I expect that not everyone reading this blog will know what a pre-medical offer is, let alone have ever received one. Let me quickly explain.
The claims process is quite structured… Your injury lawyer will submit a ‘Letter of Claim’ which outlines your accident and injuries to the Defendant at the beginning of your claim and the Defendant will be allowed to make investigations.
Once liability is admitted, you will be asked to attend a medical appointment so that a medical report can be compiled which provides a diagnosis and prognosis.
With your permission, this is then disclosed to the Defendant along with any details of other losses you may have, and offers of compensation are invited.
A pre-medical offer therefore is an offer that is made by the Defendant in respect of your injuries prior to you disclosing or even obtaining a medical report.
Is this problematic?
It can be. Your medical report is one of the most important aspects of your claim.
This is because it states exactly what your injuries are and how long a medical expert believes you will suffer from these injuries for.
The general rule is that the more severe your injury is and the longer your injury lasts, the more compensation you are entitled to receive.
So, if you don’t have a medical report when someone makes you a pre-medical offer, how do you know if this is a good offer? Simply put, you don’t!
For example, if someone offers you £1,000 for your whiplash injury prior to you getting a medical report, this may seem like a decent amount of compensation. But when you get your medical report, your expert injury lawyer values your claim at £2,500. If you had accepted the £1,000 you would have been under-compensated by £1,500 which is an awful lot of money.
The important thing to know is that if you accept a pre-medical offer, that is your claim finished. There can be no going back for more compensation at a later date.
Why do Defendant’s make pre-medical offers?
In my opinion they make pre-medical offers to save themselves a lot of money…
For instance, if they get you to accept an offer early on, they could have settled your claim for less than it is worth and saved money. Further, they won’t have to pay for anything else in your claim once it’s settled, again saving money. And, it also means that the legal costs of your injury lawyer will be much less because less work has been done.
Things to consider
Before you accept a pre-medical offer you need to consider whether you are getting the deal that is best for you.
Are you getting the compensation you deserve?
Yes, your claim will be over and done with, but with The Injury Lawyers on your side making a claim is not much hassle at all because we do all the work for you.
Is it really worth losing out on possibly thousands of pounds just to get some compensation straightaway? I wouldn’t have thought so.
For some further free legal advice call our claims team on 0800 634 75 75.