Question about Pesonal Injury Claim

TeaTree6

I was involved in an three car RTC yesterday after the car stopped behind me was shunted into me by a car failing to stop behind them.

The insurance company are dealing with a personal injury claim on our behalf and so got one of their legal team to call us to start the ball rolling.

At no point has anybody said that we must visit a doctor to support our claim. Now before anybody says anything I did phone the drs this morning and they didn't have any appointments for today but when I explained the situation they offered for the nurse to call me back. I spoke to the nurse and am happy that I don't need to do anything else at the moment although obviously if I feel no better then I will go to the doctors.

My questions is will this be sufficient action for the time being in terms of the PI claim as I presume the surgery will have a record of this contact.

Any advice welcomed as I haven't had an RTC before.

Thank you

lisyloo

From the medical side - did the nurse tell you what to do/not do?
i.e. whether to keep moving or rest.
I had minor whiplash and was told to keep my neck moving to prevent the formation of scar tissue.
In some cases this will be appropriate in other cases probably innapropriate advice.
The most important thing is that you've had sufficient information to stop things getting worse or cause permanent problems.
A nurse is probably just as good for this as a doctor.

Once your happy with the medical side, then next thing to wonder about is your claim. I would ask the legal team whether a formal visit to the doctors is required.

Bear in mind that a phone call from the nurse makes your injuries sound rather minor.

I would take advice from the legal team. That's what they are there for.
I'm not making any moral comment or judgement, but just stating that it could be used to minimise your claim.

geri1965_2

You don't have to visit a GP to pursue a personal injury claim although if you don't it is an indication that your symptoms are likely to have been relatively minor.

It does seem rather a waste of the doctors time to have to see a patient in order that they can pursue a claim for personal injuries.

I suppose what I am saying is vist your doctor if you feel like you need to see him/her, if not then don't waste his or her time!

TeaTree6

Thank you lisyloo.

I'll give the legal team a call later and see what they say and I hadn't considered the fact that it could be used to minimise the claim. I am happy with what the nurse said for the time being but if things aren't better tomorrow then I will try and get a drs appointment as tbh I was awake at 2am with pins and needles in my hand and couldn't get back to sleep for the rest of the night because of being so uncomfortable with my back and neck. Two of the three people in the car behind me were assessed by paramedics at the scene so would that potentially support our claim too or would it be completely independant and also would the fact that the police said they were considering prosecuting the driver of the 3rd car (one at the very back) for driving without due care and attention have any bearing?

TeaTree6

Thank you Gerry1965 I would rather have seen a dr to put my mind at rest but the appointments were all gone and when you put it into perspective against somebody who needs actually medication rather than what would presumably be advice initially then I didn't feel I should make a fuss IYSWIM. I do see your point though.

lisyloo

Two of the three people in the car behind me were assessed by paramedics at the scene so would that potentially support our claim too or would it be completely independant and also would the fact that the police said they were considering prosecuting the driver of the 3rd car (one at the very back) for driving without due care and attention have any bearing?

I can't see why this has any bearing on the level of your injuries or pain you are suffering.

You will be compensated according to the level of your injuries/suffering and what activities you are prevented from carrying out in the future.

This will vary from person to person. For exmaple someone pregnant/edlerly or already suffering from a disease e.g. arthritis, may be more badly affected than someone young and healthy.

As regards seeing a doctor, I agree that I woudl feel guilty about using valuable resources just to pursue a compensation claim.
But also you have to balance that with the fact that you may be given very valuable advice for example preventing the formation of scar tissue which can cause permanent on-going injury.

The driving of the other driver will affect who is found liable but it won't affect the level of your compensation which will be according to the level or pain/suffering and disability that you suffer.

TeaTree6

It didn't have any bearing on level of injuries but I'm just trying to get my head around how the whole process works as I don't like doing anything happening where I don't 100% fully understand everything and sometimes things seem to count even when it doesn't make sense for them to. I'm not even actually worried about the claim as tbh it was all sort of taken for granted by the insurance company that we would claim and it went from there. As it happens I am off work this week anyway and so haven't had any time off or anything and all I really want to do is enjoy my time off work without feeling like this and worrying about what should be done and when.

Quentin

TeaTree6 wrote: »

. As it happens I am off work this week anyway and so haven't had any time off or anything and all I really want to do is enjoy my time off work without feeling like this and worrying about what should be done and when.

When you see your doctor ask if you may have caught compensation neurosis!

lisyloo

For minor whiplash and pins and needles that don't affect you doing anything, you will only get a very small amount of compensation, so I would stop worrying about it.

If you aren't being stopped from working or doing sports or travelling or getting a promotion then your compensation will not be life changing. So I woudln't worry about it and concentrate on getting well.

These things take time.
It could easily take 6-12 months, and you'll get an ulcer in that time, if you carry on getting stressed.

Relax, concetrate on your health and getting better, and leave your small amount of compensation in the hands of the professionals.

Personally in your position I would be hoping for hardly any commission, because that means hardly any injury.
Believe me anyone that's been through it would prefer their health to the compensation.

TeaTree6

Quentin wrote: »

When you see your doctor ask if you may have caught compensation neurosis!

Actually I find that quite offensive as I suffer from anxiety and depression and have already been under stressed from some huge family problems and could quite frankly have done without all this stress.

I only asked for some advise to try and ensure that I understood everything so I was ready to deal with it all that was all and like I said I didn't actually start the ball rolling with a claim in the first place the insurance comapny did I'm not even sure if I want to put a claim in.

lisyloo

Are you fully comp?
If you are what will happen is that YOUR insurer will apy for your repairs and you'll probably get a courtesy car from the garage whilst it's being repaired. This will count as a claim on your insurance for the meantime which is bad news if you need to renew.
Your insurer will then seek to reclaim the money from either the driver directly behind or the one that caused the accident.
There may be some disagreement here about exactly who is to blame and this could take some time.
Eventually your insurer will be re-imbursed and the claim will change from "fault" where your insurer pays to "non-fault" where the otehr insurer pays.
You may need to renew in the meantime. This may mean a higher premium so you might need to get that back when the money is recovered.

Your personal injury will be pursed by the legal team.
You may have to visit a specialist and possibly a clinical psycologist to asses your anxiety levels (I have this before). If you have an expenses travelling to those appointments you'll be able to claim them back. In 6-12 months time if your injuries don't get any worse you'll get a quite small amount of compensation as you haven't suffered any permanent disability or anything other than minor inconvenience, pain & stress.
There may be some negotiation and the first offer may be refused.
Take advice from the legal team.

It's likely to take much longer than you would like it to, but if you are fully comp you shoudl get your car back fairly quickly if it's repairable.