Accidents on the road

Aside from being able to make a claim for personal injury, we can assist you in recovering the following types of expenses:

• Damage to your motor vehicle – This could be cost of the repairs, or pre-accident value of the vehicle if it is deemed a total loss.
• Policy excess – Subject to evidence of the loss, this can be claimed from the third party insurers.
• Medication costs – Subject to receipts, this is recoverable from the third party insurers, providing that it is deemed that it was necessary to incur the expense.
• Treatment costs – As long as it was reasonable that treatment was incurred and caused by injuries sustained, we can recover this from the third party insurers. Future surgery may be recommended – if so, we can obtain suitable quotations and seek the funding for that surgery upfront.
• Loss of/damage to clothing and personal effects – These can become damaged in an accident. Whether it be torn clothing or a broken electronic device, we would always recommend keeping the item as evidence and take photographs in case third party insurers want to see it. If you purchase a new item to replace it, keep the receipt.
• Lost earnings – Unable to work due to injury? We can claim this from the third party insurers. Wage slips or profit and loss accounts can be used to calculate the loss. The accident may have affected your ability to work in the future – subject to medical evidence, a claim can be submitted to the third party insurers.
• Travel expenses – We are able to include travel expense claims. This may be trips to physiotherapy, doctor or hospital appointments, taxi or bus fare, or petrol expenses.
• Vehicle diminution – Your car may have lost market value due to being damaged and repaired. We can recover this loss for you by obtaining a specialist engineer’s report. Read information about vehicle Diminution here.
• Care and assistance – It may have needed to employ someone to assist with gardening, cleaning, cooking, washing or personal hygiene. Whether this was from a professional, a family member or friend, this can be claimed from the third party insurers, subject to medical evidence. The same may apply for future care and assistance.
• House alterations – Your injuries may be substantial enough to warrant alterations to your home. Whether this is widening doors or fitting ramps or handrails, these costs can be recovered if medical evidence states that it was necessary.
• Hire charges – If you have paid for a hire vehicle, we can recover the cost of this for you from the third party insurers. Sometimes it is possible to arrange a credit hire vehicle for you whilst your own is out of action.
• Any other expenses – You may have paid for postage and phone calls, or have some pension entitlement. Whatever you feel you have incurred, we are happy to discuss this further with you to explore whether it is something we can assist with during the claims process.

Ensure that you keep any receipts you have received after purchasing anything such as painkilling medication, physiotherapy, or incurring a fee for a taxi. If you have lost earnings as a result of the accident, you will be asked to provide 13 weeks’ worth of wage slips prior to the accident, and wage slips covering the period of the absence when making a claim.

It may also be necessary to provide a copy of your employment contract if you received sick pay from your employers. This sick pay may be recoverable to your employers if the absence was caused by the negligence of a third party. If you are self-employed, you will need to provide profit and loss accounts to act as evidence that you have sustained a financial loss as a result of your road traffic accident.

Injury claims are valued based on compensation for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity. A key determining factor is the length of the injury. This runs from the start of your symptoms until a complete resolution has been made. Of course, the level of pain experienced can differ from one injury to another.

Injuries can be minor in nature and affect only one part of the body, or they can be extremely painful, affecting multiple regions of the body. The extent of the injuries is another important feature to consider. The final factor is the impact the injury has had on your life.

This is likely to be determined by the first two considerations. However, the impact on one’s life can be dependent on how active the victim is. For example, an active person in full-time employment in the building industry, responsible for contributing income into a large family could potentially be affected severely by injuries sustained that have resulted in a long period of absence from work.

Once the cause and level of injury has been determined by an independent doctor, discussions regarding settlement of the claim can commence (subject to liability being agreed). A starting point for your solicitor will be the Judicial Studies Guidelines. This is a guide, released by the Courts, which provides examples as to the levels of compensation that the common types of personal injury should attract.

In addition to this, details of cases that have been to trial are reported on and can be reviewed in order to ascertain the likely awards that the court would give. If a similar injury, causing a similar effect in the victim’s life can be found, then that case law can be used as a guide.

This depends on the nature of your claim. Yes, a simple straightforward case could take approximately three months to resolve.

This would involve submitting the claim, receiving an admission of liability from the third party insurers, obtaining your medical report from an independent doctor, (and that you are happy with the content of the report), having proactive negotiations with the third party insurers and agree a reasonable offer from them which is agreed and paid in a timely manner.

In reality, though, a claim that does not involve court proceedings is more than likely to take between six and nine months.

The reason for this is that in more cases than not, there will be issues to resolve. You must bear in mind that the insurers wish to minimise their losses and as such will attempt to argue any and every point they can think of to reduce the number of cases they pay compensation on, and the amount they have to pay on each case.

Examples of issues commonly raised by motor insurers are:

• Occupancy – This relates to how many people are in the vehicle. There can sometimes be a dispute as to the number of occupants that were in the car when the accident occurred. This seems to be more common when there have been young children in the car who have perhaps gone unnoticed amongst the stress of the accident.
• Liability – In simple terms, this is the determination of who is to blame for causing the accident. It could be that a number of drivers take a percentage of the responsibility each, or that one person is found solely to be the cause of the collision.
• Causation – This looks specifically at the injuries that have been reported and whether they have been caused in the accident.
• Quantum of the Injury – This relates to valuing the claim. There is often a disagreement between a Solicitor and the insurer over how much a personal injury claim is worth.
• Quantum of the Expenses being claimed – Similar to the claim for injury, claims for expenses can be disputed. This can either be that there is a disagreement over the final figure or that the expenses should apply at all. This can often result when there is a lack of documentation to support the loss.
  
  

There may be cases that go on for longer. It could be that there are many of the above issues to resolve with the insurers and that it becomes necessary to involve the courts. It may be that the injuries you have sustained are in some way unusual or are severe and that as a result of this, it is necessary to obtain multiple reports to be able to determine the nature of the injuries you have and the impact they have had on your life.

It is possible, but only a very small percentage of claims need to involve the courts, and fewer still will run to trial.

In the end, it will boil down to how strong your case is, how reasonable the third party insurers are, along with your own expectations and willingness to negotiate.

Yes, if you instruct us to represent you, we will arrange an initial treatment assessment for you with a medical professional. If it is recommended that treatment (often physiotherapy) is undertaken, then we can arrange this for you at dates and times that are convenient for you.

The cost of this treatment will be sought from the insurers of the other driver. If the claim were to fail for any reason, the treatment charges would be waived.