Oh yes – there are many (in fact, so many) ways in which you could claim you car crash compensation in the WRONG way.
If you claim your car crash compensation in the wrong way you could end up under settling a claim by thousands of pounds or losing a lot of money and having to pay out thousands of pounds in fees to a solicitor.
So here is an essential guide on what to do and what to avoid – you really must read this!
Don’t get mugged off! Avoid dealing with the insurers directly.
Think that cutting a deal direct with the insurers of the driver at fault is the smart and savvy way to save you time and money? Think again…
It’s a well known fact that people who settle directly nearly always settle for less than the true potential value of the claim. Insurers will tell you that they will bump up the value to reflect not having to pay legal fees, but the reality is that the fees they are liable for equate to around £500 in the majority of cases, and the amounts they offer you are nearly always less than what you could actually get.
Studies have shown that solicitors can get you four times more than the original offer. We recently blogged about a number of car crash compensation claims we settled for around the £5,000 mark, and I settled my very own claim with The Injury Lawyers for £6,500.
Insurers normally come in with first offers in the region of £500 to £1,000, and if you’re lucky they will try and get rid of you using their common top line of £2,000. But that can often be rare, and is still potentially less than what you could actually claim for anyway.
So why waste money on dealing directly?
Avoid the high charging law firms and claims management companies
It is true that law firms now take deductions from claims because the government have stopped you for recovering all your legal fees from the other side; but on the flipside you immediately are entitled to a 10% uplift on your award when using a no win, no fee because of the new charges.
That’s right – your claim is instantly worth more using a lawyer in no win, no fee cases anyway! You are not entitled to this uplift when dealing with an insurers directly, and you’ll likely find that even with a deduction we can still get you more overall.
If you go through a claims management company they will likely have additional charges because they are no longer allowed to receive referral fees from the lawyers who get the work from them. These can be additional percentages or fixed amounts that you can simply avoid by going to a law firm directly.
Always cut out the middlemen – instruct your own solicitor independently!
Many firms take at least 25% from you to cover their success fee. The government capped the charge at 25% but other lawyers have got round it by simply taking 25% for the success fee and then an additional, say 15%, for ‘other’ fees. That’s 40% of your claim wiped out!
Some have additional fixed charges or will charge you for insurance. These can run in to thousands of pounds and can leave you with next to nothing in the worse case scenarios.
So how do I avoid these nightmare scenarios?
With no hidden fees, extra costs, upfront amounts, additional charges, and as an independent law firm meaning you can cut out the middleman, we may be able to offer you a better deal.
We don’t have to take 25% and we can bespoke our agreement to you. We can often save our clients thousands of pounds by them coming to us directly, and we are an expert firm of independent injury lawyers. That gives you access to the best legal help we can offer and we will make sure we maximise your compensation payout.
So to claim your car crash compensation the right way, call 0800 634 7575 today!
