Motor traffic injury claims in UK

GentleGentleman · 13-07-2021, 01:41

Hello All,

Hope you all are safe and sound!

I recently met with an accident, and the insurance company on behalf of the other party involved in the accident, in written, have accepted its client's guilt. The repairing of my car is smoothly going forward. I also sustained injuries (shoulder and back neck pain) due to the accident, and look forward to make an injury claim. According to your experience, what is the best method (out of A, B and C below), in terms of legal fees, time and the compensation received, to do that?

A) Talk to my insurance provider, and use a solicitor designated by my insurance company.

B) Currently, I am receiving calls from independent injury claim lawyers. Uses one of them to make a claim.

C) Talk to the insurance company of the other party, and ask them to make a claim for me.

Regards.

Russ · 13-07-2021, 07:11

Firstly, my credentials: 7 years as a Public Liability, Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury (which also covers RTAs) Paralegal for one of the UK's biggest insurance companies.

I'll go through your options individually:

Quote:

A) Talk to my insurance provider, and use a solicitor designated by my insurance company.

Do you have a Motor Legal Expenses Policy with your insurance company? If so this will be your best option in my opinion. You would get to keep 100% of any compensation received. All disbursements and fees would be covered.

Quote:

B) Currently, I am receiving calls from independent injury claim lawyers. Uses one of them to make a claim.

More than likely they will deduct a percentage of any compensation award, probably 20 to 25%. They will also ask you to take out an After The Event insurance policy (starts from around £115 and can go up to hundreds of pounds) which will cover any legal fees, medical expert fees, disbursements etc. You won't have to pay for this upfront, they'll just deduct it from your compensation.

Quote:

C) Talk to the insurance company of the other party, and ask them to make a claim for me.

In my opinion - never EVER go down this route. Your insurance company or appointed solicitor will be putting your best interests first. The other side's insurance company will be putting THEIR best interests first.

Going on what you say about your injuries they would likely offer you an early settlement figure but keep in mind this would be in full and final settlement, so if in 6 month's time your injuries get worse etc you have no recourse. The only benefit in my opinion of going with the other side's insurers is your payout is likely to be a lot sooner, possibly in a month or two and this often seduces people into accepting.

Keep in mind the laws on "whiplash" (as it sounds what your injuries are) claims changed slightly with accidents that happened after 31st May. so I'm happy to advise further if you need it.

tweetiepooh · 13-07-2021, 09:47

Don't forget that B) will also incur VAT, so 25% plus VAT will take that to 30% of "win".

When I had a RTC the other parties lawyers sent me to a doctor of their choosing and he kept hinting I was worse than I had claimed - I remained honest - I think since it was "their" doctor he was trying to get me to exaggerate to reduce my initial claim of injury. (My main injury was a fractured sternum from the seatbelt holding me back in a rapid deceleration from 40mph to 0.)

Russ · 13-07-2021, 09:58

I’ve not heard of that happen before but it wouldn’t surprise me too much especially if the OS are looking at a large payout or suspected you were exaggerating (not suggesting you were, that’s just how a lot of Law firms think and often they’re not wrong) but that should be another tick in the box for “don’t use the OS insurance company”.

Russ · 13-07-2021, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Don't forget that B) will also incur VAT, so 25% plus VAT will take that to 30% of "win".

Not quite true. The CFA percentage will include VAT.

GentleGentleman · 14-07-2021, 10:19

Dear Russ,

Cannot be any clearer. Very many thanks for your time and efforts.

Kind regards,

---------- Post added at 10:19 ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 ----------

Dear Russ,

Very many thanks for this clear clarification, which will be helpful to many people. I am living in Scotland, is this new law come into effect on 31st of May, also applicable to Scotland?

Russ · 14-07-2021, 10:26

Welcome.

The Whiplash Reforms don’t apply in Scotland….yet..