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

1. 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

A late intimated injury claim will trigger fraud concerns, especially if the sols involved are known for buying referrals and submitting claims without proper instructions. It's likely they have already submitted the claim because you asked for details to be sent by post. You'll probably now get a lot of pressure applied to make sure you follow through. You might well get something in the end (after jumping through many hoops) but I doubt it'll be in time for Xmas. Fraud depts aren't known for their quick turn arounds (I should know, I work in one ) You will be considered suspicious even if you were genuinely injured, because of how the claim will now be pursued. If you have the stomach for the fight you'll face to get no where near the huge sums being dangled in front of you, go for it.

I rang my insurance company one day and had an ambulance chasing call the next day! Followed by more.

When a genuine firm rang up about getting back uninsured losses, ie, the excess, I didn't believe them and put the phone down

I think you are right to not claim for this. You would have claimed at the time if you were injured.

I had whiplash from an accident 4 years ago. I ended up with a month off work because my office chair didn't support my neck and back so my doctor wouldn't let me go back. I had physio once a week for 10 weeks. It was so painful during the physio I cried though half an hour after I felt so much better. I was on diclofenac for a month after the accident. Now, if I carry too much weight (ie a shoppin bag of clothes in each hand around a shopping centre) my back and shoulders still hurt.

I got 3k. I shouldn't have settled, I should have pushed for more physio. The money paid off my car loan. But I didn't claim for that reason, I claimed because I couldn't afford over £500 for the physio!

Pvivax yes of course I try to give my kids wonderful Christmases.

I just think it's hard to think of the bigger picture sometimes. I know that if no one made claims like this then everyone would benefit in terms of lower premiums, but it's very easy to think that with so many other people doing it your one claim is really just a drop in the ocean, so why should you be the one to forgo the £££. Tragedy of the commons innit.

I've had whiplash and there's no way paracetamol would touch it. I had a next day doc appt, insurance medical assessment and a year of physio. It still flares up occasionally. Im sorry, but you're taking the piss a bit. Just because someone waves cash in front of you, it doesn't mean that morals fly out of the window.

I'm only commenting on this because I keep seeing the same misapprehension. Increases in claims don't really put up insurance premiums. Or, rather, they do because everyone believes it, but it's just an excuse to get us to pay more.

Commercial insurance funds aren't savings pools; they're more like gambling. The insurers insure themselves with even bigger funds, all based on expected profits / risks: hedge funds, basically. You can read up on it if you're interested. If everybody stopped believing that premiums are determined by how much they have to pay out, insurers would have to work harder to get our money.

I have mixed feelings about damages claims. On the one hand, the money has already been provisioned - not in the sense your salesperson told you, bellybutton, but in the sense that all risks have been covered upfront by the 'bet' - so people may as well have it. It's one of the very few ways to get anything back from the financial bloodsuckers industry. On the other hand, it promotes the idea that somebody else should literally pay for every little bump you get - diminishing personal responsibility - which in turn leads to spurious elf 'n' safety fears.

In your case, anyway, it's highly unlikely you'd win as you didn't have injuries requiring treatment. Sorry!

I find this morally repugnant, sorry. You were not badly hurt, it was years ago. It's not the case that you'll be taking money from some big faceless insurance company, people who do this make it harder and harder for those with legitimate claims. You'll be funding Christmas with tainted money, not exactly the spirit of the season!

You were involved in an accident which wasn't your fault, you suffered some injury (including the shock and fear of losing your baby), and you are within the 3 year time limit. Your claim is genuine and there is no reason not to pursue it, but you won't get £3k each without contemporaneous supportive medical evidence. Your insurance company will probably provide you with a free lawyer; check your policy.

I agree that you shouldn't go with the ambulance chasers; you could also do your own Letter of Claim (addressed to the other driver for him to refer to his insurers) and make an offer to settle - say £500 for DH and £750 for you - which may be tempting to the other driver's insurers to settle before lawyers become involved, when they will have a liability to pay legal fees as well!

Ooh, what a sensible reply, dolce!

There you go, bellybutton, a grand for Xmas and a clear conscience :)

From the other perspective - shortly after DS was born, someone stopped dead in front of DH on an entirely empty roundabout. He was just pulling out and nudged the back of them - no damage to either car. The other driver was completely calm and suspiciously unsurprised about the accident.

He got £3k for whiplash. I'm sure he had a lovely Christmas. Thanks to the massive hike in our premiums - because, let's face it, the AA were going to make sure it was us who paid for it ultimately - our Christmas wasn't quite so great that year.

It's not free money. Someone pays. It's not a big corporation, it's people who are already struggling and counting every penny.

In my opinion you should only claim for personal injury if you incurred a loss due to the crash. So a loss of income due to time off work to recover or a loss of the ability to do the things you used to do say for example - unable to use your arm properly due to nerve damage. I had a crash from behind last year and had the same phone calls. I tell them I incurred no loss, was not off work for any time and have my full range of movement so do not need compensation.
It is tempting but it is also fraud.

Oh OP you had a bloody 'achey neck' for a few weeks which you could alleviate with paracetamol.

Do you fuck have a claim.

I was hit a few months ago. Damage to my car and im still having physio. I had two £300 car seats in my car I had to replace. Nothing is happening. Im so pissed off. I've lost alot of money because of someone else's stupidity.

Commercial insurance funds aren't savings pools; they're more like gambling...If everybody stopped believing that premiums are determined by how much they have to pay out, insurers would have to work harder to get our money

I was going to say what garlicbrunch said in her whole post. But she put it so much better.

And what dolce said is a good idea.

You're entitled to claim because you have suffered pain for something that was not your fault. However, you will have trouble establishing it because you did not mention it to a doctor at the time. I agree that the route suggested by dolcelatte is the way to go.

I work in car insurance, and claims like this are ludicrous. There isnt £3000 put away for your claim, and companies are more willing to settle injury if the claim is made quite swiftly - people who are genuinely in pain do this. People who put a claim in 2 years down the line are looking for a payout for nothing so the company will likely push for evidence etc and offer a lot less as a settlement.
If I were you, I would leave it. The companies are chasing you because the second you say you are claiming, they add inflated charges onto your claim so they make more money than you will ever get. I would be very concerned, however, that they have all your details. You should call the fault insurer and check that solicitors havent contacted them and told them they are representing you - this is something sleazy unprofessional companies do to make sure they handle your claim, even if you dont want them to. Then tell them that you're not claiming.
I should add that putting this claim in will be offset by the increase in premium that these claims cause for everyone - and when you come to renew you will have to tell the companies you get quotes from that this claim has been reopened - and an open claim can bump up your premium too.

oh and also, it is most likely your own insurance company who passed your details on to an outside accident management company (they used to receive referral fees for this) and that company then passes them on (in return for further fees) to solicitors who bombard you with calls to get you to claim.

I was in an accident in March when I was rear ended whilst sat at traffic lights. Bad whiplash and my job is very physical so I have to make a claim so I have funds for any future physio I will need. I have been told that once a back is badly hurt it will never fully recover and I will always have a weakness which is an absolute pain (without going into details my job is kind of like a landscape gardener). I am still taking painkillers on a regular basis and to be honest the amount the insurance co thinks I will get is not enough. I would rather the accident had not happened.

I would not go with any company that contacted me like that though!

everyone has a price. Now you know yours.

there is no claim pre-filed. It's a lie. And yes, greed like this pushes up premiums for you and everyone else.

can't be that bad if you've been ok for 2 years. The calls continue for 3 years after the accident.

my husband was THAT close to being killed when knocked off his bike by some stupid female in hubby's car. Six months for the injury to heal to return life to somewhere near normal, and has been left with lifelong problems - nothing major but always there. He did eventually get 3k compensation.

you aren't hurt.

I think it would be very unreasonable to make any such claim.

I had an accident a couple of years ago, when I was driving along a main road (fortunately not particularly fast, as weather was awful) and someone pulled out of a side road at point blank range, straight onto me.

Nobody was hurt at all. Not even a twinge (we were so lucky). STILL we got the "ambulance chaser" calls, insisting we had a case and a claim. It is inciting people to commit fraud IMHO. I cannot stand it myself. I think "ambulance chasers" are a total disgrace, and I told them so every time.

I am regularly totally skint, but would never make a fraudulent claim. It helps to hike everyone's premiums up for the following year.

I wasnt planning on making a fraudulant claim. I was just told that 3k was in the offer for aches and pains! I would never lie as I do believe that these things come around. Im not claiming as even though I was honextly tempted - I did feel very uncomfortable about it. You guys have reinforced the notion - if its too good to be true, it probabky is!

Despite my advancing years and all my insurances I ve only ever made one claim (broken bone aboad but the hospital sorted that out).

That saleswoman made it sound so easy as if it was just there waiting to be collected and I could spend it on xmas. Sigh....

xmas doesn't need money spent on it...it happens regardless.

It does need spending on when you have 3 young children who will be excited about it!

You don't need 3k to spend on Christmas!!!