Insurance payout offers advice needed

srnoss

hi,

before xmas my wife was involved in a car accident where the other driver hit her from behind on the motorway. She suffers from back problems already and this whiplash she got from the accident has aggrevated this further. The other driver has accepted liability and his insurance company has made my wife a compensation offer of £2500. They won'y go any higher and to take it further one of their doctors must examine her.

Its hard to make a decision as we dont have any comparable payouts to compare against. can anyone advise if this is a good or poor offer??

many thanks

mattymoo

Has her own GP given her a prognosis? If the problems will return to their pre-accident state within 12 months then the £2500 for injuries is a fair offer, particularly as it is being made so soon after the accident without a med report.

I am assuming the £2500 is for injury only and that other things like car damage, lost earnings etc are in addition to this.

srnoss

my wife was checked over by the GP after the crash and he confirmed she had whiplash and bruising etc. He produced a basic report to go on file. THe £2500 is an all encompassing offer. It wasn't my wifes car (she was the passenger) so doesn't include that but it does include everything else as far as the insurance company is concerned (loss of earnings, compensation, potential medical bills and so forth)

Hence not knowing if its a good offer or not

any thoughts?

mattymoo

Okay, the payout comprises 2 elements, special damages and general damages.
Special damages = stuff that can be financially proven with documentary evidence or is capable of objective assessment. This includes the cost of treatment, medicines, taxi / bus fares for attending GP etc and the lost earnings.

They may have asked to see details of these things like wage slips.

General damages covers the pain and suffering element and is more difficult to quantify. Insurance companies and courts rely on past cases and guideline notes from the Judicial Studies Board to asses these. There is usually a lot of scope for negotiation as the JSB guides provide "ranges" of compensation.

If your wife claimed £500 out of pocket expenses (the special damages) leaving £2000 for the general damages, I would still say it was a reasonable offer.

As for future costs, you need to work this out for yourself. Normally whiplash will go away in 12 months or less, some cases linger longer. If your wife is treating it with over the counter aspirin / Ibuprofen then the cost is pretty low (less than 50p a month at supermarket prices). However, if she has been prescribed Prescription Only Meds and is paying £7 (approx) a whack, the costs may mount up.

Treatment, if any would be physiotherapy or a session with an Osteopath. No surgical intervention is possible unless there is damage to the bone which sounds unlikely.

Wol2

Hi

I am writing out the witness statement for my friend this weekend as she will be going to court in the next few weeks. She was a passenger 4 years ago and suffered whiplash.

Although they admitted liability, they paid for x4 physiotherapy treatments and then said no more until she sees our expert. It took over 2 years to get to see the expert and get an MRI scan. Finally she has now seen her own independent expert, 4 years later...after 4 years of hell, a complete lifestyle change, a job change with resulting reduction in salary, unable to do household chores without assistance from her husband.....and the list goes on. Expert report states that whiplash syptoms could last for about 3 years and excaerbation to what has now been discovered as a degenerative disc condition would be temporary but would last 3-4 years. Obviously each case is different.

As long as your wife is now completely fit and healthy and you feel you want to settle than I would follow the advice above. However, in view of pre-existing condition, (and I don;t know exactly what that is or age of your wife) it might be worth firstly consulting GP to see if they advise getting an expert opinion before you settle up....whiplash injuries if not diagnosed/treated properly in the first instance have been known to cause problems later in life, especially if you already have back problems.

Good luck
Wol2