Let’s get straight to business on this one – a Pre-Medical Offer is not something that should be taken lightly. As the name may or may not suggest to you, in the world of personal injury claiming, this is an offer made to a Claimant (you if you are making a personal injury claim) to accept a sum of money in settlement of a potential claim.
It is usually made by the other parties’ insurers and it is an offer made before you have been for a medical assessment of your injuries. By medical assessment, we mean a legally, organised one – not a visit to your own GP! The aim is to get you to settle your claim before you have had your medical report.
Right now you should be asking yourself the question, “if I’m claiming for an injury but I haven’t had a specialist look at it then how do I know how bad it is?” The answer is that you don’t.
With the festive season approaching more quickly than many of us would like, the season for pre-medical offers is also getting ever closer. If you are injured in the run-up to, during or slightly after the Christmas period you are more likely to receive an offer of this type. The reason being is that insurers know this is when people can be a bit short of money and so will be more willing to under-settle their claim for a faster payout when its put on the table right in front of you!
Surely there must be a good reason for it though? – Well yes there is but the good reasons mostly benefit the insurers. In cases where the insurers admit liability they will know that if you instruct solicitors and get a medical report that they will also be liable for the costs of this – so settling early saves them money on legal and medical fees.
Early settlement can also save insurers money in terms of how much they pay out – as mentioned above, if you don’t know the extent of your injuries then how can you know what treatment you will require or how long you will be suffering for? The truth is that you simply cannot know and what you think may be a muscle strain could prove to be something a lot worse. The unfortunate thing about pre-medical offers is that they are normally made in full and final settlement of your injuries – so once you have accepted it you can’t go back for more money if your injuries are worse than you thought.
By now you should be starting to get an idea as to how these offers are used by insurers to “get you off” of any potential claims that you were considering.
At The Injury Lawyers we understand that each and every claim is different and that, when all is said and done, it is your claim – so if you want to accept an offer before you have had a medical report, then this is your choice. However, our advice would be that if you have suffered a personal injury of any kind then the only way to confidently know how much compensation you could be entitled to receive would be to get your injuries assessed by a specialist.
If you have been injured and want professional advice and service, contact The Injury Lawyers on 0800 64 75 75 today.
