50/50 Claim Help

dickieg

My son was involved in an accident February, and was off work for a couple of weeks with whiplash, the claim for the cars was settled on a 50/50 basis, which im trying to understand, but the bit im really struggling with is that my son had a letter saying the other parties insurance was offering £1200 for his injuries, without him having a medical by a doctor, so my son accepted this offer as he didnt want to drag the whole thing out for years, so he phoned up the solicitors and accepted the offer, but now the solicitors saying he will only get £600 as it was 50/50, so where do we stand, my son as still got the letter saying he would get £1200, any help would be appreciated

mattymoo

There are two parts to any claim, quantum and liability.

Quantum = amount of damages for pain and suffering, lost earnings, policy excess, car hire costs etc. Most can be financially calculated but the pain and suffering is based on a scale for injuries and £1200 has been offered.

Liability - apportionment of blame. Normally 100 / 0 but in this case 50/50.

The £600 after apportionment of liability is therefore correct.
£1200 is a pretty good offer for 2 weeks whiplash by the way. Did he make a full recovery or is he still suffering.
If the latter, might be worth considering rejecting the offer and asking for a med report to be compiled. We are now 7 months on from the acccident and a years whiplash award would be in the region of £2000-£2500.

Although he has accepted the offer there is nothing to stop him changing his mind up to the point where he receives the cheque and cashes it.

dickieg

Thanks for clearing most of the question up, but my son is fully comp so would i be right in assuming the other 50% would or might be payable by his own insurance?

mattymoo

No sorry, injury to policyholders is not covered by any motor insurance policy. The injury aspect in insurance is only there to pay for injuries to other road users and passengers, injured as a result of the policyholder / drivers negligence.

His insured losses are fully recoverable from his insurance company but this is normally only the repair costs (less policy excess). All other losses are "uninsured losses" and subject to the 50/50 apportionment in this case.

dickieg

I,ll pass on the info to him and let him decide what he thinks best cheers