As of April 2010 the claims process for road traffic accidents with a relatively low compensation payment, such as for a neck injury claim has been changed in order to make the claims process quicker. The new process will apply to cases where the compensation payout is likely to be between a thousand and ten thousand pounds and it is mainly the initial stages that differ from the old process.
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 requires more detail than a claim letter would so a claimant may be delayed while they gather the correct information, but this would have been required at latter stages during the old claims process, and once the claim is lodge they have much less time to wait for a decision so the process should be much quicker.
Another big difference under the new process is that the claimant is the one who makes the initial offer of settlement, rather than waiting for the insurer or defendant. They do this based on the medical evidence and any financial losses they have suffered, and whilst this may seem unusual, 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
The process is still in its infancy, and so making a judgement on it is difficult, but so far it seems to be working effectively and whilst many cases cannot go through the process the more straightforward ones will certainly benefit from a more efficient process.
For higher value claims, the process will remain the same and it is wise to enlist the help of a specialist personal injury or motoring solicitor.