It’s common now for a law firm to take 25% of your whiplash claim payout if the case is successful. The government stopped lawyers recovering a Success Fee from the other side and this can now be taken from your payout; but it is capped at 25%.
So with the cap set at 25%, the market rate for lawyers has settled on 25% – but some lawyers are taking much more to cover additional fees, and some are demanding upfront payments too.
So what are your best options?
Why can’t we take the hit on costs?
The government didn’t just stop us recovering the Success Fee but they also slashed, by more than half, the amount that we still can recover in fixed fees for a standard road accident. The fixed amount is at around £500 and this is simply not workable to run a case on this kind of budget without having to take a deduction.
Most straightforward whiplash accident claims that are worth less than £25,000 will fall within this category, so the combination of less fees and not being able to recover all fees means you’ll probably face a charge.
Avoid upfront costs
We don’t believe you should pay upfront costs so we say you should avoid a lawyer who wants to charge you an upfront fee for a whiplash claim. Unless there is some increased risk in the case which means you are required to pay something upfront or pay privately for a case, we don’t get you to stump up any cash at the start.
Accept no more than 25%
25% is common because that’s the cap for the Success Fee as mentioned above – but that doesn’t mean a law firm cannot charge you an overall higher percentage. They could charge you 10% just for general fees because the fixed fee system is so low, which can then lead to an overall deduction up 35%.
We say NO to additional percentages like this!
Speak to us – we can offer you a better deal
Most will take the full 25% at least but we may be able to offer you a better deal. We’re more than happy to reduce the amount for some cases based on you allowing us to be efficient. Essentially if we can pass a saving on to you, then we will.
Depending on the nature of the accident and the injuries, we can lower the amount we take for the Success Fee if we can get a case set up and submitted to the other side right away. It can take less than 20 minutes to get a case set up with you over the phone, so if you’re keen to save money then speak to The Injury Lawyers now because we can offer you this solution.
Call our claims helpline 0800 634 7575 for more advice today.
