I have recently been shuntted from behined in my mx5 :( (Needs new bumper and theres some other minor damage). Now in the event itself, i have without a doubt sustained whiplash. Normally i wouldnt do anything about it just suck it up and get on with it, but everyone keeps telling me (including my insururer) that i can make a claim.
Should i make a claim? It seems a bit cheeky nowing ultimatly that its all for a hand full of cash? At the back of my mind i think “Hell Everyone else does it”, but then again it all seems a bit wrong. At the end of the day i have been injured i guess, but does that justify the claim… i dont know, can anyone who has been in the same situation advise me?
If you have whiplash then you should claim, it is what insurance is for. Same dilema was faced by myself about 10 years ago, I was shunted by a Mondeo from behind, I was in a Honda HR-V I had a pint in my local later that evening and mentioned the bump to my mate who jokingly said “I bet you claim for whiplash…” I said no way, unless I really had it I would never claim, on principle.
Next morning I couldnt lift my head off the pillow and my neck was seriously painful, left it for a day or two and went to see my GP.
Ended up with an out of court settlement of £940 (ten years ago)
If you genuinely have whiplash, then I think you are fully justified in claiming and should do so. The only time to feel quilty about claiming is if it is a spurious claim for injuries not actually inflicted.
There’s whiplash and there’s whiplash, no two cases will be the same. If you have genuinely suffered discomfort, pain, loss of earnings etc then you would be fully justified in making a claim. If on the other hand you had a mild headache or sore neck for a few hours but nothing more then you might be willing to pass it off as one of those things.
Where I would advise caution is if you do suffer any discomfort or pain that lasts for any length of time get it checked out by your GP or evn A&E if necessary, the effects of whiplash can take time to appear and can be more serious than they first appear. If you do intend to make a claim get looked at by your GP asap to get it on the record. The insurance company will almost certainly require you to attend a medical examination and subject to the medical report you may be advised to attend a series of physio sessions. Any loss of earnings or travelling expenses incurred would be claimable.
Your insurer’s legal department will make money out of it from the other insurers, hence why they will be pushing you to pursue it. Ultimately we all end up paying higher premiums, as the other insurer will pass on any losses they make to their policy holders. I’m not entirely sure of the significance of it but when you renew your insurance you will be asked about whether you have made any claims, and will be asked about the amounts you were paid out including the personal injury element; I assume rightly or wrongly that this is likely to increase your base renewal price before your potentially unaffected discount is applied resulting in higher premiums for you also.
With regards to whether you should claim or not, if you have incurred the injury you legally have the right to be compensated for it, but only you can answer the question whether you feel morally that it is justified as only you know the true extent to the sufferring you have endured.
I wish you a speedy recovery if you are still suffering and back into the driving seat
Similar to above, about 15 or more years ago I was driving home after a night shift. I saw briefly in the rear view mirror, a car speeding towards me, (The thought “Oh S**t” went through my mind). He hit me hard, spinning my car around and into the crash barrier. The rear of the car, (a Vauxhall Astra) was completely stoved in to the extent that the rear seats were touching the front seats. The whiplash effect was such that my drivers seat collapsed backwards. The driver had fallen asleep after attending an all night religous ceremony. If he had’nt hit me, he would have killed himself.
Police fire and ambulance attended and I was taken to hospital for X-rays etc. I had whiplash and bruising and was fitted with a collar. I eventually got about £700 after a protracted claim. The driver was prosecuted by the police.
Recently my sons fiance was involved in a minor shunt to the back of her car. She was not hurt and there was slight damage to her rear plastic bumper, ( a Ford KA). Her insurer actively tried to encourage her to make a claim for injury. She being honest, declinced.
The false claim culture helps only the lawyers and those that profit from claims and keeps our premiums high.
Only you know if a claim is deserved or not. If you are genuinly hurt, then make a claim. If not, dont.
If you define ‘compensation’ as something given to you in recompense for a loss which you have suffered, ask yourself this - what have you actually lost as a result of your accident?
Have you been diagnosed with, and treated for, whiplash by a medical professional? Have you been forced to take time off work and therefore lose wages or potential overtime? Have you had to seek treatment from an osteopath or similar? If any of those things apply, then I’d say you have every right to recoup any loss which you have suffered.
On the other hand, the ‘false claim’ culture is a major thorn in the side of the insurance-policy-buying British public. My motor insurance premiums have spiralled upwards in the last few years, and I’m certain that a substantial proportion of these yearly increases are due to the willingness of money-grabbing chancers to attempt to claim a few quid purely on the back of the misfortune of having been involved in an accident even though they suffered no tangible loss as a result.
At least there’s a small crumb of comfort to be had from the fact that chancers like this are finding their insurance premiums going up just as much as everyone else’s. There are no real winners.
If you ask me (which you didn’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway ), all these ambulance-chasing legal firms should be regulated out of existence - all they’re doing is subtly encouraging people to fabricate claims for losses which often don’t exist, simply for the purposes of lining their own pockets.
Claims when granted have phrases such as “In full and final payment”. Obviously to prevent anyone coming back when they realise the damage done has not repaired or has deteriorated. I have injuries I carry that I can relate to which occured many years ago. Bear this long term factor in mind, particularly with spinal injuries.
I agree with Marpar, my own whiplash effects lasted for around 18 months and the £940 I had from Direct Line didn`t really come close to compensating me for the pain suffered through the accident, sorry to any poor soul who thinks that a rise in insurance premiums is down to me, would willingly have swapped the pain with you.
If you’ve been hurt then claim. If you haven’t then don’t. I was shunted from behind by a big 4x4 with bull bars on years ago. I was in an old Metro and the impact wrote it off big style. My son was in a baby seat in the back of the car and the boot was full of shopping. Obviously I was only concerned about my son.
I was a bit stiff the next day but nothing more than that. Like the others my insurance company and my friends urged me to pursue a claim for whiplash.
I didn’t. To be honest I was just grateful that neither of us were injured.
If a driver is involved in a collision, suffers some sort of acute pain as a result, but doesn’t actually suffer any sort of material or financial loss (other than damage to their vehicle, which would be covered by their insurance policy anyway), should they pursue a claim? What exactly are they being ‘compensated’ for in that circumstance?
Is it just a way to make a ‘quick buck’?
You might argue that they need the money to pay for visits to an osteopath or other similar practitioner - but if that’s the case, shouldn’t they be required to produce copies of bills/invoices covering the treatments from said practitioner and should compensation be limited to the amount of those bills?
point blank theres to many false claims for whip lash that are just away of getting a phew quid,which puts our premiums up each year so unless you cant hold your head up then no
steve
ps i find it hard to hold my self up most days due to 6 compressed discs in my back but i still work as i dont want to sponge from the goverment but i will when im ready as ive never had anything off them so when im ready ill take what i can till then ill work my ass off
), all these ambulance-chasing legal firms should be regulated out of existence - all they’re doing is subtly encouraging people to fabricate claims for losses which often don’t exist, simply for the purposes of lining their own pockets.