The Road Traffic Accident (RTA) portal was brought in for low value RTA claims, valued between £1,000 and £10,000 initially, and now the upper limit is £25,000. Most whiplash cases will fall within these brackets and will follow the three stage procedure which is outlined below.
Stage 1…
Stage one of the process provides notification of the claim to defendants and insurers. This is done by sending a Claim Notification Form (CNF) to either the insurer after the Claimant or Claimant’s solicitor has completed the statement of truth. It is important for the Claimant’s solicitor to complete every box in the CNF to obtain their fees.
Once the correctly filled out CNF has been sent across, the Defendant’s insurance will acknowledge it, then has either 15 business days to either admit or deny liability. This is increased to 30 days if the Claimant wishes to pursue the Motor Insurers’ Bureau for an uninsured Defendant claim.
Stage 2…
Once the insurer admits liability on behalf of their insured, the Claimant’s representative can then obtain a medical report. There may be one or several medical reports and can include different disciplines, for instance reports from a GP for the muscle injuries and a plastic surgeon for scarring. This proves the injuries which the Claimant has suffered from the negligent Defendant. There is no fixed time to obtain medical evidence and the cost of this can be recovered by the Claimant’s representative from the other side as a disbursement.
Once the medical reports are compiled, the Claimant’s representative completes the settlement 2 pack form and sends this to the insurer with the medical evidence and receipts of special damages. An offer will also be included.
The insurer has 15 days from receipt of the settlement pack to accept the offer, or to enter into negotiations. If the insurer is not happy with the offer and wishes to make a counter offer, they have 20 days in which to do so. If an agreement cannot be reached in this time, the Claimant solicitor will prepare the stage 3 court pack.
Stage 3…
If the Claimant’s representative and the insurer have not reached a settlement, the court will have to decide the amount. It is more common for a settlement to have been reached beforehand, however people may think going to court may be an option only where the insurers have denied liability. The court is also in place to determine the amount of money (quantum). It is also not uncommon for denied cases to be settled out of court. Insurers can reach a settlement to avoid the costs and hassle of going to court.
