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Whiplash Accident Claim Guide

Thinking about claiming for whiplash? If so, read our guide to find out what the insurers are desperate for you not to find out, and how to make sure you claim and keep all of your compensation!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - PLEASE READ NOW

From April 2013 the Government is changing the way that whiplash claims will be handled. If you make a claim before 1st April 2013 you will pay nothing to make a claim and you will keep all of your compensation. This may not be the case from April 2013, so if you have been injured and are thinking of making a claim, please contact us today and let us explain how we can help you. No cost or obligation, just straightforward advice from one of the UK's best known legal claims companies.

Call us free now on 0800 142 2775 or complete our Free Online Claim EnquiryClaiming for Whiplash

If you have been involved in a road traffic accident, especially where you have been traveling in a car or motorbike that has been struck from behind, you may be suffering from pain in your neck, back or shoulders as a result of the collision. If you have these symptoms it is likely that you are suffering from whiplash. So, what exactly is ‘whiplash’? What treatment is available, how long will it take you to feel better and how much compensation will you receive if you make a claim for whiplash (that is if the insurance companies do not get to you first)?

If you are ready for a free, no obligation discussion with us about claiming for whiplash, all you need to do is call us free now on 0800 142 2775 or complete the short enquiry at the top right hand side of this page.

What Is Whiplash?

A whiplash injury is a soft tissue injury to the neck caused by the neck suddenly and forcefully being thrown backwards and forwards, or from side to side, usually as a result of a vehicle collision. Injuries vary in severity and the time it takes to recover can range from days to years (though most people make a full recovery within a few weeks or months of sustaining the injury).

What Are The Symptoms

The symptoms can include the following:-

• Stiffness in the neck;
• Tenderness in the neck;
• Restricted movement in the neck/head;
• Stiffness and tenderness in the back;
• Headaches;
• Dizziness;
• Pins and needles in the arms/hands.

The symptoms may not be apparent immediately after the accident and can take up to 48 hours to appear.

If it sounds like you have whiplash, please call us now on 0800 142 2775 or complete an Instant Whiplash Accident Claim Assessment to find out how we will help you with claiming for whiplash.

Treatment For Whiplash

As soon as you become aware of having any of the symptoms of whiplash following a collision, you should immediately seek medical treatment from your GP or from an Accident & Emergency Department.

To ease your pain and discomfort you can treat your injury by applying ice to the area (wrapped in a towel or cloth rather than applying directly to the skin). After initially resting the injury, as soon as you feel able you should gently exercise your neck by slowly moving it from side to side, and backwards and forwards. Painkillers may help to ease the pain and for more severe whiplash injuries it may be necessary to undergo physiotherapy or osteopath treatment. If you are able to pursue a whiplash accident claim for compensation for the accident which caused the injury, you will be able to claim for the cost of private treatment. Loyalty Law solicitors have relationships with a national network of whiplash treatment providers and can provide you with private treatment, the cost of which will be recovered as part of your whiplash accident claim.

Claiming For Whiplash Compensation

Whiplash injuries range in severity and accordingly the length of time it will take you to recover, and the amount of compensation you receive for your whiplash accident claim, will depend on how badly you have been injured.

As a guide, you may receive the following amounts for your claim for whiplash:-

Minor injuries where recovery takes place within one year	£750 - £2,500
Minor injury where recovery takes place within 2 years	£2,500 - £4,250
Moderate njuries (where symptoms persist for more than two years and the future prognosis is uncertain)	£4,250 - £7,750
Severe injury where pain and suffering will continue indefinitely	£7,750 - £13,750

Claiming For Whiplash Losses And Expenses

In addition to your whiplash compensation claim for pain and suffering (called your ‘general damages claim’), you will be able to claim compensation for all of your losses and expenses which may include the following items:-

• Any lost earnings as a result of the accident;
• Lost overtime;
• Medical expenses;
• Private medical treatment;
• Additional transport costs;
• All other expenses incurred as a direct result of the accident.

What The Insurers Do Not Want You To Know!

Insurance companies make millions of pounds from people claiming for whiplash. They do all that they can to make money from your pain and suffering. They will have already sold you a legal expenses insurance policy for around £40 each year in addition to your car insurance policy. The alleged reason that they do this is to 'protect you from legal costs' if you need to make a claim for compensation. However, the reality is that if the accident is your fault your own standard car insurance policy will pay for any legal costs. If you are not at fault for your accident a solicitor will help you for no cost and will ensure you keep 100% of your compensation, so you can see that the £40 or so they take from you every year is simply extra profits for them.

The next way that they make money from you is that your insurance demands that you call them as soon as you are involved in an accident. They will then very quickly want to find out if you are injured. The reason for this is that insurers have been selling on the contact details of their insured for years to make extra profits. They quickly realised that they could find solicitors who were not very good at promoting their services, so if they could send a regular number of new clients to them who are suffering from whiplash, they could charge the solicitor for every client that they send to them. Over the years they have constantly demanded more and more money for each client that they refer, so whereas this might have been a nominal £50 per client at the beginning, over the years they have demanded more and more money from the solicitors so that they now pay up to £1,000 for each client the insurer sends to them. Why do the solicitors do this? Well they have become more and more dependant on the insurers to the extent that if they lost all of the new clients that the insurer sends to them they might not be able to stay in business.

Thankfully for you, you now know how this works so that if your insurer trys to demand that you use the solicitor they are recommending, they are doing so only to increase their profits and certainly not to help you.

You should choose the solicitor that you think will do the best job possible for you. We hope that you realise that a solicitor who is sent hundreds of claims every month from an insurer and is paying an awful lot of money for every client has to make savings somewhere. This is usually in employing junior, often unqualified staff. Will they do the best job for you?

All Loyalty Law members employ qualified solicitors to ensure that you receive the fastest and most professional service possible. Loyalty Law does not charge for every client we send because we are a membership scheme for all of our Loyalty Law solicitors. Our aim is to simply match you with specialist whiplash claim solicitors for no cost and as quickly as possible.

Please call us now on 0800 142 2775 or complete an Instant Whiplash Accident Claim Assessment to find out how we will help you with your claim for whiplash.

Replacement Car Hire

If you are not entitled to a replacement vehicle under the terms of your car insurance policy and you ask Loyalty Law to help you, one of our solicitors will be able to arrange a replacement vehicle for you at no cost to you. This will be included as part of your claim for whiplash compensation.

Claiming For Whiplash Now Will Increase Your Chances Of Success!

If you have suffered a whiplash injury you should contact us immediately. The longer the period you leave before taking action, the less the chance of the success of your claim for whiplash . This is due to the evidence required to connect the chain of events to prove that your injury was caused by the accident in question. Delay really can be fatal to your chances of success of your whiplash accident claim, so please contact us now and let us take care of you and your whiplash claim.

Loyalty Law have specialist whiplash claim solicitors ready and waiting to help you across the UK, so please call free now on 0800 142 2775 for your free and instant whiplash accident claim assessment, or complete our Instant Whiplash Accident Claim Assessment online.

Our Whiplash Accident Claim Service For You

If you are using a solicitor for the first time, or have not used a solicitor for a long time, how do you know which solicitor is going to provide you with the best service? Whilst everyone can assume that they all have a basic level of legal knowledge that means they should be able to help you with your whiplash injury claim, how can you be confident that they really are the right solicitor to help you with your claim for whiplash injury?

With Loyalty Law, you do not need to worry. We have carried out the pre-approval and ensured that not only are the Loyalty Law solicitors efficient and confident in their specialist areas of law, but they also provide a friendly and helpful service.

We are the only people who can make these promises to you:

• Approachable Solicitors - Our solicitors are friendly, approachable and are all recognised accident claim experts.
• No Hidden Costs – Our service is completely free for you to use and our solicitors will explain any legal costs payable if you win your claim when you first speak with them (you can then decide whether to ask for their help or not).
• Guaranteed Peace Of Mind – We monitor customer feedback at the end of every claim to ensure you receive a fantastic service.

The Cost Of Our Service To You

The cost of our service for you is completely free of charge. Our solicitor members see us as a finding tool to help them locate excellent new clients just like you. Therefore, they pay a membership fee to be a part of Loyalty Law. However, that membership fee is not passed on to you in any way, shape or form and does not deteriorate from the level of customer service that you can expect. If a solicitor does not constantly meet the high levels of customer service that our customers demand and deserve they will be removed from the Loyalty Law scheme.

In addition to Loyalty Law not making a charge for our connection service for a specialist whiplash accident claim solicitor, our solicitors also do not make a charge to you for their assistance. With whiplash accident claims in England and Wales, your solicitor will recover their fees and costs in addition to the amount that you will be awarded for compensation for your whiplash injuries. This ensures that you can be fully confident in contacting Loyalty Law.

Why Choose Loyalty Law For Your Whiplash Injury Claim?

All Loyalty Law solicitors are checked and vetted to ensure that they meet our criteria in the following ways:-

• Before they can start working for you, they are interviewed by our managing director, a solicitor himself (although no longer practising). He is quickly able to assess whether they have the legal skills needed, but also whether they are easy to speak with on the telephone and will give you the service that you deserve.
• At the end of every whiplash accident claim, we carry out an interview with each client to ensure that they have been completely satisfied with the service provided. This ensures that not only does the solicitor start off by providing an excellent service, but through continual feedback they continue to achieve the right levels of service for you. It means that people like you are constantly monitoring and providing feedback on the service and is one of the reasons why we believe that you should ask Loyalty Law to help you find the right solicitor.

Call us free now for your instant claim for whiplash assessment from one of our specialist whiplash claim solicitors on 0800 142 2775 or complete our Instant Whiplash Accident Claim Assessment online.

Click to watch this short video to find out more about Claiming for Whiplash: