The amount of times I have received calls from clients saying “I don’t want to accept the first or second offer, I have been told to always accept the third” is ridiculous and quite honestly I am boggled as to where this “pearl of wisdom” has come from – because quite frankly it is utter rubbish!
Your whiplash claim will be valued based on medical evidence. An independent medical expert will be instructed in order to review you and provide a report and opinion on how long you are likely to be suffering with your injuries. This is the main aspect of valuing your injury.
The value of your injury will be placed in a bracket. For example: £1500 – £1750. This means that your claim is worth £1500 at the minimum and £1750 aat the maximum, according to the brackets.
Under the Road Traffic Accident Protocol, your medical report, along with details and evidence of any other losses , and what we believe your injury claim should be settled for is sent to the Defendant’s insurers electronically. We also include the amount we believe your claim should be settled for and this is usually the higher end of the value bracket.
Once they have received this, the insurers have 15 business days in order to accept what has been put forward by us/your legal representative or make a counter offer. If an offer is made then the negotiation period is entered into and in total there are 35 business days in order to try and settle the claim.
Any offer made by the insurer will be considered in full and with the value of your claim in mind we will advise you on whether the offer is reasonable and if it should be accepted or not, that is what we are here for, to provide you with this advice. If we believe the offer is a good offer and should be accepted then we will tell you this.
There is no rule on how many offers can be made only that the negotiation must take place within the 35 business day period. Therefore there could be several offers going back and forth.
This “advice” that seems to be going round about the number of offers that must be received before accepting one of them is very frustrating. What if the second offer made is more than was expected?
As your legal representatives, we are here to advise you on these matters and ensure that the offer accepted is the best settlement possible, whether it is the 1st 2nd or 3rd offer.
So if you need advice on any offers received or wish to start a personal injury claim please contact our claims line on 0800 634 75 75
