Whiplash Claim

plane_boy2000

Just looking for some advice here on what my partner has been offered.

She had a car accident in May this year when a car hit her from behind. Basically another car came around the corner to fast and drove into the car behind her pushing it into her (she was waiting at a pedestrian crossing, but luckily everybody had finished crossing when the accident happened.

Anyway, as luck would have it a police officer was on the other side of the road and witnessed the whole event, and wrote a statement. It was all wery black and white - no dispute etc.

My partner suffered whiplash as a result and was off work for 6 weeks (with doctor’s note) she is self employed so she lost about 2.5K in earning as a result.

The third parties insurer contacted her direct to settle the claim and agreed to look at a personal injury claim. She provided details of lost earning etc as they requested. After much chasing they have now agreed to look at her lost earnings, and have offered her £1000 to settle the claim now. In fact they were quite pushy on the phone and tried to get her to agree to it there and then with offers of cheque being written there and then etc. She declined and said when she received the offer in writing she would consider it.

I thought this amount sounded quite small compared to what I have been told others have received, but wanted to ask if anyone else thought this was a reasonable payout, and if anyone else could tell me what they had received in similar circumstances?

Thanks

Hapless_2

Does she have a specialist solicitor on the case? It took 3 yrs to settle my husbands whiplash claim and he had £4,000, most of which was to pay the other people who had to help out at home and to pay for a cancelled holiday.

Esmeralda78

You must get advice from a solicitor. As there can be no dispute as to liability, a reputable firm should take it on on a Conditional Fee Agreement, no win no fee.

The current guidelines for uncomplicated whiplash injuries are between £750 to £2,250 for a few weeks to up to one year. A solicitor will send your partner for a proper medical because rarely whiplash injuries may set off underlying problems which are not obviously connected to us lay people. Without a medical report nobody can give you advice (unless they are being negligent).

The figure above is for pain suffering and loss of amenity only. Any loss of earnings, prescription charges and other expenses that can be proved are connected to the accident are recoverable on top providing they can be proved.

Did your partner have legal expenses insurance? I would double check because normally it costs between £15-20 on top of your car insurance and a lot of the time insurers would sneakily include it in the policy without you realising. It normally covers legal costs between £50,000 - £100,000 which is more than adequate in your partners case. It is a seperate policy so does not normally affect your NCD.

I know it might seem straight forward but I really would take legal advice. If I were you I would go to www.legal500.com to find a reputable firm that deals with "Claimant personal injury" because some solicitors are really good and some are really bad.

Ian_W

An old personal injury lawyer of my acquaintance always used the phrase -
Settle in haste, suffer at leisure!
when clients were anxious to settle claims too quickly without knowing what, if any, long term prognosis there might be for their injuries.

You get one shot at settling the personal injury claim so Esmerelda78 is spot on, get a solicitor and make sure your GF gets examined by a specialist before she settles. Whiplash injuries are generally fairly short lived as they involve soft tissue but occasionally they are more serious and far more long lasting.

A clue to why she shouldn't settle until she's sure the injury isn't longer lasting than she currently thinks should be the fact the other parties insurer wants her to settle quickly. They aint being nice to her!

plane_boy2000

Thanks all for the advice - she does have legal expenses cover on her car insurance so I will ensure she follows that route.

I did originaly think that £1k sounded a bit low, but the fact that they were so pushey to get her to accept does ring alarm bells, and you are right she does need to take her time and ensue that she has fully recovered,

Polar

never deal direct with an insurer for an injury claim - its an uneven contest!!