Car accident (no fault) any advice re. dealing with claim/repair/hire car etc.

Hannah2

Hi, my car was hit from behind at a roundabout last night and have sore neck/upper back. Car not too badly damaged but guessing will need new rear bumper panel which is cracked/wobbles.  Phoned Post Office insurance but seem to have been handed over to a company called Carpenters.  In fairness arrangements seem to have happened very quickly and car due to be collected on Friday for repair garage and hire car arranged through enterprise.  Already been informed that physio has been arranged (no details yet) and medical assessment been requested. 

I had a nightmare with a previous car accident/injury claim in 2016 and had to fight for treatment and ongoing physio and ended up dealing with legal company based in South Africa which was a communication nightmare.  

I have been sent documents to sign for Carpenters and for Enterprise but I am just hesitant and having read a few posts on here now scared that I shouldn't be dealing with Carpenters, but that is who answered the phone when I phoned the post office claims line. 

Any advice on what to do/not do? 

DullGreyGuy

So they've handed you off to accident management with credit hire etc rather than deal with it under the terms of your policy. 

Do you have legal expenses on your insurance? If you do then you need to make sure that the injury aspect is dealt with under that which should be cost free whereas if its dealt with under no win, no fee then they are likely to have a success fee that would be removed from your injury settlement. 

Hannah2

DullGreyGuy said:

So they've handed you off to accident management with credit hire etc rather than deal with it under the terms of your policy. 

Do you have legal expenses on your insurance? If you do then you need to make sure that the injury aspect is dealt with under that which should be cost free whereas if its dealt with under no win, no fee then they are likely to have a success fee that would be removed from your injury settlement. 

thanks. yes, I have legal cover and they said that all costs would be covered because of that and that I would not have to pay out of any awarded compensation.  I have not been contacted yet regarding the compensation part of it.  last time I wasn't bothered about that for the money compensation side of things, I just had to fight to get them to cover the cost of the tests/scans/treatment I needed.  

DullGreyGuy

Hannah2 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So they've handed you off to accident management with credit hire etc rather than deal with it under the terms of your policy. 

Do you have legal expenses on your insurance? If you do then you need to make sure that the injury aspect is dealt with under that which should be cost free whereas if its dealt with under no win, no fee then they are likely to have a success fee that would be removed from your injury settlement. 

thanks. yes, I have legal cover and they said that all costs would be covered because of that and that I would not have to pay out of any awarded compensation.  I have not been contacted yet regarding the compensation part of it.  last time I wasn't bothered about that for the money compensation side of things, I just had to fight to get them to cover the cost of the tests/scans/treatment I needed.  

Your previous injury was before the whiplash reform act; claims for basic soft tissue injuries have changed significantly since 2016 as they have now moved into the Small Track of the court process and are a fixed value rather than individually negotiated based on your personal level of suffering and general life impact (not loss of earnings). They went down a lot too. 

Still being under 24 hours post accident it is vastly too soon to even consider how the whiplash is going to develop and if its a few days or a few years of a sore neck etc.