Personal injury claim - has it all gone mad?

[daemon]

Ok so my son stupidly drove in to the back of someone in slow moving traffic.

Crack to rear bumper of other car, cracked bumper and headlight bracket broke on his car. His car was a 2006 car and we've photos taken at the time. My understanding is he was the only person in the car at the time.

At the time the bloke was all decent and matey but of course after a couple of days we get the inevitable solicitors letter claim. Fair enough, we'd alerted the insurance company anyway.

Got a letter in last week as hes submitted for a court date for the claim. Now i'm assuming the car damage will be added to this but hes putting in for personal injury of £29,000????

I mean WTF? I thought whiplash had been capped at around £5,000???

Will the insurance company just bend over and accept that amount of a payout?

Ultimately we're just spectators in this as its with the insurance company but thats seriously mental for a simple lightly rear ended in slow moving traffic scenario?

[daemon]

codenamecueball said:

How many people is he claiming are in the car?

Just the driver.

[daemon]

Magic919 said:

It wouldn’t need a court date if the Insurer was accepting the claim. I’d see that as a good sign.

indeed. I cant help but feel hes having a laugh

[daemon]

Shappers24 said:

Depends on the guy in fronts circumstances.... if he was self employed, and for example was a builder who lost a £20K job because he couldn’t get to site due to bad back etc then the claim would include the loss of earnings for £20K. But that would be fully documented I would have thought. £29K seems a ridiculous amount of money.

Well maybe thats the case but hopefully they will make him evidence that thoroughly.

[daemon]

KungFuPanda said:

Did you get the breakdown for the £20k figure that's claimed? Repairs to the vehicle, a bit of hire, a bit of hire, loss of earning can all stack up.

Whiplash hasn't been capped at all. Here's a rough guide for valuing general damages http://www.rcsolicitors.co.uk/site-login/resources...

The £29k? No, other than its for personal injury and loss of earnings. Whatever his car and associated costs came to will be on top of that.

[daemon]

kowalski655 said:

Is it actually£29k, or *limited* to £29k? As PI damages are usually not specifically quantified, but left to negotiation or the Judge,as each case is different

No its a specific claim for that specific amount. Seems very odd.

[daemon]

I guess if the guy is self employed then he could claim for loss of earnings. If i was being cynical, if he was say a handyman or painter or whatever he could just not lodge any money in to his business account and thus his accounts would show zero earnings for six months.

It surprises me hes going in for the kill so quickly. The accident was only February - big amounts usually only come after a significant time

Edited by daemon on Saturday 21st October 12:24