Compensation Claims For Whiplash
How Much Compensation For My Whiplash Injury?
By Nick Jervis
An article exploring how the amount of whiplash compensation awards are decided.
If you have suffered a whiplash injury following a car accident that was not your fault, how much compensation can you expect to receive? This article looks at the different elements of a claim for whiplash compensation so that you can assess whether to make a claim or not.
Compensation for whiplash in the UK is supposed to do one thing and one thing only; that is to try and put you back to the position you were in before the accident. Now of course, when it comes to a physical injury, this may be impossible to do. Some whiplash injuries can cause permanent symptoms so any financial compensation will not seem adequate, but that is still the purpose of your whiplash compensation.
When you make a claim, it is split into two parts; correctly called General Damages and Special Damages. Damages is simply another word for compensation, and the General part relates to the compensation that is not easily priced or assessed; ie your physical injuries and the impact of those on your day to day life. Specials Damages relate to the items that you can attribute a specific cost or expense to, such as physiotherapy treatment. Let's look at each one in turn.
General Damages
These are designed to compensate you for your pain and suffering. With a whiplash injury you can have a sore, stiff neck, limited range of movement, headaches, shoulder pain and giddiness. Whiplash pain can last for a few days, weeks, months or can even be permanent. Obviously the more severe your pain is and the longer it lasts means a larger amount of General Damages compensation.
Every case is assessed on the full details of the injury and the impact on your life. Your whiplash solicitor will obtain a full witness statement from you and any members of your family that have seen the impact of the injury on your day to day life.
He will also obtain a medical report from a General Practitioner or an Orthopaedic Surgeon who will examine your range of movement and make a note of any pain and restrictions of movement. He will suggest any treatment and provide you with a prognosis, an outline of how long your pain and suffering will last.
Once your solicitor has all of this information he will be able to assess the amount of your General Damages, usually giving you with a range in which he would expect you to recover compensation. He will use previously decided cases and the main tool which is a book called The Judicial Studies Board Guidelines For The Assessment of Damages.
They split the awards into categories depending on how long the pain and suffering lasted, and how severe it was. This is broken down as follows:
£750 to £2500 for a full recovery within 1 year
£2400 to £4250 if you make a full recovery withing 2 years
£4250 to £7750 for slow recovery of more than minor whiplash symptoms with pain for a number of years
£7750 to £13750 for permanent symptoms
Your award for your General Damages will be assessed using the above guide and your witness and medical evidence.
Special Damages
These are easier to assess because they will be based on real expenses incurred by you. Your whiplash solicitor will ask you to provide him with receipts, wage slips and any other documentation that you have that will prove your losses and expenses.
Your claim for Special Damages can include the following:
Lost Earnings. If you had time off work due to your whiplash injury you will be able to claim back your lost earnings. You will need your wage slips so that your solicitor can work out your losses.
Car Repairs. If your car was damaged in the accident you will be able to claim back the cost of any repairs and if the accident was not your fault your no claims bonus will not be harmed. Garage invoices will prove the cost of any repairs.
Car Storage. If your car was stored by the garage before the repairs took place (they may have been waiting approval to repair the car before they proceeded) then you can claim for these storage charges too.
Car Hire. If you needed to travel whilst your car was off the road you will be able to recover the cost of any car hire.
Treatment. You may have received physiotherapy or chiropractic treatment privately. If you did you can reclaim these costs as part of your whiplash compensation claim.
Travel expenses. This will be for additional travel expenses incurred as a result of the accident, such as travelling to treatment or for other appointments related to your claim for compensation.
Damaged Items. During the accident other items in your vehicle might have been damaged. This is most likely if you are a motorcyclist but in cars people often break sunglasses or other glasses during the collision.
Medication. If you needed to take medication as a result of the accident, you can recover the cost of this, along with any other medical items such as a neck brace.
Any other expenses. If you incurred any other expense at all as a result of the accident then you can recover the cost of this expense too.
Your claim for Special Damages is far easier to assess than the claim for General Damages because, as you can see, it relates to real incurred expenses.
Summary Of Your Compensation For Whiplash
A claim for compensation for whiplash can vary greatly from person to person based on the above factors. One person might suffer a severe whiplash injury with no or little additional expenses (Special Damages) whilst another with minor injuries might suffer large expenses for car hire and car repairs. Therefore, they might receive the same overall amount of compensation for two seemingly very different injuries. The difference is in the detail. At least now you will be able to work out why someone else might receive more whiplash compensation than you.
March 16, 2011
5:30 pm
o.O
ok…well….you report it to the other person’s insurance company.
provided they have insurance.
provided YOU have insurance – you report it to YOUR insurance company.
it’s really not all that hard……
regardless of whether or not you makes a claim – make sure to take care of yourself!
goodluck.
~jifr!
May 25, 2011
4:56 pm
How do I go about claiming compensation for whiplash?
Someone rear-ended me yesterday at such a force that i now have quite a bad neckache.
June 29, 2011
7:30 pm
How can whiplash be proved? False insurance claims?
So i have heard of many people in the neighborhood who have made false compensation claims for whiplash. An aquaintance had a minor bump and recieved £2000. another guy got £2000 but he wasnt even in the car (his friends had the accident and they all got a payout each).
What I want to know is, what can be done to prevent this? I know it has risen sharply in my area. Is there no way that it can be disproven by a doctor? Why is it so easy to do, or is it not?
(Dishonesty just bugs me and my insurance is a LOT of money lol)
Thankyou in advance!
i should have said ‘proven’ in the question title. Rookie mistake.
July 3, 2011
8:22 pm
Soft tissue injuries like whiplash are near impossible to prove and near impossible to disprove. Those type of injuries don’t exactly have a whole bunch of telltale signs that can be observed unlike a broken bone or a disease like cancer. The best a doctor can do is observe range of motions and the reactions of the patient when they reach the pain zone. However these reactions can be easily faked. This is why it’s easier for the insurer to pay out a small sum than try and fight it in court (medical experts don’t examine or testify for free).
July 18, 2011
12:07 pm
whiplash compensation claim?
3 years ago i was driving to town through my village with my son in the back, and we approached a 90degree turn which there is a hedge at least 12ft high so you can not see what is coming the other way, but as long as both vehicles stay on there side of the road all is fine! Well this day when i approached the turn out of nowhere a council dustbin truck cut the corner and to avoid a full on frontal collision i had to mount the kerb and smashed into the wall, the dustbin truck then carried on edging past me just mm away from my car took him at least 3/4Min’s to get past he then drove to the bottom of the road…stoped…. I THEN WAITED FOR HIM TO GET OUT TO SEE THAT WE WERE OK….TO WHICH HE THEN JUST DROVE OFF!!! I couldn’t believe it my son was in a fit screaming and crying,, i was in such shock and seared by it all i didn’t even realise my car had hit the wall,, i pulled of and drove back around the CORNER home as my son was scared to death and i was to in shock, i rand the council up straight away and screamed down the phone at what had just happened he took my number and said he would ring back,, a few hours later i had a missed call and a voice mail with the man from the council saying that the driver had come back to the office and fully admitted what had happened before the man had to even question him,, he said he misjudged the turn and was in shock and didn’t think to stop and check we were ok ??? I have this message saved still!!! I went out and then realised my car at the front was damaged and dented the council paid for this within a week and was fixed nicely,, a few days after the accident i had trouble standing up for long periods at work (i was a sales rep for o2) and had middle back pains like the mussel in between your spin going up to my shoulder,, i went to see the doctor who said it was whiplash and had tens treatment i had months off work as it hurt to stand for long periods i then suffered depression and put weight on with in 8weeks ,, they didn’t send me to see a examiner for 2years! to which he then said 2weeks off work was enough,, how could he make that judgement 2years later! I wish that was the case i couldn’t drive properly for months! Anyway this has now been going on 3years! They have admitted full liability and still no decent offer of compensation they offered £1500 to which i refused as for one i was on a very good wage of £7+ per hour and i had to cancel a holiday again to which i had proof for, ive never claimed for anything in my life but due to the damage of my car, i had to have time of work and was actually very pain full even though it took days for it to come on and seemed to get worst before it got better, and not to mention my son who since will not walk past a dustbin lorry or freezes when he sees one! Any help would be gr8 please do not verb me abuse i am not a scammer and was seriously hurt with this accident!
no its no late the claim went in only weeks after it happend im saying is they have been prolonging it 3years! I dont mind i dont need the money, but its the princible of the matter and that they were clearly in the wrong and that i was in fact hurt and sufferd pain from this!
July 19, 2011
7:50 pm
Since you are in the right, make sure you claim. 3 years is not too late. You have all right to compensation. Speak to your lawyer and make sure you get therapy. Also go to the doctor regularly and take pain killers if necessary. Keep track of your visits to the doctor, hospital if necessary and how you are feeling on a daily basis.
Your son was also traumatised, so get him checked out also.
July 28, 2011
10:39 pm
Can i claim compensation for whiplash against my partner?
Hi, my partner was driving my car, he is insured to drive it, however due to his own fault as unfortunate as it was, we were hit from the side, resulting in me getting whiplash and receiving medical treatment for it. My question is can i claim compensation for whiplash when its my car on my insurance with him as a named driver yet he was driving. Many thanks in advance xx
July 29, 2011
8:13 am
yes , i also jammed a fingerm and it was the other guys fault, he ran a stop sign, but i ligitamately was in some agonizing pain from whiplash, Farm Bureau was his ins. co. and they immediately paid all my Dr. bills, paid for my car, and appr. 12000 dollars in pain and suffering. this was about 4 months ago, and neither vehicle involved was totalled
July 29, 2011
8:41 pm
Has anyone been involved in a car crash and claimed compensation for having whiplash?
Genuine claim and Not fraudulent.
How much compensation have you recieved?
accident is not your fault