The question we get asked the most at The Injury Lawyers is ‘how much is my claim worth?’ At the end of the day, people are interested to know, and ultimately want to know, if making a claim is worth it.
Well the bad news is that we cannot tell you straightaway how much your claim is worth. No-one can. Injury Lawyers can give you guidelines, figures, and guesses, but nothing concrete without the right medical evidence in place. Let me explain how a claim is valued.
Essentially, the more pain and suffering you have, the more your claim is generally worth. The more losses you have and the more valuable these losses are, the more your claim is worth. A two month minor whiplash injury will be worth more than a 4 week minor whiplash injury in most cases. Likewise, a 2 month moderate whiplash injury will be worth more than a 2 month minor whiplash injury. Alternatively, someone who has lost out on a few weeks wages and required help around the house whilst they were recovering will have this added to the value of their claim as well.
At the very start of your claim we do not know how long you will suffer from whiplash for. Whiplash is a terribly unpredictable injury – it may be awful at the start with but gone in a few weeks, or it might be moderate for a few months; we just don’t know. It is not until we have a legal medical report in front us which provides a diagnosis and prognosis (how long you will suffer for) that we can value your claim. Equally, at the start of your claim we do not know how much treatment you will require, how long you may have off work, or whether you need care and assistance from somebody at home. Nearer the end of the claim we will have a fair idea and be able to give you an estimate of how much your claim is worth.
I would challenge anybody who says that they know how much your claim is worth right at the start. It’s simply impossible! What we can do as injury lawyers is provide you with advice and point you in the direction of the Judicial Studies Board (JSB) guidelines which say the following:
- Minor whiplash = £875.00 to £5,150.00
- Moderate whiplash = £5,150.00 and £16,400.00
- Severe whiplash = well this could be up to £97,000.00!
Based on my experience of whiplash claims, I have seen many settle for between £1,000.00 and £4,000.00 and the average whiplash payout last year was around the £2,500.00 mark.
No person’s whiplash claim is the same as the next. This is because no person’s whiplash injury is identical and each case is individual. At The Injury Lawyers we are on hand each day on 0800 634 75 75 to provide you with any free legal advice you make require and will be more than happy to see if you have a whiplash claim and explain the whiplash claiming process.
