Whiplash injury

Quentin

You ought to consider waiting till the symptoms have either gone completely, or are at a consistent level.

Bearing in mind the accident only happened in November you might be better off waiting a while longer - you won't lose anything at all by waiting, but if you push for settlement now might live to regret this impatience.

V_tricky

I'll second that.

Of course only the OP will know whether a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush : that is, only the OP will know whether he would prefer a smaller settlement now, to avoid inconvenience and future stress of pushing it all the way.

I do know thought that if it was me, I would be in no rush, and I would wait for my symptoms to stabilise and begin to resolve at the very least, if not wait for a full recovery.

Woodylab

Don't forget you have 3 years from the date of the accident to see a solicitor. There are some goods ones out there and some bad ones. Make sure you get a solicitor and not an accident claims company. My sister used a good solicitor and they arranged all the medical appointments too and also arranged a hire car and not a little punto. She had an accident in a BMW and that was what she got as a replacement car while her car was being fixed. She used First Personal Injury a firm of solicitors in Cheshire. She didn't even have to visit them - everything was done by phone and a nice lady came out to help her fill in the accident claim form.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Quentin wrote: »

You ought to consider waiting till the symptoms have either gone completely, or are at a consistent level.

Bearing in mind the accident only happened in November you might be better off waiting a while longer - you won't lose anything at all by waiting, but if you push for settlement now might live to regret this impatience.

Absolutely Quentin. Cannot stress importance of this enough.
I suffered a significant whiplash injury at the age of 17 and even though it was 3 years before claim was settled, no-one ever told me that I was going to end up with arthritis in my neck developing from the age of approx 27.
I am not saying this is going to happen in this case, as mine involved a cracked vertebrae (sp?) as well as soft tissue injury.
Possible long-term or future developing problems absolutely need to be ruled out before a settlement can be considered. You can't go back years later and say but this is happening now as a result and claim more.:rolleyes:
Good luck.

code-a-holic

As said previously, make sure you have some proper test done to see the entend of your injury. I had a whiplash injury that spread to back problems. My cliam settled in 3 years and i was still in pain then and it had effected my right arm movement by then. I had £8k but had still not gone back to work. Now 5 years since the accident i am in more pain than ever and mobility is becoming more effected. Im 24 and it looks like im going to have to deal with this for the rest of my days and dont know if going back to work will be an option- im in huge pain and pins and needles typing this much! If i knew that 2 years after the claim i would be like this, I am sure i would have wanted a lot more from my claim to reflect another 50 years or so with the injuries caused by whiplash.

Horace

I was involved in an accident in 1995 which resulted in a whiplash injury. I contacted the RAC because they had a legal helpline (I am a member), they found me a good solicitor and it didnt cost me a penny. I could claim for travelling expenses to the hospital, to see my solicitor as well as them arranging for me to have MRI scans done etc. Eventually, the case was settled £7500 for me and £3K was awarded to the solicitor from the other side. (I kept the whole £7500). I still have back twinges and my back tends to stiffen up if I stand for long periods (I never knew it would do that at the time the claim was settled). Personally, I wouldn't handle a personal injury case preferring to leave it in the hands of professionals.

If I had left the accident in the hands of my insurer I doubt that I would have had such good service - I hate to say it but insurers like to take your money and not provide anything in return:mad:

HTH

wishing4amoneytree

Hi, I am wondering the same. I am currently off work with whiplash ( well thats what they call it! I call it agony in my neck and middle back ALL day and night!!) but my situation is as follows:

Travelling home in car, road divided by traffic cones into a left pull off that leads to a roundabout or a straight on lane. I choose straight on lane and enter the neatly placed cones, the car infront of me chooses the left pull off THEN suddenly swerves through the cones smashing them everywhere and into my lane! I slam brakes on but have no way off stopping in time and he skids all over dragging cones with him and his backend swerves into my front offside!!

Crushing the front corner of my car and damaging me! he THEN drove off!!! :mad: ( presumably drunk!!) I tried to follow him but had to give up in the end due to pain and the car being wrecked! I got his number though! Reported it to police STRAIGHT away, they said they had the owners name and address and he hadnt reported it stolen so must be the driver. 3 days later the police tell me they havent even been to his house???:mad: ( so no proof he was over limit!!) AND they had found his car abandoned on the same night as the accident! ( he abandoned it on his OWN rd!??) so they just stuck a POLICE AWARE sticker on it!

The police have now taken a 2 hour statement and are going to arrest him but it doesnt help me because they are doing him for failure to stop and abandoning a car etc but they cant prove the accident was his fault and he never told his insurance ( obvioulsy!). So my insurance are sorting it, they say he has a policy and IS insured which is good news so they have logged it as not my fault and will got to his insurers for the money but if he is not going to stop after causing an accident he is not going to admit fault is he!? he could say I just drove into him?

I was at hospital on a spinal board and neck brace for most of the evening then sent home with severe whiplash. my insurance doesnt cover me for injuries although I can do it through a no fee claim thing but I guess the other party has to ADMIT fault dont they first on my insurance? and he drove off so I doubt it!! even though it should show on file that he was arrested for it doesnt prove the accident was his fault? and I dont know if he has invalidated his insurance by not reporting it to them? ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! nightmare!!! what would you all do?

geri1965_2

I would see a solicitor straight away. The other pary doesn't have to admit fault to get your claim paid, but it depends who his insurers are as to how quickly they will deal with it and what procedures they will go through before paying out.

The sooner you get the claim going the better really, as under the personal injury protocol, insurers have 3 months to investigate the claim from the date of the letter of claim.

wishing4amoneytree

I know his insurers are churchill I even have his policy number! I just thought there was no point in pursuing injury claim if he doesnt admit fault in the first place? ( ie he says I went into him not the other way round?) should I wait to here what he says to the police?

code-a-holic

wishing4amoneytree wrote: »

I know his insurers are churchill I even have his policy number! I just thought there was no point in pursuing injury claim if he doesnt admit fault in the first place? ( ie he says I went into him not the other way round?) should I wait to here what he says to the police?

It does not really matter what the other party say in my experience. I went to a local solicitor on a no win no fee basis. The guy that crashed in to me ignored all his mail so his insurance company said 'tell us what you want' (baisically). Id go and see a solicitor now to see their take on things. The first appointment is usually free and a good way to find out what they can do for you.