Working in the personal injury claims department the most common question we encounter every day is how long will my claim take.
Not all claims follow the same timescales and some claims do settle much faster than others. This all depends on the circumstances of each individual claim.
A claim can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to settle, the two factors which impact the timescale of the claim are:
- Liability
If liability is admitted, which means that the third party insurers are accepting their policyholder is at fault for the accident then your claim is more than likely to be straightforward and we may be able to provide you with a more accurate timeline to look at.
If liability is denied this means that the third party insurers are not accepting fault for your injuries then we will need to gather as much evidence as possible in order to prove otherwise, this can take longer but is necessary in order to be successful in your claim.
There are also circumstances where the third party insurers do not have enough evidence on their side in order to provide a decision on liability and In these circumstances the third party insurers are given a three month period in which to investigate and confirm their stance on liability.
- Medical Evidence
During your claim you will be asked to attend a medical appointment and a medical report will be produced and this will be submitted to the third party insurers as evidence for your injuries as it is your duty to prove you were injured in the accident.
Some injuries sustained in accidents will require specific experts and sometimes more than one appointment in order to provide complete evidence.
The medical expert will provide a prognosis period for each injury and this can range from weeks or months to years depending on the severity of the injuries.
We advise our clients not to proceed to settle their claim until they are fully recovered from their injuries however there is the option to settle earlier if you are happy with the prognosis period provided and believe you will be recovered in that time.
We do however warn our clients that this option means that you could be undersettling your claim and if you do not recover in the specified time then you will not be able to claim further compensation.
Once liability concerns have been alleviated and conclusive evidence has been obtained in support of your injuries and other damages then we can look to begin settlement negotiations.
To give an approximate time frame our average road traffic accident case with a whiplash injury takes around 3 months to settle. However the quickest case we have settled has been 35 days! As mentioned above complex cases do take longer.
Please note also that you only have three years in which to make your claim from the date of your accident.
The best way to make sure your claim proceeds as efficiently as possible is to contact us as soon as possible after the injury so we can get your claim moving as early as possible.
Kristie Fawcett
