If you have recently been injured through no fault of your own, you may be considering claiming for compensation against the other person. But then you begin to wonder. Is it the right thing to do, or is it just needless greed, taking advantage of an unfortunate situation. My personal injury This is exactly the situation I was left in after my road traffic accident. I'd been driving along a narrow road when another car came out of a bend at speed. Because of his speed, even though I stopped my car, he was unable to stop and crashed into the front of my car. Both cars were write offs and the police arranged for them to be taken away. My loses So now I had lost my no claims bonus and suddenly was a higher insurance risk. My car insurance premiums were going to increase and I'd lost my insurance excess. My own insurance were unhelpful and I needed professional help defending my position. I needed a solicitor. Whenever I called my insurance they never returned calls. Letters were being ignored. But magically, a phone call from a solicitor immediately got a response and some sense from them. But why would a solicitor take on the case? Had I just asked one to work for me, what would they have charged? Could I really afford it? Could I claim it on the insurance? This wasn't all I had lost. The accident happened on the second day of my holiday and the rest of the holiday was lost to phoning around trying to sort out insurance. Stranded, in the middle of no where, without a car, how could we continue our holiday? A hire car was possible, but not for another couple of days. And would we really feel up to driving these strange roads - just after the crash. So we had also lost the holiday. Plus we needed a relative to drive down to take us home. The financial loss was starting to mount up. Accident injuries But we'd escaped uninjured. Cuts, bruises and whiplash. A few days later and my family had recovered. A few weeks later and my neck pains still continued. Visits to the doctor produced creams that got rid of most of the pains, but 5 months later the trouble still continued. A physiotherapist was recommended, but on the NHS it would take weeks, or even months, to sort. A private physiotherapist was recommended, but that was going to cost. 30 for the first session and that would just tell me how many sessions would be needed. Who was going to pay that? Should you claim? Overall, claiming for injuries may seem like jumping on the compensation culture bandwagon, but the solicitor will act as a friendly face, someone to explain what is going on. After an accident you can suffer financial losses. Who is going to cover these for you? And your injuries may stop you from getting on with your normal life for a while. Some people and organisations have given bad press to injury claims. But claiming for personal injuries isn't that bad if the pain of several months is anything to go by. |
