Next step in making a claim will be finding medical agency. Medical agency is needed to prepare a medical report; medical report lists and describes all injuries and time required for full recovery of person involved in accident.
Finding a good medical agency is very important in future result of claiming, based on medical report solicitor firm values claim. Medical report needs to enclose as much details as possible and needs to be prepared by doctors specialised in RTA injuries.
Medical report needs to be as precise as possible.
Finding right agency has massive impact on value of claim, with right report you can receive up to 60% more in compensation.
Another problem can be location of agency; doctor needs to interview you face to face; otherwise he will not be able to prepare report. If medical agency is based in London and you live in Peterborough you will need to attend the appointment on date and time given by the doctor.
Solicitors firm needs to have funding required to run the case.
Next step will be finding a solicitor firm. This is not as important as medical agency; however you should not rely on solicitors picked up randomly. Solicitor firm must have funding in place to be able to run the case.
Solicitors are responsible for making a link between you and insurance company. Good solicitor firm will prepare all documents required and will keep you updated as often as possible. This will let track your case and act/reply to any questions/concerns that third party insurance company can have.
In some cases solicitors needs to take insurance company to court; this is only in case when company is delaying the settlement. Court costs are covered by loosing side, which means that solicitors in some cases needs to be able to make a bluff or just take a risk of issuing court proceedings. Court cost usually varies between £11-13k.
Court costs can be as high as £13000
After getting all those “blocks” together you are on last straight of your claim; however it does not mean it’s close to the end. After disclosing medical report; insurance company has 21 working days to put forward PI offer. In some cases insurance company can ask for more information, that’s why it is important to have a solicitor firm that keeps you updated; otherwise your case will be delayed.
After receiving an offer solicitor should give you an advice if the offer is good enough to accept or it’s low and should be rejected. First offer in most cases is on a low side.
As well as offer you should receive an advice.
If you reject the offer, solicitors should prepare court documents and issue court proceedings on file. It’s important to have solicitors that will not have any problems with that (as mentioned earlier losing side pays the costs). Solicitor who will avoid issuing on a file will advice you to accept lower offer which will make them safe but won’t satisfy you, as the compensation will not be high enough.
Once offer is accepted, insurance company usually takes 2-6 week to release the money.
Accepting the offer means that you are fully satisfied with settlement and you will not be able to make any further claims in regards of this accident. After the offer is accepted insurance company should send you a cheque/bank transfer within 2-6 weeks. As soon as you receive the money your case is SETTLED.
That was a brief description for claiming process. As you can see it is long and complicated process. I have tried to explain it in as simple way as possible, hopefully it’s easy to understand for everyone.
If you need further information, please contact us on,
01733 555774 for Peterborough peteborough@accidentspecialists.co.uk
0208 536 0000 for London london@accidentspecialistsltd.co.uk
01536 202666 for Corby corby@accidentspecialistsltd.co.uk
0115 9417939 for Nottingham nottingham@accidentspecialistsltd.co.uk