Road Traffic Accident & Insurance Claim

Guys

It is a little long, advice and recommendations really needed.

I was in a RTA the other day, I was at some traffic lights when someone hit me from behind. I was quite badly beaten up, shock about and in a lot of pain and discomfort. I went to hospital an Xrayed and so on.

I have now been to the Dr who is going to refer me to a chiropractor for my injuries as I have lost a lot of feeling down my right side, back of the leg and neck. The Dr offered me the NHS but I am going to pay for private, then hopefully claim it back, some how. This is wear I am unsure.

The book value of my car is very low although to me it is worth quite a bit more. I have been collecting adverts of similar makes models to try and help if the case needs be.

I contacted my insurance (Axa) who are happy to take on my claim and deal with it completely, car and personal injury and will return my no claims, once they have been reimbursed by the other party’s insurance (Zurich)

Two days ago I was called by Zurich who said that because he had admitted all liability they would be more than happy to deal with the claim both car and personal.

I am a little sceptical about going through Zurich as they are only going to want to give me the smallest payout possible, it makes no odds to them as I am not one of their customers, although it may be easier to deal with just one company.

The options I have, that I know about are:

1. Use Axa to deal with the total claim

2. Use Axa to deal with the car and use a separate lawyer to help me with the personal injury.

3. Follow Zurichs advice and let them deal with the claim as a whole.

4. A completely independent third party Accident Management Company, and let them deal with the claim.

Another thing, if I were to go through private treatment, would I receive some payment soonish to help with treatment, or would I have to wait until the end of the treatment to receive any sort of settlement ?

Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions ?

 

Sorry to hear your bad news....FWIW..
Last (relatively minor - needed a new door) RTA I had, the other parties insurance co phoned me the following day & said they would sort it all as he had admitted responsibility. I phoned my ins co & cancelled the claim I'd already started. After a couple of weeks of hearing nothing & waiting for the repair to be arranged, I phoned his insurers up to be told they had got it wrong & he had not admitted liability....so I had to go back to my ins co & start again. Cut a long story short, just over a year later, the day before I was due in court 200 miles awayto decide the case, they finally gave up & admitted liability.
I would not trust any insurance co to get you the 'best deal', especially not the other party's. The 'legal assistance' I paid extra for & ended up using on my own policy was a complete sham - it was supposedly a firm of solicitors, not that I ever got to talk to one, but acting (of course) for the insurance company rather than me....So I'm afraid that's not much help...just bitter experience!!
I have no experience of personal injury (thankfully), but I would think that as soon as you get a third party involved whether that be an 'accident manager ' (?!) or a solicitor, they will sit up & take notice..

 

Whatever you do, do not let the other party's insurance co. deal with it. Pass all correspondence, particularly that admitting liability on to your own insurance co. and let them sort it out.

 

I have to agree, it's YOUR insurance company who need to pursue the claim with his insurance - at least to make sure you keep your no claims bonus.

I don't know anything about personal injury lawyers. Why not ring your insurance and ask what they say?

 

My last 2 RTAs, in neither of which I was at fault (one a 'rear ender' like yours and the other involving a chap unable to control his car in tricky conditions - I was going to say 'idiot in a blinged-up Corsa' but that would show prejudice on my part!!) were a salutary lesson to me. My first claim was dealt with by AXA who pursued the other driver (but settled the claim for me first). They gave me a disappointing sum for my car(old but in A1 condition and just had substantial sum spent on an engine rebuild), even after I rejected their first offer & despite an independant engineers report, recent bills and and independent valuation - basically they said "thats what the car's worth, lad, we can't set a precident here". I spent some money on a couple of lawyers letters to them but to no avail.
I changed insurers to Norwich Union after that experience and opted for a protected no claims. The legal help provided under that policy was very frustrating, it seemed to be handled by the law firm's teaboy in his spare time and resulted in little other than a few letters along the lines of "we are happy to be handling the claim on your behalf" through "we are pursuing the other party for x y and z but are awaiting response from his insurers" to several "no progress yet but we'll keep you informed". Eventually all was settled.
As far as the your claim goes unless you have a written or witnessed admission of liability from the third party I think you're on a loser there. Check with your guys about the private treatment to see if they'll pay out if no resolution is reached with the third party insurers. As with previous posters I'd advise dealing with your own insurers and, if you do corespond directly with the other party or his insurers, make sure to head the letters "without prejudice"

Good luck - Neil

 

Definitely deal only with your own insurance company.

On the legal front, you are entitled to be put in the same position as you were before the accident. You do not have to accept silly insurance values for the car. The resolution is quite simple; claim for an amount that would put you 'in the same position' through the County Court. The procedure is easy and straightforward. You should sue the driver. H/shee will pass that on to his insurers and it will serve to focus atention all round. You'll also get your costs when you win the case.

 

It's true that you are not obliged to accept a 'silly value', but as I found to my cost (see above) the insurance / legal opinion of what is the "same position" may not tally with yours! Precident is important and there are always many cases of similar claims to your own to be looked at.

Be careful of the words "should" and "ought to" when listening to advice. It's pretty easy to become insensed with the unfairness of doubts being raised over what seems to be an obvious open and shut situation. In reality an assertive rather than an over the top response is the best way to go.

 

Ask your insurance company to put you in touch with a personal injury specialist company that they recommend. All motor vehicle insurance companies should have one on their books. If not use a third party one.

As has been said already. Do not under any circumstances allow Zurich to deal with your claim on your behalf. Their legal responsibility is to their driver, not you and you will get a very bad deal from them.


GTM

 

Thanks guys, much appreciated.