No win no fee after car accident

[Fyra]

Hi folks,

Just need some advice from people who know a bit more about this than me.

I had a car accident last week which was not my fault at all. Insurance all dealt with it and I'm just waiting on the garage to contact me regarding repairs. It was essentially a multi vehicle incident.

I had a phone call today at work which I answered believing it was the garage. Instead it was a solicitor who were aware of my accident, knew name, date, reg etc who discussed with me about putting in a personal injury claim for whiplash and said that I could as my car was damaged to a certain level. On the initial phone call, I was more or less told what to say my injuries were so that on the second phone call with the same company's legal team, I could describe them the way they wanted. In actual fact I don’t even think I had any whiplash symptoms. Believing it was directly linked to my insurance company, I happily agreed.

I have no qualms about the legitimacy of the company, but I'm not sure on reflection if I've agreed to something that is a bit scrupulous. This is especially true as I was told it won't be thrown out on a count of fraud as I was in the vehicle at the time but the way I was told to describe my injuries seems like a huge exaggeration. I have a 14 day window to withdraw the application so no concerns there.

Any advice from anyone in this field would be much appreciated. Thanks

I am a solicitor in this field. I would not lie about whiplash symptoms. They just want their fees for doing this claim from the insurance company. Dont do it. If you do develop symptoms and do want a claim contact AVMA for an accredited law firm in your local area.

These are ambulance chasing scum. They’ll claim and take a huge chunk of the cash and people’s premiums will keep
increasing because of these lies. I hope soon you have to provide medical certification for these claims. Anyone lying like this should have their licence ripped up and be banned.

Read up about fundamental dishonesty. It can apply to exaggerated claims leading to a risk of paying the defendant's legal costs. If you aren't injured don't bring a claim for personal injury. The person who called you is very unlikely to be qualified as a solicitor.

Thanks all for the perspectives. I had friends and family encouraging me to go for it so wanted to hear from others. I've withdrawn my contract from the legal company. It has made me wonder who the person who contacted me was as they had details on my reg, date of accident and name though.

Its your insurers - they pass your details onto their panel lawyers for a fee and then moan about premiums going up to pay for claims

Hey folks, just wanted to follow up with a bit of an update and any thoughts appreciated. I closed the claim with the legal company straight after your replies and I haven’t heard anything since.

Today I just received a phone call from the same person who originally rang me saying that the first payment has gone through to cover for vehicle damage and the second has been blocked for personal injury. I said I withdrew the claim (which I did, I cancelled the agreement with the legal company) and he said he doesn't understand as I received the payment for vehicle damage (I didn't, the other party had the same insurance company as me so all sorted through them which didn't include any money) and I'm missing the second payment. I said no I've withdrawn as I had no injuries and he said well are you happy that excess money will go into their bonus pot. I hung up after that.

Typing it out here I can definitely see how ridiculous and opportunistic it is. Sounds like they were trying to convince me their claim is linked to the claim put in with my insurance. They use a private number so I can't block them and I'm currently in the process of applying for jobs so can't exactly ignore phone calls.

Hopefully they leave me alone now.