Car accident claim advice

Plushchris

Hi

Had quite a nasty accident on Saturday which ended up in both my 22 weeks pregnant OH and I being taken off to hospital for whiplash related injuries, OH had a scan at the hospital and everything seems fine at the moment with the baby.

My question is, is it best to stick with the solicitors the insurance company put onto the injuries claims or is it better to appoint our own solicitor?

The only reason I ask is that the solicitors the insurance company have put on the case dont seem very helpful, they just said "oh we will email you an information pack and reply to that if you want us to go ahead with the claim" and didnt really answer any of our questions.

Quentin

You need someone happy to have you as their client and showing you from the outset they are on the case!

Get your own and you'll be in the driving seat rather than vice versa as seems the case at the moment.

Plushchris

I thought that was probably the best course of action, just wasnt sure if there were any reasons I should be using the one appointed by the insurance company?

And being in the driving seat is what got us into this problem in the first place!

Quentin

No reason at all why you shouldn't choose your own.

The insurer won't be happy, but that's because they won't get paid any commission from the solicitor for providing them you as "hot" leads as clients!

If you want to get some "commission" for giving your business to a specialist solicitors, then google cashback injury solicitors. Some solicitors are happy to pay a commission to clients who come direct to them (thereby cutting out the middleman insurance company), and although they don't pay as much as they have to pay an insurance company for passing on the business, £300/£500 is not hard to find being paid just for giving them your case.

Plushchris

Not too worried about upsetting the insurance company to be honest..

Thanks for the tip, would never have thought about cashback on something like this...

Plushchris

Just one more question now I know we can get cashback, can we both put seperate claims in to double the cashback?

Quentin

Why not?

You are 2 people making 2 separate claims (1 for injury etc plus damage to the car etc, the other for injury etc only).

(You could make sure by using separate firms!)

Lum

It's better to claim outside of your insurance anyway. If you claim through your insurance company and the 3rd party don't pay up (e.g. because they're uninsured) you lose your NCB.

Only thing to be wary of, some of these solicitors will come after you if the 3rd party doesn't pay, though some also offer insurance against this, e.g. Helphire who charge a tenner for the insurance.

Plushchris

Thanks for the input, never had any experience of this sort of claim, bit of a minefield isnt it, anyone got any recommendations for solicitors?

I dont just want to be fooled by the cashback (although it would be nice to get some cashback) I'd prefer to go for a better solicitor who would do a better job of fighting my case than just go for the one that pays the most cashback...

Been to Doc's today and have been prescribed some strong painkillers and told to check out physiotherapy as an option if it doesnt get better/gets worse...

mollycat

Serious thread, decent advice given as requeusted.

THEN.......

As expected, derailed in the usual way by the usual idiots.

Pathetic.

postmanpat68

mollycat wrote: »

Serious thread, decent advice given as requeusted.

THEN.......

As expected, derailed in the usual way by the usual idiots.

Pathetic.

Well said!.