Minor Injury settlement offer advice

sg0102

Hi all.


Wife was car was hit a few weeks ago whilst stationary. Non fault
claim, and the car has been written off.


She had a bad back the next day and immediately saw a doctor, who advised to keep an eye on it as any whiplash could take up to 6 weeks to display itself.


Short version is she has experienced some discomfort since, not debilitating. She has engaged a solicitor about a personal injury claim, whilst being unsure, and has a physio assessment booked for next week.


Meanwhile today has taken a call from the other drivers insurance company offering £200 to settle.


We have no idea if this is reasonable or not. We were unsure whether to pursue anything in the first place, and certainly not looking to scam anyone anywhere.


Any advice welcomed

Satansallsmiles

Pass the offer directly onto your insurers, and don't engage otherwise.

Part of your contract with your insurance company will be that they will handle the claim, and you accepting a settlement effectively on their behalf will be prejudicing the claims position.


If you accept an offer in full and final settlement of a claim without their prior agreement, then they may not be able to recover the proper costs for medical assesments, physios and so on, and would then come to you for the costs of this.


Your insurer will be there to work for you and assist in this process - You need to use them I'm afraid!

OnanTheBarbarian

£200 is utter rubbish unless her symptoms settled in a couple of days.

Likewise, if you have a lawyer dealing the insurers should not be contacting a represented claimant directly.

wozzza72

Just out of interest Onan, I have had a recent RTA, hit from behind, car written off. I went to hospital same day as my back stiffened up within 2 hours of the accident and had an xray but there wasn't any major problems. Third party insurers admitted liability within 48 hours and offered £1000 settlement which wasn't accepted. I've had moderate back issues and tight neck and am seeing a physio, I have 8 sessions authorised by my insurance company.

The accident has stopped me going to the gym, playing football and tennis once a week, I have sleep problems and am jumpy as hell in my car now. I have a desk job where I cant sit for more than 30/45 mins without having to stretch out. I'm going spare not being able to get up and do my sport and I'm p***ed off not being able to sleep properly.

What sort of compensation would I be looking at, I have absolutely no clue what I can expect and would hate to be in the dark about this when an offer comes.

Many thanks.

bigisi

wozzza72 wrote: »

Just out of interest Onan, I have had a recent RTA, hit from behind, car written off. I went to hospital same day as my back stiffened up within 2 hours of the accident and had an xray but there wasn't any major problems. Third party insurers admitted liability within 48 hours and offered £1000 settlement which wasn't accepted. I've had moderate back issues and tight neck and am seeing a physio, I have 8 sessions authorised by my insurance company.

The accident has stopped me going to the gym, playing football and tennis once a week, I have sleep problems and am jumpy as hell in my car now. I have a desk job where I cant sit for more than 30/45 mins without having to stretch out. I'm going spare not being able to get up and do my sport and I'm p***ed off not being able to sleep properly.

What sort of compensation would I be looking at, I have absolutely no clue what I can expect and would hate to be in the dark about this when an offer comes.

Many thanks.

You'd better hope he's got notifications switched on, unlikely he'll see your reply to a year old thread otherwise.

OnanTheBarbarian

wozzza72 wrote: »

Just out of interest Onan, I have had a recent RTA, hit from behind, car written off. I went to hospital same day as my back stiffened up within 2 hours of the accident and had an xray but there wasn't any major problems. Third party insurers admitted liability within 48 hours and offered £1000 settlement which wasn't accepted. I've had moderate back issues and tight neck and am seeing a physio, I have 8 sessions authorised by my insurance company.

The accident has stopped me going to the gym, playing football and tennis once a week, I have sleep problems and am jumpy as hell in my car now. I have a desk job where I cant sit for more than 30/45 mins without having to stretch out. I'm going spare not being able to get up and do my sport and I'm p***ed off not being able to sleep properly.

What sort of compensation would I be looking at, I have absolutely no clue what I can expect and would hate to be in the dark about this when an offer comes.

Many thanks.

Impossible to value your claim without knowing the length of time it will take you to recover. This information will usually be obtained from getting an independent medical report. Are you using a solicitor for this claim or are you dealing directly with the insurers of the other party?

As a general guide, a soft tissue neck and back injury with a recovery period of 1 month is worth around £1200. For a 3 month recovery period aroud £2k and for 6 month recovery up to £2800.

Each claim has it's own merits and without medical evidence it is impossible to value the claim accurately.

One thing for sure, inurers like to make cheap offers to get rid of claimants and they have no duty to act in your best interests.

If you instruct a lawyer under a no win no fee however, they will want 25% of the compenstation, so you have to gauge the likely benefits you get from a lawyer getting a good settlement, but less their cut, or dealing directly with the insurers.

If you have legal cover with your car insurance, you should not be paying for any deductions from compensation.

Hope that helps

wozzza72

Hi and thank you so much for the reply.
I’ve been for assessment this morning and been told it’s going to take at least another 2 or 3 months to heal (accident was 5 weeks ago). I’d already been authorised 8 physio sessions, he’s just said he will authorise up to 16 more sessions on top of that.

OnanTheBarbarian

Ballpark figure of around £2500 based on the info you have posted. Probably worth holding off settlement until discharged from the treatment in case your recovery takes longer than advised in the medical report.

wozzza72

Thank you very much for your help, much appreciated!! :j

sttony

Wozza - Onan is pretty much spot on with the.assessment. Quick look at the top line regarding injuries, and I thought 2.2k-2.5K. My recent case in Walsall CC for a 6 month injury was £2.5k. All subjective, and you could get a mean judge who awards you 2k whilst another might award you 2.8k

25% deduction (this will be the solicitor's success fee) - Now - this is pretty much area. This is an area or law that solicitors are clueless in - costs law. Solicitors who dealt in the area of RTA's are certainly getting a sharp introduction to this area due to being sued.
People automatically assume that they have to pay 25% of their compensation, and I am pretty sure that you were told that. Solicitors also think that they are entitled to 25% of compensation no matter what. I will not go into what damages are and are not covered in the success fee deductions. You do NOT have to pay 25% of your damages.

Solicitors are now finding out that their initial advice is hurting them because people are challenging those fees.

Grab hold of your initial agreements (hopefully they e-mailed them to you). Look for the success fee in what is known as the Conditional Fee Agreement. It will say 1 of three things.

1 Our success fee is 100% of our costs
2 Our success fee is 25% of our costs
3 Our success fee is 25% of your damages

Big problems face the solicitors who elect (1) and (3) - possible problems on (2).

Do let us know how you get on.

OnanTheBarbarian

sttony wrote: »

Wozza - Onan is pretty much spot on with the.assessment. Quick look at the top line regarding injuries, and I thought 2.2k-2.5K. My recent case in Walsall CC for a 6 month injury was £2.5k. All subjective, and you could get a mean judge who awards you 2k whilst another might award you 2.8k

25% deduction (this will be the solicitor's success fee) - Now - this is pretty much area. This is an area or law that solicitors are clueless in - costs law. Solicitors who dealt in the area of RTA's are certainly getting a sharp introduction to this area due to being sued.
People automatically assume that they have to pay 25% of their compensation, and I am pretty sure that you were told that. Solicitors also think that they are entitled to 25% of compensation no matter what. I will not go into what damages are and are not covered in the success fee deductions. You do NOT have to pay 25% of your damages.

Solicitors are now finding out that their initial advice is hurting them because people are challenging those fees.

Grab hold of your initial agreements (hopefully they e-mailed them to you). Look for the success fee in what is known as the Conditional Fee Agreement. It will say 1 of three things.

1 Our success fee is 100% of our costs
2 Our success fee is 25% of our costs
3 Our success fee is 25% of your damages

Big problems face the solicitors who elect (1) and (3) - possible problems on (2).

Do let us know how you get on.

This will be the next area of indulgement once the party has been ruined in April next year with the double whammy of small claims limit at £5k and the generous tariff for damages :rotfl:

Wonder what level of success fee the parasites feading on their brethren will set :rotfl:.