Hi Folks,

I had the unfortunate experience this morning of being wacked up the rear by a kamakasi van driver in my new baby and my wife now has bad whiplash and a rather brusied head ( after 2 hours on a stretcher and various tests/xrays in A&E)

I've had enough of being calm and mellow about other idiot drivers so can anyone advise on their experiences of claiming for whiplash injuries?

Cheers
Not a happy billy aka Rich

 

I was involved in an accident in December 1999 on the M25.

Police reports stated that we were hit at over 90MPH from the rear. We were only doing about 30 because of slow moving traffic jams, so that resulting impact was horrific. Both cars were a total write off and there are still personal damage claims going now.

Both my girlfriend and I were rear seated passengers and both received £1500 each for minor wiplash injury's. The driver of our car got about £7000 as minor damage was donw to the spinal column. The front seated passenger is still waiting to hear on her amount. Damage was done to the retina of her left eye during the impact. Which is now a permanent condition.

All 4 of us had to go and see different doctors to asses the damage and claims. Hope this helps

Darren

 

Hi Darren

That didnt sound too good at all. Mine seems a bit petty in comparison. I hope everyone is fine now.

Thanks for the information...just a few questions. For your injuries, was this resolved through your car insurance policy or was this done independantly? Did you have recurring problems which you needed to prove ongoing treatment, pain, inconvenience etc...to be able to claim?

many thanks
Rich

 

Rich,

Hope you and your wife are felling better now. If you have not already go and see your GP and mention that you think you may have whiplash. They will do an inspection, which you can then submit to your insurance company.

The car that we were driving in was under a year old and the driver had paid the extra for GAP (Guaranteed Accident Protection). As GAP was added when the car was bought from new the finance company supplied their own solicitors that liased with the solicitors of the insurance company of the guy that crashed into us. The driver maintained her NCB and was given the use of a hire car until liability for the crash was established.

Both my girlfriend and I are fine now but god it hurt for about 1- 2 months The driver of our car had 18 months of physiotherapy which she paid for out of her pocket and then submitted expenses claims to her solicitor. Each visit to the physio was £25 per hour (I think) and she had 1 maybe 2 visits per week. I think that all the physiotherapy visits were paid additionally to the £7000 she had already received.

The front seated passenger has had numerous visits to different private opticians to try and establish the damage and the payout required.

Any more questions drop me an E-mail or leave me a message here.

Darren

 

Richard

My wife is a PI solicitor of many years experience.

However, she is at Bluewater ATM so these are my comments based on what I've picked up...

Keep a log of all expenses that occur as a result of this accident, inc phone calls, taxis to Doctor etc. Make a note of every time you are inconvenienced either by the pain or having to take an action to do with the pain.

Seek out a specialist firm of PI solicitors, NOT a Claims Management company. The reason for this is that although you can manage your own claim, to get the best results requires a thorough knowledge of the law. The same as for you applies to Claims Management companys - they may be able to follow proceedure but they are not qualified in law.

Although there is no more Legal Aid (in most PI cases) the fact that you go to a specialist PI solicitor will not cost any more than a claims management co. Reason? Both will sign you up to a contingency fee/no win no fee insurance policy that protects you against their costs. So why pay for a trabant when you can have a roller for the same money!!

I'm not ambulance chasing for the wife but I'm sure she (or someone in the co) can answer any questions you may have on an ad-hoc basis better than I. Email me with a contact number if you would like someone to ring you for a no-committment chat.

& for what it is worth, if you have a genuine claim for suffering or loss thfough someone else's fault via their negligence, then sue 'em!!

 

You might find that your legal expenses on the policy will cover all the legal costs and recover your outlay. As long as they included it for you in the first place!

 

You might find that your legal expenses on the policy will cover all the legal costs and recover your outlay. As long as they included it for you in the first place!

 

You might find that your legal expenses on the policy will cover all the legal costs and recover your outlay. As long as they included it for you in the first place!

 

If the insurance company added legal expenses insurance, they will appoint a Solicitor for you and they should pay the legal costs as well!

 

Sorry Guys the system said the reply had not gone thru!