Car Accident - Personal injury claim, accepting first offer..

Bike369

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right forum so apologises if it’s not.

Anyway my mum was involved in a car accident with a van. The other party accepted full responsibility which was good however mum accepted their first offer (from her solicitor), which I read is not the done thing but mum was just relieved to bring this all to an end..!I am wondering, as mum took their first offer which I think was really low, do the solicitors pocket the rest if there was more on the table? I'm thinking about asking for a settlement statement from the actual insurers and not the solicitors? Any advice/experience of this please?

Kind regards

Quentin

The solicitors don't get more and pocket it ( unless they are bent!)

If she accepted the offer it may now be too late to reject it.

Didn't the solicitors give any indication of whether or not it was an acceptable offer?

Bike369

I'm not sure if there was any negotiation with mum but I really don't trust solicitors. Are there such things as 'settlement statements'? My intention would be to bypass the solicitor and contact the insurance company directly.

FutureGirl

From experience solicitors usually discuss with their client (your mum) what they feel her injury is worth, and what kind of settlement she would accept. When the insurer then offer something within the brackets the client would accept - they accept their offer.

Some solicitors have agreements with their clients, whereby they pocket 25% of the settlement amount. You should check whether she signed this or not.

What were her injuries? Settlements will be lower if, for example, you haven't been to a GP/Hospital, or if you've not had any treatment etc.

EDIT you won't be able to go to the third party insurers directly, as your mum is represented. They will only discuss her case with her solicitor.

Nasqueron

With a bike accident I had last year, the other party's insurer issued a "go away" offer on top of expenses which my solicitor thought low so it's still ongoing 15 months later (apparently now waiting for a medical assessment - seems daft to me as injuries were healed after 2 months!) to see if they do a better offer.

One thing to consider is that you don't seem to have stated if your mum simply is happy with the sum and to get rid of it - perhaps she doesn't want the stress of continuing to deal with them or she was given the rough ballpark figure for her sort of injury and felt the offer was fair.