Car Accident - Injury, settlement & Protocols

I was badly rear-ended and shunted into the car in front last week. The car that went into me has admitted liability - their foot slipped and hit the accelerator. My car is in the garage now and I have a replacement car - my main question relates to what comes next.

I suffered minor head & neck injuries - whiplash I guess - headache and sore neck. The headache persisted for 6 days, today is the first day I feel approaching normal and last night was the first good sleep I got. My neck is recovering well, some exercises from the physio and I expect to be back to normal within a week, fingers crossed. Unfortunately I had to miss my brothers surfing stag weekend - a small issue - but none the less important...to me.

So - The insurance company want to meet me tomorrow to discuss. I don't really know what I'm entitled to or not. My own insurance company and solicitor keep asking if I want to pursue a personal injuries claim - I don't want to waste anyones time - do I have one? Is the other insurance company likely to pre-empt this and offer to settle with a figure?

Basically - what are people's experiences in this area - any advice would be appreciated as this is very much unchartered waters for me.

Thanks in advance

I got £5,000 for whip lash/soft tissue injury last year i live in Nr Ireland,was nothing real serious, more seat belt bruising than anything else

Knowing the stupid way PIAB operates you could probably claim - people who are fine get too much, people with serious injuries don't get half enough.

In my opinion though you should be thankful you weren't seriously hurt and just claim for your car.

If everyone claimed for a headache our premiums would be through the roof.

Leave it mate - A sore neck for six days is not a serious injury - I agree with the above poster - its people who make claims like yours that puts everyones premium through the roof. Get your car back on the road and save the injury claim until you really do need it.

Another consideration is that if you make a claim now for a very minor injury it will be in your medical history. If you were to have another accident in the future where you are badly injured, the defence could argue that you had a history of neck injury from this minor incident. I think it's better to keep a clean bill of health in your medical history, both for health insurance and in the event that you have a more serious accident in the future.

Leave it mate - A sore neck for six days is not a serious injury

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You have up to 2 yrs to make a claim via PIAB. You should wait and see how you feel or if you have any ongoing problems / discomfort.

I received a neck muscle injury following a car accident ( rear ended) in sept 06 and have suffered on going problems, pain and discomfort since.

Thanks for the responses. On the injury part - perhaps I played it down - in the spectrum of potential car crash injuries mine are minor - they do however exist - I have been to 3 doctors and a physio (all under direction - not looking for second opinions or chasing a fable pain just to be clear) and I still have mobility issues and headache albeit improving. This is minor in the scheme of things - but none the less real. If it helps - the car that struck me was traveling at 40km/hr so the impact was reasonably significant - enough to write off both our cars.

On the claim front - I respect the opinions expressed, they're all valid and useful and I'll wait a further few weeks to see how the pain subsides and if I can resume normal activities before deciding how to proceed.

Thanks again for the input - not having any experience of these types of incidents getting some advice is very important regardless of the point of view - it helps make rounded decisions so the more responses the better.

Regards