Car accident personal injury

Kayleighb

Hi there,

Please can you all give me some advice.

About 2 weeks ago I was in a car accident. I was stationary at a roundabout and a truck rammed into the back of me. They have admitted liability and their insurers are having my car fixed. My cars rear underneath the bumper was caved in and the metal had a hole in it.

About half an hour after the accident I felt very shaken, was physically trembling and had a massive headache. I also had black spots in front of my eyes and felt sick. I was at the gym, i was on my way there when the accident happened and couldn't exercise. It took a good hour before I could bring myself to drive home.

I've not been to the gym since, nor have I been able to drive since. My baby died 3 months ago and I have been working to get my life back on track, but since this I have found myself crying all the time, constantly having feelings that my family are going to be in accidents and die, and scared to drive. I'm having nightmares which are really disrupting my sleep.

The doctor has said I have bruising to my back which is getting progressively worse, but she said its too early to tell if this is going to be a long term problem. I need physio, and she has advised me to pursue a claim against the third party. She has also suggested counselling. The waiting lists for both are several months and she suggests I go private.

Has anyone got experience of this, I don't have the money to go private and this will affect a return to work if it continues.

How would I go about a personal injury claim and has anyone done it? I don't like the idea of the claims companies advertised on tv.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

dacouch

Are you a member of a union or civil servant

Kayleighb

No I'm not. I havemy own car insurance but am worried if I tell them it will make my premiums go up?

Seanymph

No, it won't affect your insurance - it wasn't your fault - it is a no fault claim - if someone hits you from behind it is always their fault.

Get yourself a solicitor - not a no win no fee one, go to a large practice in your town and get a specialist - the fees for him will be covered by the claim anyway, but go see him, get the 30 free minutes and see what he says.

Do it NOW.

You need to be seen to be doing the right things, you need to protect yourself, you need to make sure if you have problems later you are covered for them.

YOu don't have to use the legal team provided by the insurance company - in my experience and in my opinion they are geared to settling to make life easy for the insurance company - you need someone working for YOU to make life easy for you.

I'm so sorry to hear you are in a pickle. If you have any questions PM me if you want, I was part of a large claim a few years ago, but my advice would be to get a professional you can trust, be totally honest with them and hide nothing of your struggles, and don't suffer because someone hit you.

Once they admit liability (the other persons insurance) their will be ball park figures thrown around - your solicitor can get an 'interim payment' to cover your physio and counselling - this then gets taken off the sum you are awarded at the end.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Kayleighb wrote: »

No I'm not. I havemy own car insurance but am worried if I tell them it will make my premiums go up?

Read your policy document, you'll find you have to tell them. Either at the time or upon renewal.

arcon5

If you are going to pursue a claim, please don't go to one of these mainstream accident management companies offering no win, no fee. They are often only interested in their own gains - as advised above, find a reputable solicitor to take on the case - a lot of them will offer conditional payment schemes (no win, no fee) any way

mikey72

You need to notify your insurer now.
Advise them you are informing them for information only. Expect a call from their PI lawyers, and offer of a credit hire car. You don't need to accept them, you can use your own, as advised previously. (If you are not driving, definitely don't accept the car)

McKneff

You must inform your insurance company at the earliest opportunity. This is in your contract, if you dont inform them, you are breaching your contract.

I'm surprised that they havent contacted you to be honest. Your details will be on the natonial data base so if you do have an accident or claim in the future, this present incident will flag up and your claim could be invalidated/insurance cancelled because of non disclore. This will result in major problems for you getting any sort of insurance ever.
Your premium could go up, even though it wasnt your fault,some insurance companied do and some dont. But that's life.

As for your claim, follow the advice given.

What I dont understand is that you had this accident, very shaken yet you still continued on to the gym.??

Kayleighb

Hi there, thanks all for your responses. At the accident I was fine, it happened 3/4 mins away from the gym so I carried along my way. I was sat in the carpark talking to my mum about half an hour after and started trembling, after that I couldn't really do anything. I never went in to the gym.
I have told my insurers in the interests of full disclosure and they were quite open about the fact that my premiums will now go up. They have suggested I call someone called irwin Mitchell? Does anyone know about this?
Should I look for a personal injury lawyer or just a normal local solicitor and ask if they do this? I can't stand the thought of going through a claims company like on the tv as i imagine they take a lot of money for themselves and I'm really not keen on lining 'ambulance chasers' pockets. To be honest the whole idea of claiming holds such a stigma that I'm really not comfortable doing it however am worried about affording the medical treatment.

Anyway thanks for all your responses.
Kayleigh

Sgt_Pepper_2

Aren't Irwin Mitchell solicitors?

maninthestreet

i don't doubt your injuries, but how can a bruise get 'progessively worse' ?