AIBU to make this whiplash insurance claim?

[bellybuttonfairy]

A couple of years ago my husband and I were in our van waiting at a roundabout and a car shunted us from behind. It was a really good hit (the back bumper and doors were all damaged) and we were propelled forward with quite a force. I was 8 months pregnant with dc3 and my tummy got shunted quite forcefully against the seat belt but I made a quick trip a bit later to the maternity dept for a heartbeat monjtorinv and baby was fine.

I had a painful neck that evening but I just took some paracetamol and went to bed. It was achey for a few weeks as if I had slept awquardly on it but generally didnt give me too many problems and I was busy with the new baby and older toddlers. Dh was similar but he hardly complains about anything. We did joke about it at the time and say 'where there is a blame theres a claim!' But we have never intended to do anything like make a claim.

Fast forward to 2 years and we've had so many phonecalls fro agencies wanting to claim on our behalf and Ive always polietly declined. The last one was persistant and explained that on their re ords the insurance company has already put 3k per person for a whiplash clai m.

Ive got to admit that it is tempting. 6k for xmas?
For -

1. I did have the required symptoms
   
2. the bloke was an arse and insurance company were horrible to me (demanded that I had to pick up repaired vehicle from garage in 2 hours or incur fees -DH was miles away in work and meant I had to catch two buses to pick up car with 3 day old baby and 2 toddlers)
   
3. Am skint and it would pay for fab xmas, fab holiday and have some savings
   
   Against
   
4. Even though we had sore necks, we werent in agony (6k worth of pain in my opinion would be a LOT) and as everyone is claiming for whiplash -will I just be pushing up the car premiums for evryone else? s

[MsVestibule]

You sound like a person with a strong moral code who's just having a bit of a wobble when £6k is being waved at you temptingly!

I think you know the answer to this one.

[LegoAcupuncture]

Ask yourself what's in it for these "agencies".

And yes, by claiming you're bumping up people's insurance premiums.

[Xales]

What did you put when you did the original claim? You probably can't turn around and say you didn't notice you were hurt now but honest you were enough for this after two years (with no medical backing) if you didn't put it in the original insurance claim.

If you honestly think you were hurt enough from whiplash to claim it do so but do it properly through who ever you had the insurance with not some vulture agency who will in all probability take most of the claim.

[bellybuttonfairy]

Yes, the woman on the other side of tbe phone was audibly salivating when I asked to to just ssnd some info out in the post so I could discuss with DH

[Willdoitinaminute]

The average compensation paid out for whiplash is 2-3K the fee paid to the solicitor is 9K+, medical examiner £500 and the list goes on.Now do you understand why they are so persistent? And why our insurance premiums never seem to come down.

[LegoAcupuncture]

The agencies are ambulance chasers tbh.

I get phone calls, at least three times a week, from different people trying to get me to put such a claim in for an accident three years ago where nobody was injured. It's very annoying.

[bellybuttonfairy]

Ive never put in a personal injury claim. The original claim was for repairs to ths back of the van. I do usually have a strong moral code and have turned probably 30 phone calls down.... This woman was probably just a really good salesperson, she said 'its a claim for aches and pains resulting from the accident'. She made it sound very easy and clear cut

Pah, Im going to have to say no. waves goodbye to kids xmas trampoline and french holiday

[avolt]

Would your claim be successful if you didn't have any medical treatment for it?

[PrincessFlirtyPants]

I get phone calls all the time from these people. They rarely (if ever, IME) know my name. They tell me I've had accidents I haven't had. They typically reference an accident (as most people have had them) with no detail on the incident, ie date etc. most people assume they are referring to the accident that they remember.

Insurance companies do not set aside money for PI claims

PI claims are pushing everyones insurance premiums up.

[bellybuttonfairy]

I was thinking that avolt. I didnt visit gp (I hardly ever see GP)as I just took some paracetamol but the woman said that was fine. How would they know that I wasnt lying??

[bellybuttonfairy]

This woman knew all my details, date of accident, car reg etc etc

[JumpingJackSprat]

how long did it take you to recover?

[mistlethrush]

I have twice received an insurance payout for whiplash. However, on both occasions I have visited both my GP (as soon as I could get an appointment) and had to go to an osteopath several times to get it sorted out. A few paracetamol has not sorted it out.

[PrincessFlirtyPants]

That is very unusual. Might be worth finding out how they got your details.

Oh and based on that call they will most probably have already referred your case to a solicitor and charged the solicitor for the referral.

A friend worked at a call centre like this during his summer break from Uni.

[JumpingJackSprat]

someone involved in your incident - insurer, garage, hire co will have sold your details on. large injury solicitor firms spend a lot of money paying people to trawl through old claims trying to farm claims. they dont have any special knowledge of you and tbh theyre not interested. they just want their costs. £3k is the sort of figure someone in severe pain with multiple trips to the gp, physio and time off work for a prolonged length of time might expect.

they will look very closely at you because of the time thats passed.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

It's unlikely your claim would be successful. Insurance companies have got shit hot on this kind of claim in recent years and have people examined by their own medical experts.

[TheFuzz]

You should not claim. Minor slightly sore neck. Whiplash claims aren't worth anything like £3k anymore because of these bogus claims. For about 6 months of discomfort, needing physio etc, you would be lucky with £1,500 and that's with medical records. My wife was hit a couple of years ago, and was in significant discomfort needing physio.

[JeanPaget]

I know it's a bit shit, but if I were in your shoes I'd be very tempted to pursue the claim .

Yes, it drives up insurance premiums for everyone else etc etc, but I'd be very tempted to forgo the moral highground if it meant a wonderful Christmas for my kids.

[avolt]

Me too Mistlethrush. I didn't claim but had whiplash - there were x-rays, surgical collar, phyiotherapy. I'm not sure you'd get anywhere if you just said you had an achey neck. There has to be some evidence, surely.

Maybe the call centre staff just have to get a certain number to sign up, so might be telling you there's a case, when there isn't?

[mistlethrush]

Oh - and the last claim I got, I was making an appointment to see a Dr appointed by the insurance people, separate from my GP, until the other person's insurance company decided that their client really didn't have a foot to stand on (eg claiming for damage to back bumper, when their right front wing hit our car) and decided to pay up in full.

So - are you willing to have a full medical and explain exactly how much pain you have been in?

[bellybuttonfairy]

Those agencies are arses then as I must admit I did get a teeny bit exited. I certainly wasnt in loads of pain- just like I said earlier -an achey neck for a few weeks. I did say this on tbe phone that I really didnt think it would warrant that type of payout but of course she just said 'yes those are whiplash symptoms so you are ENTITLED to this money'. Pah, pah, pah.

I probably wouldnt have even thought about it if the insurance companh were so horrible to me afterwards saying that I had to collect the van immediately as the courtesy car insurance was stopping as my car was ready. Since it was friday evening and i was stuck on my own with 3 children as dh had to do an urge t work thing. I tried explaining that I had just given birth with a patchwork perineum and 2 prolapses and physically in not fit state to drag myself and all the kids miles away to the garage but they catagorically said that 'it wasnt their problem'

Ok though, Im not going to claim. I have had a serious moral wobble tho!

[Pvivax]

Jean,how are you going to give your kids a "wonderful Christmas" next year and the year after that and so on without the insurance money? As you said yourself that's why premiums are so high because of false claims. I'm sure you give your children's perfectly good Christmases .

[bellybuttonfairy]

Thanks jean, its nice to know someone else understood how tempting it is!