Car Accident Rare Shunt

mark101

Took her to A&E last night as her headache was still present. Doc's checked her out, all good apart from a headache, docs said take it easy and noted the area where she hit her head so good on that front and peace of mind, thanks for the advice.

Now today the 3rd partys insurance gave me a call. So the owner of the car was on the ball and notified them before I got a chance to. So I presume I’m better off going via them? They said if you are going to claim an injury its best to go via us as it’ll be processed quicker and you’ll get a pay out quicker…. Any advise on this?

forgotmyname

I think she needs to alter her driving position, Should have been far enough back to not hit the steering wheel.

Driving large high vehicles you get to have a good nose at the way some people drive. Some people are so close to the wheel im surprised they dont get concussion from a small sneeze never mind a crash.

Dont get spending the compensation money too quickly, You may need it for the increased premiums for the next 5 years.
Even though it may noty have been her fault the risk will be higher so increase the premium.

shelly

forgotmyname wrote: »

I think she needs to alter her driving position, Should have been far enough back to not hit the steering wheel.

Driving large high vehicles you get to have a good nose at the way some people drive. Some people are so close to the wheel im surprised they dont get concussion from a small sneeze never mind a crash.

Some of us don't have much of a choice how close we are to the wheel. I am short, just under 5ft in my socks so I have to be close to the wheel to drive

mikey72

forgotmyname wrote: »

I think she needs to alter her driving position, Should have been far enough back to not hit the steering wheel.

Driving large high vehicles you get to have a good nose at the way some people drive. Some people are so close to the wheel im surprised they dont get concussion from a small sneeze never mind a crash.

Dont get spending the compensation money too quickly, You may need it for the increased premiums for the next 5 years.
Even though it may noty have been her fault the risk will be higher so increase the premium.

Make sure you add that to your claim.
Your existing insurer should be able to tell you how much your premium will increase by.

Don't be fobbed off with a token payment from the third party insurer, it's normal to try to fleece an individual who isn't using a no win no fee management company, so even if you do go direct, you can change later if you get an insulting offer.

real1314

shelly wrote: »

Some of us don't have much of a choice how close we are to the wheel. I am short, just under 5ft in my socks so I have to be close to the wheel to drive

Are your arms less than 12" long ?

Many people who sit too close/lean forward to the steering wheel are quite capable of being seated further back.

Think of your hatchback as an italian sports car requiring an almost lay-down position! :cool:

Crazy_Jamie

mark101 wrote: »

Now today the 3rd partys insurance gave me a call. So the owner of the car was on the ball and notified them before I got a chance to. So I presume I’m better off going via them? They said if you are going to claim an injury its best to go via us as it’ll be processed quicker and you’ll get a pay out quicker…. Any advise on this?

Certainly the third party insurer can quickly sort out out of pocket expenses such as repair of your vehicle and hire (if the latter is necessary). However, I would be wary of dealing directly with them in relation to the injury, for two reasons. The first is that they may be keen to settle the case early, in other words before the injury symptoms have fully settled, and/or without seeing a medical report. From your perspective you need to make sure that your wife's symptoms have settled, and/or that a definite prognosis period has been provided by a medical expert before you consider any settlement figure. The second, and more important reason, is that as a lay person you do not know how much any individual injury is worth, which means you have no way of knowing whether or not any settlement offer is fair. In an ideal world insurers in this situation would advance a slightly high offer as an incentive given that they won't have to pay any legal costs on your side, but in practice this very rarely happens. To find out definitively what your injury is worth you will need to instruct a solicitor to protect your position, if only for the final stage of actually settling the claim.

Note that you do need to notify your insurer of this accident in any event, but ensure that you specify that you are reporting the accident 'for information only'.

mikey72 wrote:

Make sure you add that to your claim.
Your existing insurer should be able to tell you how much your premium will increase by.

Whilst there can certainly be no harm in approaching the third party insurer in relation to this, in practice 'premium increase' is not recoverable given that it is very difficult to evidence a precise increase that is caused by this accident. It is never included in contested claims, and if the OP meets an resistance in this regard it would be wise not to push the matter too far, as in practice the chance of recovering damages for this at trial are virtually nil.

mikey72 wrote:

Don't be fobbed off with a token payment from the third party insurer, it's normal to try to fleece an individual who isn't using a no win no fee management company, so even if you do go direct, you can change later if you get an insulting offer.

This is good advice, though as I've already stated the problem is that the OP will not be able to distinguish between a good offer and a poor one. This will likely result in the need to instruct a solicitor (and it should be a solicitor, not a claims management company) in any event.

mikey72

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

............Whilst there can certainly be no harm in approaching the third party insurer in relation to this, in practice 'premium increase' is not recoverable given that it is very difficult to evidence a precise increase that is caused by this accident. It is never included in contested claims, and if the OP meets an resistance in this regard it would be wise not to push the matter too far, as in practice the chance of recovering damages for this at trial are virtually nil.........

It's an expense directly as a result of the accident, it's quantifiable, even if it's just down to two online quotes, with and without the accident, and now many insurers will actually give a figure, so the chances of recovery are very high.
Push it.

Crazy_Jamie

mikey72 wrote: »

It's an expense directly as a result of the accident, it's quantifiable, even if it's just down to two online quotes, with and without the accident, and now many insurers will actually give a figure, so the chances of recovery are very high.
Push it.

I can see your argument, I'm just telling you that it is an argument that is highly unlikely to succeed in a courtroom. As such the OP is free to approach the subject with the third party insurer, but he would be well advised to recognise that are limits as to how far he can 'push it'.

buglawton

Whiplash is usually caused by being hit in the rear, where your head whips back then forward again. Modern cars have special headrests that help prevent just this.

But OP's wife went forward and hit the wheel. Not nice, but not enough of an impact to discharge the airbag? Hmm.

mikey72

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

I can see your argument, I'm just telling you that it is an argument that is highly unlikely to succeed in a courtroom. As such the OP is free to approach the subject with the third party insurer, but he would be well advised to recognise that are limits as to how far he can 'push it'.

I think back in the good old days, a no fault accident didn't usually mean a loading for the injured party.
Now it does,for whatever reason it's justified as, so it's an expense that can and should be recovered, and is becoming accepted as such.

I'm sure insurers would like to keep it as a way to bring "new" money into their overall pool, but in reality it's merely going to be money moved from one insurer to another.