Since April 2010 the process for making a road traffic accident claim has changed in order to streamline the process for lower value claims. The new process will come into play when the estimated compensation will be between 1000 and 10,000 and will differ primarily in the initial stages.
Under the old ruling, a potential claimant had to send a letter of claim to their insurer, who then had a 21 day period in which to acknowledge the intent to claim. Following this, they then had a 3 month period where they could perform their own investigations to allow them to decide their liability, which was often a frustrating wait for claimants.
However, since the new ruling, rather than sending a letter, potential claimants will use a secire online portal to submit an online Claims Notification Form, thus notifying the insurer of their attempt to claim. Once the insurer has been notified they then have just 15 days to respond with their liability decision, which they will also submit online.
The new Claims Notification Form contains more detail which must be filled out, than necessary in a letter of claim and so it will most likely take the claimant longer to lodge the claim whilst they gather the information. However once they do notify the insurer of the claim via the portal they will receive the decision on liability in a much more timely fashion.
The other big difference is the fact that it is the claimant who makes the initial offer of settlement, based on their medical evidence and financial losses, rather than the insurer making an opening offer, and whilst this may seem unfavourable to some claimants it will almost certainly speed up the process.
The final change to the process is related to claims which would usually go to court. If the insurer has admitted liability but they and the claimant are unable to come to an amicable decision regarding the settlement figure, then rather than going to Court, they will support all relevant documentation to the court, who will then make a decision based on this information
With the process being new, it is difficult to pass judgement on it’s success. However it certainly seems a more streamlined process for straightforward RTA cases, where the claimants will receive compensation in a much more timely fashion.
If you have had an RTA and think you have a whiplash, head or neck injury claim, then a personal injury solicitor can see if you are elgible to make a compensation injury claim
