Or, to put it another way, why don’t pure property damage claims work no win no fee? Dealing with motor insurers can be a frustrating process. This article was prompted by a question via the Grigor & Young website. The person making the enquiry said of their dealings with the third party insurers: It is an ‘online’ process and one is left for long periods of time on the telephone (twice my phone has run out of power from being fully charged) while trying to get a response. The enquirer had been involved in a road traffic accident that was not their fault. Their car was damaged and needed repairs. The car belonged to one of their parents. They were insured to drive the parent’s car through their comprehensive insurance on their own car. Ordinarily, in a “comprehensive” scenario, you may well choose to claim under your own policy (even if the accident was not your fault) because you have a contract with your insurers. You have more control. You have more clout if Continue Reading
9 Questions to ask your Legal Expenses Insurer if you want your own solicitor to handle your personal injury claim
In other articles, we have discussed how legal expenses insurance can help minimise the cost risk to you if you need to make a personal injury claim for compensation. The term “legal expenses insurance” can include both before-the-event (BTE) insurance and after-the-event (ATE) insurance. With ATE insurance, the insurance policy is taken out after the accident in order to cover the risk of having to pay the opponent’s legal costs (for example, if you raise a court action but the claim fails and you lose). BTE insurance covers against future legal costs but was in place before the event which gave rise to the claim, such as the accident which has caused the personal injury for which you need to claim compensation. BTE insurance generally limits your freedom to choose your own legal representative because claimants are directed to use firms of solicitors which are on the BTE insurer’s approved panel. Panel firms may be located a considerable distance from your home, especially Continue Reading
Why you should always make use of insurance, if you have it
We criticise insurance companies on this blog quite often. Of course, insurance companies are frequently critical of solicitors who help people to make personal injury claims. They are also critical of claimants themselves. As well as people with possible personal injury compensation claims, we get a lot of enquiries from people who are worried that some sort of compensation claim might be made against them. If they have insurance cover, they are not sure if they should use it. If you have insurance that will help you defend a claim against you for personal injury (or property damage), you should make use of it. Here are a couple of very recent examples. The first scenario is a road traffic accident. Of course, in theory, it is compulsory to have motor insurance to cover you against the risk of liability to a 3rd party. In this case, the person making the enquiry to us had been driving at night in a suburban area. There was street lighting. The car in front was Continue Reading
4 ways to avoid problems with your whiplash injury claim (that your solicitor can’t really tell you about)
Whiplash injuries are problematic because they are soft tissue injuries. They cannot be identified or confirmed on any form of medical scan. They can be difficult to diagnose. Because of this, they are controversial injuries. They can be exaggerated. It is said that they can even be faked. In May 2018, the insurer Aviva reported that the value and volume of fraudulent claims detected by them had increased for the second consecutive year. Aviva said it now rejected around one in eight whiplash claims because they were suspect or considered to be fraudulent. Putting the case for personal injury victims, on the other hand, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) pointed out that on the Association of British Insurers' own figures, only 0.17% of all motor claims are proven to be fraudulent. Motor claims include property claims due to fire, theft and damage, as well as personal injury. In other words, not all motor claims involve a personal injury element, so only a Continue Reading