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Frequently Asked Questions

We have a team of personal injury claim specialists who will be glad to assist you with the claims process. We aim to make the process as stress-free as possible. We pride ourselves on our excellent customer service and the legal advice you receive will be accurate. We will treat you with respect and behave professionally at all times in dealing with all parties in connection with your claim.

You are under no obligation to use any particular solicitor and are therefore free to instruct a representative of your choice.

This will vary depending on the complexity of your claim. If liability is accepted then your case will be processed relatively quickly as it is just a matter of calculating and agreeing your entitlement, but if it is contested then your claim will take longer (see What happens if liability for my claim is not admitted?

If liability for your claim is not admitted, it will be necessary to gather evidence and information about what happened. This will include witness statements, photographs of the accident scene or of the damage to your vehicle or the other party’s vehicle. Once the evidence has been gathered we would negotiate with the other party’s insurers. If they continue to deny liability we would look to issue Court proceedings to obtain a Court ruling that the accident was the other party’s fault.

This depends on the severity of your injuries, how your life has been affected and any loss of earnings or other financial loss experienced as a direct result of the accident. We will be better able to advise you about the compensation for your injuries once a medical report or reports have been obtained. We will be better able to advise you about your financial losses once we have gathered the information from you regarding the losses.

If you lose your claim you will not be liable for any costs whatsoever due to signing a no win no fee agreement. If you lose your claim at Court you would not usually have to pay the other party’s costs.

You will usually be required to attend a medical appointment in order to allow an expert to adequately evaluate your health and substantiate your claim. It is not mandatory but it will be very difficult to secure payment without it. It may be possible to obtain a pre-medical offer from the other party’s insurers, but this is not guaranteed and it would be better to attend a medical appointment to obtain a report.

A lot of cases will settle without Court proceedings needing to be issued. If it is necessary to issue Court proceedings we will prepare the necessary paperwork. We can sign the paperwork on your behalf as long as you authorise us to and you are happy that the information in the documents is correct. There are some Court documents, such as the list of documents or a witness statement from you, that you would have to approve and sign with a Statement of Truth. We would draw up the documents for you. Even if Court proceedings are started this does not mean there will be a hearing. It would be better for you to attend a Court hearing, if one is needed, rather than not attending as the Court may rule against you if you do not attend.

If the vehicle is insured but not the driver then the insurance company will still be obligated to pay. If there is no insurance cover whatsoever, the claim will be dealt with by the Motor Insurers Bureaus under the Uninsured Drivers Agreement which means that your compensation will come from a fund which all insurance companies are obligated to contribute towards.

If you are unable to trace the other driver then compensation can still be obtained from the MIB under the Untraced Drivers Agreement. You can claim compensation for injury and injury related losses such as medication expenses, treatment costs or loss of earnings.

You can still claim but your compensation is likely to be reduced by around 25% if the injury would not have occurred if a seatbelt had been worn. If it would not have made any difference to the injury that you receive then there would be no reduction. If necessary we would seek clarification from the medical expert as to the effect of not wearing a seatbelt.

You have three years from the date of the accident in order to seek compensation and children have three years from when they turn 18 in which to claim. As the limitation period starts to run immediately then we recommend that you initiate your claim as soon as possible. This will also ensure that you are paid promptly without unnecessary delay. Also, the sooner you make a claim after the accident the better, because if liability is disputed then any witnesses will remember the accident better and we would look to get witness statements as quickly as possible after the accident.