First Steps To Making A Personal Injury Claim

Some companies nowadays will do just about anything to get you to use their services to make an injury claim. They will send their employees on the street to search for any potential clients, and ultimately they will come right on your doorstep and begin their speech.

Of course you're getting tired of this, you're only human. But they just won't stop. They will call you at home or on your mobile phone, they will do anything to get more clients.

Let's see how things were some years ago

This stuff was something unheard of a decade ago. Accident victims had nothing. You got injured in an accident but no company had any interest in helping you. Only your loved ones would ease your pain, but sometimes words can't give you enough compensation. If you have a serious injury that means you have to stay in bed and you can't do anything for weeks, you just can't settle with just some friendly advices like "Stay in bed and everything will be alright"

But now…

Everybody seems to feel for you. They all condemn the damn accident and they all want to help you. Many claim companies advertise using all methods available, and finding such a firm is an easy job. They are so many that even talking to friends you will discover that somebody knows somebody who owns a company of this kind. A cousin, a friend, the brother in law. The competition is strong, and many get fooled by their slogans. So it's quite interesting, if you take into consideration the fact that nobody cared before, but now all of a sudden they are all your best friends. 'Leave it to us, we'll solve your problem'

Think about it. What happens if your mates firm ruins your case, what will you do about it? Report him? It's probably his partner's firm. Your cousin, who convinced you to let him take care of it, suddenly lost your papers. Call the company? And tell them what exactly? Or say you want to find out details about how the case is going; they will pick up the phone and politely say that there have been some inconveniences, set backs, pages of the files have been lost, etc etc.

Many complications...

Remember in the early days, the super 'no win no fee' policy? 'If we lose you don't pay anything?' You sign a contract and voila! Your personal injury claim ready to get you some money. Incredibly simple, isn't it?

Now after a long time of waiting, you get no news about it. 3 months later, you give them a ring to know what status your claim has reached. 'Your case is given much attention and you will attend a medical specialist soon.'

Things continue this way until you realize 10 months have passed and your case still didn't come to a conclusion. Then, finally, you get the cheque, and you get stunned when you see the sum: £400! WHAT THE…!

'There must be some sort of mistake' you say, and you decide to call them and aske them what went wrong. Only then you find out that they deducted a certain sum from your claim money to deal with certain expenses, and they suggest in a very subtle manner that you simply can't do anything to change it.. Those things were all written in black and white on your contract, goodbye.

And now the latest fashion:

100% Compensation! No doubt about it, all money is yours. Amazing, finally a dream come true...

What's the catch with this one?

When your compensation claim is settled, you receive the 'full' compensation, no deductions. The catch is... you do get 100% Compensation, but the company will have something to tell you.

When you have the money in your pocket, the firm will probably charge you a kick back after you have received your 100% Compensation. So the idea is: you receive 100% Compensation, but once you get it, the claim management company will now take out their part. Nice, eh???

Technically, you did get 100% Compensation from the specialist. Which is what they claimed, however, the deductions kick in at the end.

So it's better to avoid this kind of situations. It's time to be smart! Beware of the 100% Compensation slogans flying around. You'll thank me later.