3 weeks ago, a new process was introduced for low value claims resulting from road traffic accidents, with the hope that it would make it quicker and simpler for people pursuing this type of accident claim to claim compensation.
The new process applies to road traffic accidents that occur on or after 30th April 2010, where the claim is worth between £1,000 and £10,000.
Once details of the claim have been given to the insurer of the Defendant’s vehicle, the insurers have a period of 15 working days to confirm whether or not liability is admitted for the incident. This is in contrast with the old time limit of 3 months and 21 days.
After this, the Claimant’s solicitor will obtain medical evidence to support a valuation of the claim. Once this is finalised, it will be sent to the insurers within 15 working days, along with details of any financial losses incurred by the Claimant and an offer to settle the claim. The insurer then has 15 working days to consider the offer and whether it is to be accepted or whether a counter offer is to be made. If they do make a counter offer, the Claimant has 20 working days to consider this and negotiate settlement.
If settlement cannot be agreed, then an application can be made to the Court to determine the value of the claim. Again, this process will be streamlined to cut down the time it takes to finalise the claim.
It remains to be seen how well the process will work; it will require the co-operation of all people involved to work as planned. However, hopefully, it will succeed in its aim and lead to accident claims being finalised sooner and Claimants receiving the compensation they deserve quicker.
Submitted by Abbi Stell
