Whiplash claims, how many are for real?
Discussion
A couple of weeks ago, I was off to pick the missus up, doing around 25 - 30mph when a van jumped a junction and slammed into the side of Me, knocking the car slightly sideways. Now I was in the ZT which is 1.6 Tonnes of metal so it took the impact rather well. Due to it being a side impact my neck did take a bit of a jolt and was a bit numb for an hour or so.
Anyway, the driver of the van admitted liability straight away and was very apologetic and He said if I wanted I could just take the car to a bodyshop and He would pay for everything and the insurance need not get involved. To cut a long story short it was all sorted very easily, my car was back with Me within a week looking as good as new (it needed a new rear door, front door repair & rear wheelarch repair). The guy who hit Me paid up, no problems at all and the insurance are non the wiser which suits Me as apparently non fault claims lead to you being classed as a higher risk and after 22 years of no claims I don't see why I should be classed & penalised as such.
However, the amount of people who said 'put a claim in, you will get a couple of grand for whiplash' was unbelievable. Yes it was a fairly hefty bang, my neck was a bit numb but I woke up the next day feeling fine, played cricket the day after no problem at all & have been fine ever since.
It just makes Me wonder how many of these whiplash claims are actually real, who really suffers after having a crash or is it all just made up to sponge even more money off the insurers leading to higher premiums for all. Well I wasn't going to go down this route as I don't beleive that you should claim just for the sake of it....thats whay we are all paying 40% more insurance!!
Anyway, the driver of the van admitted liability straight away and was very apologetic and He said if I wanted I could just take the car to a bodyshop and He would pay for everything and the insurance need not get involved. To cut a long story short it was all sorted very easily, my car was back with Me within a week looking as good as new (it needed a new rear door, front door repair & rear wheelarch repair). The guy who hit Me paid up, no problems at all and the insurance are non the wiser which suits Me as apparently non fault claims lead to you being classed as a higher risk and after 22 years of no claims I don't see why I should be classed & penalised as such.
However, the amount of people who said 'put a claim in, you will get a couple of grand for whiplash' was unbelievable. Yes it was a fairly hefty bang, my neck was a bit numb but I woke up the next day feeling fine, played cricket the day after no problem at all & have been fine ever since.
It just makes Me wonder how many of these whiplash claims are actually real, who really suffers after having a crash or is it all just made up to sponge even more money off the insurers leading to higher premiums for all. Well I wasn't going to go down this route as I don't beleive that you should claim just for the sake of it....thats whay we are all paying 40% more insurance!!
Clearly some are, but I suspect most aren't. Last year I saw an ambulance attending an accident at a mini roundabout near me. They were busy putting a neck brace onto one of the occupants who appeared to be making a huge fuss, yet there was absolutely no damage visible on the car - not a scratch.
I know modern cars are very strong and I'm sure you can't judge the severity of a neck injury purely on appearances, but I'd have put money on that being a bogus claim in the making. A tiny fender bender followed by some opportunistic
clutching their neck and going "aaaahhh".
I know modern cars are very strong and I'm sure you can't judge the severity of a neck injury purely on appearances, but I'd have put money on that being a bogus claim in the making. A tiny fender bender followed by some opportunistic
clutching their neck and going "aaaahhh".Edited by Chris71 on Tuesday 19th June 16:21
I think the whole problem is that it's very hard to tell - you can certainly have very high force impacts that result in no whiplash but on the other side of the argument, I managed to give myself minor whiplash slipping over on a wooden floor and landing awkwardly. I suppose it depends on how your muscles were tensed when the impact happens.
I suppose the instant someone comes up with a way to properly diagnose whiplash, the problem will go away.
I suppose the instant someone comes up with a way to properly diagnose whiplash, the problem will go away.
My sister-in-law was sitting in her car in a works yard waiting for my brother and a truck reversed into the rear quarter of her car, doing little more than nudging it.
But it jolted her neck sideways and she's been in constant pain since. Weird really, she'd had every test and examination under the sun but some days it's so painful she can't left her head up. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's ruined her life.
But it jolted her neck sideways and she's been in constant pain since. Weird really, she'd had every test and examination under the sun but some days it's so painful she can't left her head up. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it's ruined her life.
Unfortunately the majority are trying it on, and succeeding.
Having worked in fleet insurance in a previous life I've seen some ridiculous claims, and the increase in whiplash claims over the last few years is exponential. I find it hard to believe that for a similiar number and type of accidents that people are actually inexplicably being injured more....
An example I once saw-
Insured hit Third party vehicle in rear, low impact incident at a roundabout. BOTH the occupants of the third party vehicle claimed for whiplash injuries at a total cost to the insurance company of around £7000.
Nothing unusual about that, but consider the fact that the total cost of damage to the third party vehicle was NIL, and the damage to the insureds car came to £13 (for a number plate) and it's blantantly ridiculous!
Having worked in fleet insurance in a previous life I've seen some ridiculous claims, and the increase in whiplash claims over the last few years is exponential. I find it hard to believe that for a similiar number and type of accidents that people are actually inexplicably being injured more....
An example I once saw-
Insured hit Third party vehicle in rear, low impact incident at a roundabout. BOTH the occupants of the third party vehicle claimed for whiplash injuries at a total cost to the insurance company of around £7000.
Nothing unusual about that, but consider the fact that the total cost of damage to the third party vehicle was NIL, and the damage to the insureds car came to £13 (for a number plate) and it's blantantly ridiculous!
themike888 said:
Nothing unusual about that, but consider the fact that the total cost of damage to the third party vehicle was NIL, and the damage to the insureds car came to £13 (for a number plate) and it's blantantly ridiculous!
See you'd think there'd be some kind of regulation or mechanism whereby the damage to the vehicle is taken into account to assess the validity of the claim wouldn't you?My ex got whacked by a land rover in her Astra, felt a bit shaken up but nothing major.........then the neck pains started a while later....she didn't claim anything from the other party and thought nothing of it. Some months later she started to have mobility issues with her neck.....diagnosis was whiplash injury from the accident but by that time the claim was settled and she thought that was the end of it.
I saw her some years later and while chatting she mentioned she'd failed a medical for entry into the police due to the injury.
Some people aren't taking the piss, the accident ruined her chance of a career she really wanted.
I saw her some years later and while chatting she mentioned she'd failed a medical for entry into the police due to the injury.
Some people aren't taking the piss, the accident ruined her chance of a career she really wanted.
martin84 said:
See you'd think there'd be some kind of regulation or mechanism whereby the damage to the vehicle is taken into account to assess the validity of the claim wouldn't you?
The mechanism should be the ability/knowledge/sense of the claim handler at the insurance company really. Clearly there were grounds to repudiate the claim in question, but it was paid out on regardless.My whiplash claim was for real, the pain did put a dampener on the christmas.
However, it was pretty shocking how much 2 different parties (a claims company and the other guys insurer) where vying for my blood - It would have been totally feasible to fake a claim, such is the system - to be honest, they didn't care if my kneck/shoulder was aching (it bloody was!) just that I claimed through them.
My motivation for claiming was that the chap was driving totally recklessly, caused me a serious amount of pain and inconvenience (I had 6 weeks of physio) and as I couldn't very well beat the living daylights out of him to teach him a lesson I tried to make it hell for him via his insurance company (he wasn't technically supposed to be using the car at that time and place, the insurers informed me they would be taking up the issue with him once everything was settled with me.)
However, it was pretty shocking how much 2 different parties (a claims company and the other guys insurer) where vying for my blood - It would have been totally feasible to fake a claim, such is the system - to be honest, they didn't care if my kneck/shoulder was aching (it bloody was!) just that I claimed through them.
My motivation for claiming was that the chap was driving totally recklessly, caused me a serious amount of pain and inconvenience (I had 6 weeks of physio) and as I couldn't very well beat the living daylights out of him to teach him a lesson I tried to make it hell for him via his insurance company (he wasn't technically supposed to be using the car at that time and place, the insurers informed me they would be taking up the issue with him once everything was settled with me.)
last year I had 3 no faulters in 6 months in 3 seperate cars
how lucky am I
last one was a biggy wrote off the wifes astra with a woman in a BMW turning right and did not see me so jsut turned in to me
all 3 have been paid out, not claimed for anything as not hurt, jsut bashed about about seat belt marks and big bruising on my arm from astra crash
i am getting the where there is a blame there is a claim texts at least 2 a week
the woman form the bmw did try to claim whiplash and blame me until she was done by PC Plod for dangerous driving
how lucky am I
last one was a biggy wrote off the wifes astra with a woman in a BMW turning right and did not see me so jsut turned in to me
all 3 have been paid out, not claimed for anything as not hurt, jsut bashed about about seat belt marks and big bruising on my arm from astra crash
i am getting the where there is a blame there is a claim texts at least 2 a week
the woman form the bmw did try to claim whiplash and blame me until she was done by PC Plod for dangerous driving
Yano this kinda thing bugs me, about a month ago my friend got his rear passenger wheel hit at a junction by a girl who didnt stop before pulling out. He 'claims' his back has been bad since however! He has a history of a bad back anyway! So when the claim company phoned saying bla bla bla x amount (i think 3 grand) he took the offer and is getting a new car with the money. (He drives a 2009 punto but to be fair its attracted a lot of non fault accidents since new (cursed!?)) I know hes sponging it, he knows it but what can you do!? And when i said its people like you that put up my insurance. His reply was yeh but everyone does it. Good thing hes my best mate or id have lamped him 
Edit for bad spelling
Edit for bad spelling
A few months ago my OH's sister had an accident. She initially thought she was to blame as she had left her indicator on which to all intents and purposes was a major contributing factor in the accident (she is also the worst driver I have come across). Luckily she escaped without any injury as did her young children - her main concern was the car which she had recently bought for £1500 was a write off and she was only insured TPFT. A week later, following calls to her insurance company etc, it was established that liability was split 50/50 and she then suddenly developed whiplash symptoms (total nonsense) and finally settled for £2000 plus £2400 for her car.
No wonder insurance is expensive.
No wonder insurance is expensive.
Whilst fake claims for whiplash piss me off (some fker of a company leaned on me to claim for injuries when I wasn't injured in my last accident...which I didn't do), I wonder what the percentage actually is.
Consider this story I heard. In racing, head on shunts were causing a load of drivers to have issues with their necks, so the HANS device was born. My understanding is that now the load is taken off the neck, it has to go somewhere and there is an increase in rib fractures/lung punctures etc due to the HANS device (more often than not, less severe consequences/results than the neck injury) dissipating the load over the chest.
I wonder if as cars become safer and safer, more injuries such as this will occur because cars can survive a greater and greater deceleration and the neck is the part of the body that takes this strain?
Just a musing...
ker of a company leaned on me to claim for injuries when I wasn't injured in my last accident...which I didn't do), I wonder what the percentage actually is.Consider this story I heard. In racing, head on shunts were causing a load of drivers to have issues with their necks, so the HANS device was born. My understanding is that now the load is taken off the neck, it has to go somewhere and there is an increase in rib fractures/lung punctures etc due to the HANS device (more often than not, less severe consequences/results than the neck injury) dissipating the load over the chest.
I wonder if as cars become safer and safer, more injuries such as this will occur because cars can survive a greater and greater deceleration and the neck is the part of the body that takes this strain?
Just a musing...
Having had whiplash to the muscles at the rear and base of the neck, it's actually one of the worst pains, it really does affect your quality of life for about two weeks. I have little sympathy though for whiplash to the muscles at the front of the neck (which i have also had) as these only cause problems getting out of bed, once you're up and about you can just crack on, and the muscles heal quickly.
All my whiplashes weren't from cars, and were both the case of, the more moaned about, the worse it felt. Rugby players have to deal with so much worse, but as a society, we are bred on football culture these days I suppose.
All my whiplashes weren't from cars, and were both the case of, the more moaned about, the worse it felt. Rugby players have to deal with so much worse, but as a society, we are bred on football culture these days I suppose.
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