Motor accident claim

[Deleted User]

Hi, Im not sure if this is in the right place. 

My dad is 87 and was in a car accident in 2019. Another driver hit his passenger side and my dad spun and went through a fence hitting a tree. He was knocked out and had injuries to his neck, back, chest and leg. He also suffered psychological problems and has been diagnosed with PTSD and depression.
He has been going through an injury claim and over a year later has been told by his solicitor that they are recommending £6000, it feels like a small amount considering how long he has waited, his injuries and the fact he refuses to drive as he is really scared to. Should I appeal against the solicitors recommendation and how do I do this? I have never been through this and nor has my dad. Thank you for your advice. 
Ana

Grumpy_chap

Is there some basis to the way the £6k was arrived at?

neilmcl

How severe were the injuries, were there any breakages or did he just have some pain for a while? How much money do you actually consider fair?

Sandtree

Length of time is not going be a factor, injuries need to be recovered from or stabilized such that a reasonable long term prognosis can be made. In most cases its the claimants that want to stretch the timeline whereas insurers often want a quick and easy settlement.

You clearly need to speak to your lawyers to understand why they feel the offer is reasonable, plus also exactly what areas of the claim it covers... is it PSLA for all aspects of the injuries or a global offer covering other things etc.

[Deleted User]

Grumpy_chap said:

Is there some basis to the way the £6k was arrived at?

This is a quote from the letter " I have reviewed your claim and, whilst the calculation of compensation for your injuries is not an exact science, I assess the value of your claim to be between £6000 and £7000 "

[Deleted User]

neilmcl said:

How severe were the injuries, were there any breakages or did he just have some pain for a while? How much money do you actually consider fair?

He still suffers neck and back pain and finds walking hard. He still has nightmares and will not drive. 

[Deleted User]

Sandtree said:

Length of time is not going be a factor, injuries need to be recovered from or stabilized such that a reasonable long term prognosis can be made. In most cases its the claimants that want to stretch the timeline whereas insurers often want a quick and easy settlement.

You clearly need to speak to your lawyers to understand why they feel the offer is reasonable, plus also exactly what areas of the claim it covers... is it PSLA for all aspects of the injuries or a global offer covering other things etc.

Its the lawyers stretching it out unfortunately. I will ask the question thank you

Sandtree

Deleted_User said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Is there some basis to the way the £6k was arrived at?

This is a quote from the letter " I have reviewed your claim and, whilst the calculation of compensation for your injuries is not an exact science, I assess the value of your claim to be between £6000 and £7000 "

They are correct that its an art of negotiation and not a science. Even the guides will only give broad ranges of appropriate valuations.

Back in my day for soft tissue and minor injuries we had a simple grid with number of injuries on one axis, prognosis for recovery on the other and in each cell the initial offer and max offer that a normal claims handler could go with. We did have some conversations about building it out like adding the type of representative they have and where the TP lives (northern courts are more generous than the south east). 

We had attempted to significantly simplify and deskill the process and so suspect others have a more complex methodology, and IT has moved on too. But they should be able to say why the 6-7k is what they think is reasonable, if its all for physical injury or if there is any psych aspect. Similarly what prognosis assumption they are using (ie fully recovered in 2 years, never etc)

[Deleted User]

Sandtree said:

Deleted_User said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Is there some basis to the way the £6k was arrived at?

This is a quote from the letter " I have reviewed your claim and, whilst the calculation of compensation for your injuries is not an exact science, I assess the value of your claim to be between £6000 and £7000 "

They are correct that its an art of negotiation and not a science. Even the guides will only give broad ranges of appropriate valuations.

Back in my day for soft tissue and minor injuries we had a simple grid with number of injuries on one axis, prognosis for recovery on the other and in each cell the initial offer and max offer that a normal claims handler could go with. We did have some conversations about building it out like adding the type of representative they have and where the TP lives (northern courts are more generous than the south east). 

We had attempted to significantly simplify and deskill the process and so suspect others have a more complex methodology, and IT has moved on too. But they should be able to say why the 6-7k is what they think is reasonable, if its all for physical injury or if there is any psych aspect. Similarly what prognosis assumption they are using (ie fully recovered in 2 years, never etc)

The thing is in her letter she did not mention PTSD or dads depression, or the fact he cannot drive as he is too scared. 

AdrianC

The fact he's 87 may well reduce the damages - the argument will go that the neck/back/walking pain may be a factor of his age as much as the collision, and he was quite likely to have to give up driving at some point in the near future even without the collision.

Grumpy_chap

Deleted_User said:

My dad is 87 and was in a car accident in 2019. injuries to his neck, back, chest and leg. He also suffered psychological problems and has been diagnosed with PTSD and depression.

Deleted_User said:

The thing is in her letter she did not mention PTSD or dads depression, or the fact he cannot drive as he is too scared. 

There will be some basis that has been used, though it's possible that if the Solicitor is being limited in what they provide, then the offer is simply a sum plucked from thin air and putting it to you to see if you will just accept that sum and close the case?
Is this from your Solicitor, or the third party? 
If it is your Solicitor, they should be acting in your (Dad's) interests and not trying to fob you off.  Much may come from the wording around the figure, so "I assess your claim..." is quite different to "I have received a notification from the third party's insurers and they state 'I assess your claim...' which I forward for your comment".

If you are not satisfied with the level of detail provided, go back and ask for clarification and how the £6k to £7k has been derived. 
Once you have that calculation, you can then assess it.  Does the calculation reference standard methodologies, for example?
Also, once you have the way the calculation has been derived, you can determine whether it takes into account anything for the PTSD, depression, life impacts to activities-of-daily-living (too scared to drive) etc.
Without this information, you are simply being asked to accept the sum offered with no rationale.