Car Accident in house claim

Fair_One

I had a car accident a couple of months ago were my car was hit from behind by another vehicle. This resulted in some minor damage to my car and a trip to A&E for a lower back injury to me. The other driver was insured by the same company as me resulting in an In-House-Claim. Shortly after the accident my insurer offered me £1000 for my injuries if I was to settle the claim there and then, I wanted to wait however until I had made a recovery. I have now finished all medical treatment and would be interested to know what sort of figure I could expect in these circumstances? Many thanks.

ukmike

A lot more than £1,000 !!

Quentin

You do need to get your own legal team to represent you.

Don't rely on your insurance company being fair towards you!

Fair_One

I understand completely that the insurance company have their own interests at heart, I'm curious as to what other people in similar circumstances have been offered so as to make an assessment of how fair their offer is. Thanks!

FutureGirl

It depends on how long it took you to recover from you injuries, what treatment you've had, when the treatment started etc etc.

£1000 sounds like a pre-medical offer. You should get your own representation, they'll send you for a medical and compile a report etc to send to the insurer, and they can discuss likely settlement in your particular situation.

Fair_One

Any ideas on a ball park figure?

Aretnap

Fair_One wrote: »

Any ideas on a ball park figure?

You haven't given us much idea of what the injury was, how disabling it was, whether you lost any earnings, whether there are any lasting effects etc etc which makes it difficult to give a meaningful figure.

But FWIW for a back injury which is reasonably disabling and painful for a few weeks, and clears up after that, I believe you'd be looking at something in the low thousands (plus any loss of earnings). Do not take that as gospel - a solicitor will be able to ask the right questions and give you a much better answer than an internet forum.

Fair_One

Your guess is just about right, thanks for the advice.

Crazy_Jamie

I always shudder at the prospects of lay people asking other lay people for advice as to general damages on an internet forum; you'd struggle to find a more inaccurate litmus test for any particular issue.

The new version of the Judicial College Guidelines gives a bracket of up to £2,050 for back injuries where a full recovery is made within three months (Chapter 7, Paragraph (B)(c)(iii) to be precise), which seems to be the case here. A middle of the road one month injury is worth around about the £1,200 at the moment. That should give you some general idea as to what you're looking at, though where your case actually falls within those figures will depend on the specifics.