Whiplash claims are oh so common; and the question as to how much compensation you are allowed to recover for a whiplash claim is all over the internet. We have done a fair few articles on this topic in the past, but the reason I wanted to write about this today is because I have a whiplash claim and I’ve just received my very first offer! Very exciting…
Now, being an employee of The Injury Lawyers and having my claim here at work means I have full confidence that my claim will be settled for the very best amount. When I received the offer for my claim last week (I was a passenger on a bus which pulled an emergency stop at 40mph at traffic lights as the driver wasn’t paying attention) I was actually quite surprised. For a guy who advises people about making whiplash claims on a daily basis, I had totted up in my head an estimated guess of around £3,000 – £3,500.
But I was wrong – my first offer from the other side is a huge £4,250 for my claim! That’s a pretty nice offer; and given that many solicitors tend to settle minor whiplash claims for around £2,500, I assumed the expert advice from my solicitor would be to accept; especially as it’s a Part 36 offer (which I’ll explain in more detail in a bit). But having spent plenty of time researching my offer, we are countering at an amount I will not disclose as this moment in time as it’s yet to be sent across to the other side!
But the point in me writing this blog now (which I’ve been dying to write for ages but I’ve been patiently waiting for my claim to settle!) is that I wanted to point something out to you:
For a minor whiplash claim, you could be entitled to a sum in the region of £4,250 I know this because that’s the first offer that’s come through for me! Now, the reason I’m telling you this is because of these important factors:
- Many people get suckered in to insurers settling claims with them directly as they are told it will be quicker, and the insurer will claim to pay you more if you don’t get a lawyer as they won’t be paying fees.
- If you get a solicitor through your own insurers, your solicitor will be paying a referral fee to your insurers in the region of £1,000 which is taken straight out of the running costs for your claim; that means you have a cash strapped solicitor with less money to spend on getting you the highest payout. By the way, this is becoming illegal very soon.
So what I want you to do is this: if you are dealing with the insurers directly, and they’re convincing you it’s a good idea to settle directly with them, ask them this very simple question: “would you consider paying me in the region of £4,250.00 for my claim?”
I will now try and predict the response that the insurers will give you. I’m not psychic or anything, but I do have extensive experience in this area of claiming, and I’ve ‘heard it all before’ so to speak. I reckon that the insurers will tell you that their offer of compensation is the MAXIMUM they can pay you in the bracket. I would hazard a guess that the offer they are trying to get you to settle is between £500 to £1,500. This is the common amounts insurers try and settle directly with people. Sometimes they may offer a little more – perhaps £2,000 – but that amount is still HALF of what I’m going to get at the very least.
So to clarify my point:
- Why are the insurers telling you that they can only offer you that amount as a maximum when I’m going to get at least £4,250 for my claim?
- Why is it I may be getting more than twice what you are?
The answer is simple: Because I used a quality firm of personal injury lawyers to pursue my claim! That’s why!
I speak to people a lot who are in this situation, and many realise the error of their ways and instruct us for a case. Some, unfortunately, do not. You might even think that I’m making this whole blog up – I’ll try and take a photograph of me holding my cheque when it’s settled – hopefully that might convince you enough. Although it’s worth pointing out that it wouldn’t be very professional of me to make this up. In fact, I think my boss wouldn’t be too happy if I was to fabricate something on our works blog. So you can be reassured that this is a real life situation. I have blogged about my accident in the past as well.
So, I’ve asked my firm to put in the counter off as they’ve advised and I’m now eagerly awaiting an increased offer. By the way, to explain what part 36 is (as I mentioned that above), this means that the insurers are saying they don’t think I can beat the offer of £4,250 at court. If it did go to court and I didn’t beat it, there are costs consequences for solicitors. So many law firms who aren’t as brave as us or perhaps have wasted all their money on a referral fee may get scared by such an offer and advise the Claimant to accept. But not us! I’m lucky that my claim is with my employers here at The Injury Lawyers because they’re not afraid to fight for a higher payout for me!
I’ll write another blog once I’ve settled the claim to let you know how much I ended up with. But remember the main morals of this blog:
- The average minor whiplash claims settles for £2,500. The majority of people get suckered in to settling claims direct with insurers or go with insurer referred lawyers who cannot afford to fight for higher payouts and often accept lower sums. That’s the likely reason for this average payout.
- My minor whiplash claim is going to settle for at least £4,250.00 because I instructed The Injury Lawyers to deal with my claim. We’re independent which means no referral fees have been paid to insurers so all the claim budget is spent on providing me with a service and fighting for the highest payout.
Oh, and I’ll be keeping 100% of my payout. So, what course of action are you going to take now?
WHIPLASH CLAIMS HELPLINE: 0800 634 7575