I don’t know what it is about whiplash claims that seem to spur the need to find out how much you can claim for. Whilst the value of a potential claim is often a question on accident victims’ lips, it is almost always asked when the victim is suffering whiplash in a car accident.
Sometimes the reason is because people are being offered amounts to settle directly with the insurers. Well if you have come across our site and this applies to you, I have some very bad news for you indeed!
Settling directly with insurers, probably equals under settling the claim
You are at such an extreme risk of under settling the case when dealing with the insurers directly, that you will almost always get less from a statistical point of view. We’ve done our homework, as have the independent authorities, and the results are quite frankly staggering! You are entitled, of course, to dismiss the advice in this blog as biased, because we are an injury law firm, so all I ask is that you read the advice carefully and have a good think about what you are doing…
Want up to four times more? Get a lawyer!
Research has shown we can get you four times more than the original offer. We have reviewed several of our own cases and the difference between the first offers and what we have eventually settled a case for have been staggering in some cases. I know of cases where the insurers had offered £1,000 and we settled the claim for £10,000.
“I settled my own whiplash claim for £6,500 and the first offer was (from memory) around £4,250.”
Because of some rule changes that happened in April 2013 you are automatically given a 10% uplift for your injury compensation when using a no win, no fee agreement. So right away you get more anyway!
Have the insurers said “they will give you more if you don’t get a lawyer?”
Ah that’s a common one; offering you ‘more’ if you settle directly and not get a lawyer. Well ask yourself one simple question – why would they do that? Why would they settle directly for more so they don’t have to pay a small fixed legal fee of around £500? What vested interest could they have to try and offer such a thing if you could just go ahead and get a lawyer who will end up costing them roundabouts the same amount as they are offering you more to reflect not having to pay legal fees?
The answer is simple – because settling directly will probably mean they will end up paying you less money than if you were to get a lawyer and claim compensation for a whiplash injury the proper way.
Think about who the insurers are…
Insurers are private profit making organisations who have a duty to their shareholders to maintain their wealth. As such they need to keep costs down, and the easiest way to do that is to keep payouts at a minimal. You have the right to get a lawyer and only a lawyer should be able to guarantee a true and accurate payout.
So taking this in to account with these offers to pay you “more” by not getting a solicitor – despite the fact they only pay around £500 in fixed fees anyway – means it is fairly obvious to see that you are not being smart and savvy by dealing direct; you are in fact probably being cheaply paid off.
Turning to the burning question of the blog though, what is the minimum level of whiplash compensation? Well commonly insurers start with £500 but your claim could be worth ten times that.
So don’t get mugged off by the insurers – contact The Injury Lawyers, and have the case run properly. To find out more, just call 0800 634 7575 today.
