Car Accident: whiplash

mallymal

Before christmas, my wife was driving my car and was rear ended by an HGV on a roundabout. They accepted full liability and extensive repairs were paid for by HGV's insurers (+hire car for me whilst it was off the road).

My wife suffered a very stiff neck in the days that followed the accident - whiplash. She was in considerable pain and had limited neck mobility, so spent a day in A&E having xrays, and a ct scan. They say it is whiplash, but there is no permanent damage, and it will get better eventually.

Here we are several weeks later, and she's still in considerable pain.

At the time of the crash, several friends said :OOhh - put in a claim" to which I tutted and generally moaned about our "let's sue" society.

But as time goes on, and her pain continues, I'm feeling she should be entitles to something.

So... very interested to hear your views just as a "moral discussion", and would welcome feedback, good or bad, about accident lawyers any of you have used.

regards

mal

catflea

Mal,

I hold a "fairly" moral view on this matter. IMHO the majority of such claims are unjustified and hike everyones insurance premiums up. If theres not a real problem people should not claim.

If your wife is still in pain as a direct consequence of the accident then clearly something is not right and there should be some form of recompense. However, how can you put a fiscal value on pain?

jdturk

If its genuine and not her fault then absolutely you should be looking for something

Lum

catflea wrote: »

Mal,

I hold a "fairly" moral view on this matter. IMHO the majority of such claims are unjustified and hike everyones insurance premiums up. If theres not a real problem people should not claim.

Why not? The insurance companies rip you off when paying you back, "market value" is a massive con that often appears to be based on the cheapest nastiest poorly maintained similar car they could find on ebay.

A whiplash claim is usually only worth about a grand, not enough to break even after being ripped off on the car, but it gets you a lot closer.

Can't blame people for doing it really.

fergies_army

Make a claim and donate some or all of the compensation to help for hero's for our injured soldiers?

horsechestnut

I had whiplash from an accident in 1998., similar to your wife's. This aggravated existing Arthritis and has resulted in me not being able to lift heavy objects and not being able to mow my lawn. (Gardening used to be a hobby of mine.) I still have difficulty lifting even moderately heavy objects all these years on. The money I received has helped to pay for someone to cut the grass, but has in no way compensated for the problems which I still have. I was referred by my GP to the hospital (the one to which I was taken after the accident wasn't local) and did have some Physio at the time which really helped with both the pain and movement.
Hope that this helps.

picnic

make a claim and she should be able to get physio paid for. that will help.

spankymonkey_2

a car i was travelling in got hit by a lorry it came into the back of the car where i was sitting. i put in a claim,as i ached for weeks and was constantly being sick, thinking it was the pain killers i was prescribed. a month after the accident i found out i was 3months pregnant! i got about £1000 in compensation which considering was pregnant at the time was grateful of .

dacouch

Great story Spankymonkey although I would not recommend you google "Spank Monkey + Definition"

spankymonkey_2

ahem...yes it has been done before now! lol:rotfl:

dacouch

spankymonkey wrote: »

ahem...yes it has been done before now! lol:rotfl:

If you had kept to your name you would not be pregnant...lol