{"id":6523,"date":"2011-03-25T11:24:40","date_gmt":"2011-03-25T10:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/?p=6523"},"modified":"2011-03-25T11:25:26","modified_gmt":"2011-03-25T10:25:26","slug":"car-accident-claims-%e2%80%93-legal-expense-insurance-legal-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theinjurylawyers.co.uk\/injury-lawyers-blog\/2011\/03\/25\/car-accident-claims-%e2%80%93-legal-expense-insurance-legal-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Car Accident Claims \u2013 Legal Expense Insurance \/ Legal Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Car accident claims \u2013 the most common form of personal injury claims<\/a> there is. There\u2019s one heck of a competitive industry for car accident claims<\/a>, and there are right ways, and very wrong ways, to go about making a claim after a road accident<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So \u2013 please take this advice seriously<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have a car accident<\/a> that wasn\u2019t your fault, it\u2019s more than likely you have a successful claim for compensation<\/em><\/strong>. It\u2019s quite easy to establish who is at fault after a road accident \u2013 so in many straight forward instances, you have a claim.
\n<\/p>\n

You will probably find yourself inundated with calls from insurance companies, claims companies, and even solicitors offering you their services.<\/p>\n

My advice: STOP<\/strong>. Take a breather, read this, and consider your options:<\/p>\n

Insurance Companies<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Avoid dealing with them at all costs<\/em><\/strong> when it comes to making a personal injury claim<\/a> \u2013 including your own<\/em><\/strong>. There are two general roads that go down the wrong route of dealing with insurers:<\/p>\n

1. Dealing with Third Party Insurers Directly<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoid this at all costs<\/em><\/strong>. If they offer you any sum of money, you should reject it. Normally, they will offer anything between \u00a3500 to \u00a31,500. The lowest I\u2019ve seen is \u00a3200<\/em><\/strong>, which is ridiculous! Accepting an amount from insurers directly leaves you almost definitely under settling your claim<\/em><\/strong> for compensation.<\/p>\n

There is only one way to value a claim for compensation<\/a> – with proper medical evidence and a specialist lawyer representing you<\/em><\/strong>. Even if the insurers offer to get you medical evidence, there is no one on your side, fighting for your rights, and protecting your position. It\u2019s a genuine well know fact that insurers will do anything to save themselves some money<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 they will under settle your claim<\/em><\/strong> given the chance.<\/p>\n

2. Legal Expense Insurance \/ Legal protection \/ Motor Legal Protection<\/span><\/p>\n

This, dear readers, is the real pain behind under settled claims<\/em><\/strong>, poor service<\/em><\/strong> levels for victims, and middlemen taking their cuts<\/em><\/strong> from your compensation claim<\/a>. Many people have the \u201cbenefit<\/em><\/strong>\u201d of this on their motor policy, which apparently guarantees the victim no cost personal injury claiming<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In actual fact \u2013 all your insurers do is refer your claim over to one of their panel solicitors who will pay out a huge referral fee<\/em><\/strong> (sometimes up to \u00a3800 in the worst case scenarios<\/em><\/strong>) just to have your case.<\/p>\n

This means that:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A. <\/em>Your insurer pockets \u00a3800 for nothing<\/span><\/em><\/li>\n
  2. B. <\/em>You end up with a solicitor that has wasted a huge proportion of their claims budget<\/span> on buying your case.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, what does this mean?<\/p>\n

    The solicitor that buys your case must ultimately turn over a profit. With a huge amount of money wasted on buying the claim, they have far less money to spend on you<\/em><\/strong>, the victim, and making sure you get the best service and the highest payout. That\u2019s why you must always<\/strong> avoid the route of letting insurers refer you over to solicitors; they\u2019re just middlemen taking a cut and having a potentially adverse effect on you and your claim.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    A good way to think of it is like this:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A. <\/strong>Solicitor referred through insurers: has \u00a3800 LESS<\/span> to spend on you and your claim<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. B. <\/strong>Independent Injury lawyer: has \u00a3800 MORE<\/span> to spend on your claim.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The referral fees can often leave a solicitor so cash strapped that they advise clients to accept low offers<\/em><\/strong> and purposely do not bother to spend the time and effort in recovering all losses<\/em><\/strong> properly, such as lost earnings, care and assistance, medication, and treatment costs. I regularly hear complaints from victims of this rout who ask us for advice, and they all say the same things:<\/p>\n

      \u201cMy lawyer hardly ever gets in touch with me\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cI haven\u2019t heard from my lawyer in 2 or 3 months\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cI got an offer and they told me to accept it straight away, but I know I\u2019m entitled to more\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cMy lawyer never calls me back or answers my phone calls\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      \u201cIt\u2019s been a nightmare, to be honest\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      Some of these are infuriating. A solicitor that doesn\u2019t even have the curtsey to call a client back is astounding.<\/p>\n

      So, What Should You Do?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

      Get your own independent specialist personal injury lawyer<\/strong>. With an independent injury lawyer<\/a> working on a Genuine No Win No Fee<\/a> basis<\/em><\/strong>, there are no costs to you whether you win or lose<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      So, ask yourself the question: \u201cWhy am I paying for legal protection on my car insurance policy if I can claim free of charge anyway?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

      My advice is to get rid of it. Here\u2019s an example of how we work as an independent firm of specialist personal injury lawyers<\/a> who promise to never waste your claim money on buying your case.<\/p>\n