Compensation advice

Mr_Benn

Good morning all.

I have my tin hat on here ready - as i know what happens as soon as you mention compensation / car accident / whiplash !

My wife was hit by another driver , who drove through a red light. He hit our car so forceably , our car spun 3 times, and was written off.
My wife suffered serious damage to her right side , arm, etc , which she is still suffering with. She is also still suffering bad anxiety, especially when driving. An independant doctor recommended physio and counselling.

We have now been offered £3,400 for her injuries. Our Solicitors have advised to only ask for £4,000 max, and even to accept the £3,400 if they wont up their offer.
I think our expectations maybe been too high in the first place, but this figure still seems relativly low for the amount of pain , physically and mentally she has suffered , and continues to suffer (tho the indenpdant doctor said they should clear within 9 months).

Just wonder if anybody can offer any advice on wether we should really expect more.

Of course, one always wants for more, but were just trying to get a fair deal . It would seem we are just getting the same amount that anybody who takes a minor shunt to the back of a car would get, but this was a frighteningly horric crash, which we both end up in tears when think what mayve happened.
It has cost us an extra £3,000 to replace our car on top of the pathetic write off valuation. (just a 2005 model).

I am happy to provide more info , but didnt want to make this post too long initially.

Thanks for any advice, and plse feel free to pm me if you prefer.

Cheeze83

i haven't too much experience with this, but from the little I have I would say try to push it up once, if it doesn't work, accept the offer.

The reason I have said this is unfortunately who ever you're going up against, they're solicitors will be more expensive than yours and know how to delay anything if not anything else.

I was in a car accident when I was 18 - it was a horrific crash - 70 MPH into the back of someone who was REVERSING UP A DUAL CARRIDGEWAY.

My car was a complete write off, I spent 2 days in hospital strapped to a bed when they check if my neck and back were broken, had to have a month off work and get taxi's everywhere because the bus was too difficult.

My compensation? £4,000.

The only way you're likely to get any more than what they're offering is by going to court, and basically being scrutinized for every single little thing - and to be honest, you wouldn't get much more for your trouble except a further 2 year wait for your money.

Mr_Benn

To be honest neither of us has the energy right now to go to court, and i think it will just add to the stress my wife has encountered , so we would rather settle before that.

My current thought s to tell our solicitor we dont accept the other sides bid , but its how much do we want . £4,500-£5,000 is my thought, and see idf the other side budges. Our solicitor has strongly warned us against making un-realistic offers, but it felt liek they were just trying to stop us going to court. They also wanted us to to sign a document letting them negotiate the price - ermmm , no way jose.

Quentin

You have a solicitor yet don't want to accept their advice or let them act for you.

Maybe you need to consider changing your solicitor?

Cheeze83

it's worth going back with a counter offer, but dont hold out for it. You've been offered £3,400, but want £5k is that about right?

My suggestion is ask your solicitors to go back for £5,000 but inform them you're willing to settle for £4,000.

I think personally that would be the nest way to go. And hey, take the £4,000, go on holiday somewhere nice for a couple of weeks and forget about it all.

f you believe everything everyone is saying - we only have to December to live so grab life by the horns and enjoy what you can =D

Mr_Benn

I would assume its too late to change solicitors anyway ?

They are just giving us the impression they want it sorted quickly , and arent giving us any real vibes about working for us as such , more workign for them ! Theyve never doena anything legally wrong, I guess I just wouldve like a more pro-active type of service.
Maybe were just small fish in their pond.

I think if we ask for 4,500 , they will probably try and make us settle for 4,000. But if we say 5,000 , maybe they will offer that bit more, or will they just say naff off...see you in court ... dilema.

Cheeze83

don't think they'd go straight to court from your counter offer. I think, by the sounds of it they've made their first offer.

Go back with a counter offer and then they will proba give their final offer.

Can't say for sure though so that bit is probably worth discussing with your solicitor.

Maybe call them and say "OK, I want £5k. Go back with that and ask them for their final offer"

That should get it sorted.

mikey72

The solicitor may be keen to get their fees, rather than fight on. I would tell him to ask for £5000, but you'll accept £4500. He'll probably pass all of this on, and get an offer for £4500.

What did they offer for the car, compared to it's worth?
Was that your insurers, or theirs?

Mr_Benn

Car insurance paid us just £1,000 for our car. It was a 52 plate Rover 45 in excellent condition.
The going price on the main Auto sites was £1,500 , but they just wouldnt pay it. They kept using examples of cars 100 miles away. Id slaughter Tesco's for paying that little out, but Id guess many do the same. Joke.

I like the idea of saying ask for 5k , but tell solicitor that we may accept 4.5 .BUT I get the feeling they would somehow let the other side know that and just wrap it up quickly. Mmmmm

What I really would like some advice on is what can I go back to the solicitor and say why its worth more than the 4k they say we should ask for ? They seem to be putting that barrier in our way.
Thanks.

mikey72

Mr_Benn wrote: »

Car insurance paid us just £1,000 for our car. It was a 52 plate Rover 45 in excellent condition.
The going price on the main Auto sites was £1,500 , but they just wouldnt pay it. They kept using examples of cars 100 miles away. Id slaughter Tesco's for paying that little out, but Id guess many do the same. Joke. .............

If it was your insurer that paid (not theirs), they should have valued it as the FOS advise.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

If you think the £1000 was too low after checking as per the link, (I assume that was before they took your excess off) I would write to them now, ask them to re-open the valuation, and advise them of the figure you obtain by the methods described in the link, and ask for the difference.

If they do not agree to your new figure (assuming it's higher) refer it to the FOS.

Just because you didn't have the information when you accepted their offer doesn't mean they haven't treated you fairly, and you can't complain later now you know what the industry guidelines they should have worked to are.

If their insurer paid you, I'm afraid there isn't much you can do now though.

Mr_Benn wrote: »

.............I like the idea of saying ask for 5k , but tell solicitor that we may accept 4.5 .BUT I get the feeling they would somehow let the other side know that and just wrap it up quickly..

I sure it's the first thing he'll say to them. Use it to your advantage though.

Crazy_Jamie

I find it quite surprising that whilst there is a lot of advice in this thread regarding how to pitch your next offer(s), you haven't actually stated what your wife's injuries are. Not that I'm asking you to provide those details if you don't want to, but the simple point is that you shouldn't be taking advice on making offers in personal injury litigation from people who have no idea what the correct valuation of your wife's injuries is.

The job of valuing those injuries falls on your solicitor, and s/he should be specifically trained to do that. The valuation you have been given by your solicitor is £4,000. Do you have any reason to doubt that valuation other than your own 'gut' feeling as to how much the injury is worth? Has your solicitor obtained an opinion from a barrister as to whether the offer of £3,400 should be accepted, and if not on the level of a competitive counter offer? If not, perhaps this is something you should ask your solicitor about.

If you want to put down in a couple of sentences what your wife's main injuries are and the prognosis period (i.e. how long is she going to take to recover from the date of the accident; you mention nine months but it is not clear if this is from the date of the accident), then I'd be happy to give you a very rough idea of a valuation, but it would be very rough without seeing the full medical report.

One thing you should absolutely not be doing, though, is taking advice from people on an internet forum who are doing little more than plucking figures out of the air. This is not an arbitrary game that you're playing with the other side. Injuries can be valued within a bracket, and making/rejecting offers based on little more than gut feelings is not wise.