solicitor, this should be pushed forward.

Depending on the value of the claim, it should be fairly quick.

Gray-Fox

Might I add that:

1) They made an initial (informal) valuation/offer to settle on a 50:50 basis about a year ago, so my solicitor has now (as they've admitted liability) said we want that in full. NB - This offer is for the PI element only. So in essence, they're the ones who've mentioned a price...we're merely holding them to their initial valuation.

2) The other major losses are vehicle hire and recovery (which they have to pay, no?).

3) The remaining losses are also provable and inevitable losses after a M/cycle crash - helmet, gloves, time off work etc.

So I don't see how they can disagree seeing as those things were actually damaged/did actually happen.

dacouch

2) The hire costs are not always open and shut so there can sometimes be negotiation on them.

3) Clothing is fairly striaght forward, time off work can be more complicated.

4) Provident are tight as a ducks backside

As others have pointed out it can take from a few months to years to fully settle the claim, the best person to seek advice from is your solicitor who should know the ins and outs of the claims and may be able to give a ROUGH idea

Katie-Kat-Kins

As a lawyer dealing with this sort of thing, the answer is:

How long is a piece of string!

There is no way of knowing how long this will take. Generally a couple of months, if everything is straight forward, but I have a claim in my cabinet that still hasn't been paid six year after liability was agreed! That isn't the norm at all but there can be all sorts of factors that complicate matters in a PI claim.

SolicitorMidlands

Car hire - how much are we talking?

Gray-Fox

It was motorcycle hire and it came to about 2400.

Mummy_Jo

My PI Claim took 6 1/2 years and liability wasn't an issue. As others have mentioned if the other components of your case are straightforward then it shouldn't take too long. My case was a little complicated and it happened in 1999.

My advice is to check in regularly with your solicitor to keep yourself updated with progress but don't expect the money to come any time soon. Definitely don't rely on it to pay a particular bill at a particular time as these things can get held up. It took 3 months from agreeing on a final figure to getting the cheque through the door for me.

One thing I will say is don't P them off by phoning every other day and I doubt that will get you anywhere and if they send you any correcspondance that needs to be dealt with do it in a timely manner as it will help speed things up. Quite often I would be sent a copy of a letter that my solicitor would send to the other side and they would take over 3 weeks to respond. It all adds up to a lt of time...

I really hope that things are sorted for you. You might find that when they come back to you with their first figure that it is very low and does not account for all of your expenses. It is at this point that you need to discuss things with your solicitor and see if it is worth pushing for more money or not. Again though this adds to the time delay so it rather depends on how much you need the money. If you can treat it as a bonus or something extra that you were not expecting then it will be easier for you as you will not get so worked up about how long things take to resolve.

Good Luck and try not to let it get to you.

Jo

tomt123

Hello i was an innocent passenger in a car accident and the claim is still waiting for liabilty to be settle. My case has got past on to another solicitors so there no cause of conflict of interest. just wondering how long will my compensation take to come through now ?