A Guide To Car Accident Neck Injury Claims
Injuring your neck in a car accident can have serious consequences that affect your daily life and ability to work. This guide about car accident neck injury claims explains when compensation could be sought if you sustained harm in an accident as a result of another road user breaching their duty of care. Additionally, we discuss how long you have to begin your claim and the evidence you could gather to prove liability.
We also discuss the implementation of the whiplash reforms and how these could affect the way you make your claim and how compensation is calculated.
Finally, we explain how using a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel could benefit you and the services they could offer to assist you in seeking compensation.
For more information on neck injury claims, please get in touch with an advisor. To do so, you can:
- Call 0151 375 9916.
- Contact us by filling out our form online.
- Use our live chat service 24/7.
Jump To A Section
- Eligibility Criteria In Car Accident Neck Injury Claims
- How Could A Neck Injury Be Caused?
- How Much Compensation For A Neck Injury In A Car Accident?
- Evidence You Could Use In Car Accident Neck Injury Claims
- Make A Neck Injury Compensation Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
- Read More About Claiming Neck Injury Car Accident Compensation
Eligibility Criteria In Car Accident Neck Injury Claims
All road users must use the roads safely to try and avoid injuring themselves and others or causing damage. They must adhere to the Road Traffic Act 1988 and follow the Highway Code in order to uphold this duty.
In order to begin a personal injury claim following a road traffic accident, you must be able to prove the following:
- You were owed a duty of care by another road user.
- This duty was breached.
- You experienced an injury as a result.
Is There A Time Limit When Making Neck Injury Claims?
According to the Limitation Act 1980, you have 3 years to begin a personal injury claim from the date you were injured. This is the general limitation period. However, there are some exceptions that can apply.
For more information on the time limits for car accident claims, please contact an advisor on the number above. They can also advise further on the eligibility criteria for car accident neck injury claims.
How Could A Neck Injury Be Caused?
There are several ways a neck injury could be sustained in a car accident. For example:
- You may have broken your neck and experienced paralysis after another driver pulled out of a T-junction when it wasn’t safe and crashed into the side of your vehicle.
- You may have suffered soft tissue injuries in your neck because the driver of another vehicle hit you from behind after failing to stop at a set of traffic lights due to being distracted when using their mobile phone.
- Damage may have been caused to the discs in your cervical spine following a head-on collision with a vehicle that drove the wrong way down a one-way street.
If you would like to discuss your accident to see if you have a valid claim, you can call the number above to contact our team. They can also discuss car accident neck injury claims in more detail.
How Much Compensation For A Neck Injury In A Car Accident?
Following a successful car accident claim for a neck injury, you could receive a payout that includes up to two heads of loss:
- General damages, the primary head, which compensates for the pain and suffering caused by the injury. This can include a physical and/or psychological injury.
- Special damages, awarded if general damages are included in a settlement, which compensates for the monetary costs incurred as a result of the injury. This can include lost earnings, care costs and medical expenses. You should retain any relevant receipts or other financial documentation to prove your losses.
To calculate the value of general damages, solicitors can use the results of an independent medical assessment that you must attend as part of the claims process. They can also use the guideline compensation brackets from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) which lists different types of injuries.
We have used figures from the JCG in our table. Please use these as a guide only as car accident neck injury claims are valued on an individual basis.
The final two rows of our table contain fixed tariff amounts which are used to value whiplash injuries. These are found in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021.
Compensation Table
| Injury | Category | Guideline Compensation Bracket | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neck | Severe (i) | Around £148,330 | A neck injury that is linked to incomplete paraplegia. |
| Severe (ii) | £65,740 to £130,930 | Injuries that result in a considerably severe disability as a result of damaged discs in the cervical spine or serious fractures. | |
| Severe (iii) | £45,470 to £55,990 | Injuries resulting in fractures or dislocations or severe soft tissue damage with or without ruptured tendons. These cause chronic conditions and significant, permanent disability. | |
| Moderate (i) | £24,990 to £38,490 | These neck injuries will result in severe immediate symptoms and, as a result, may require spinal fusion. Injuries include fractures and dislocations. | |
| Moderate (ii) | £13,740 to £24,990 | Severe disc lesions that result in cervical spondylosis and other issues, such as serious movement limitation and permanent, recurring pain. | |
| Moderate (iii) | £7,890 to £13,740 | Injuries that have accelerated and/or exacerbated a pre-existing condition over a shorter period, i.e. less than 5 years. | |
| Whiplash | One or multiple whiplash injuries | £4,215 | Where symptoms continue for 18-24 months. |
| One or multiple whiplash injuries plus one or more minor psychological injuries | £4,345 | Where symptoms continue for 18-24 months. |
Can You Make A Whiplash Injury Claim?
Since the introduction of the Whiplash Reform Programme, the process of claiming for certain road traffic accidents has changed. It affects adult passengers and drivers of vehicles with injuries valued at less than £5,000. In these instances, your claim will follow a different avenue. Additionally, whiplash injuries will have a value assigned to them by the tariff set out in the Regulations 2021 as mentioned above.
However, if you have sustained injuries that take the value of your claim over £5,000, the normal claims process can be used. In this case, the fixed tariff will still apply to your whiplash injuries while the value of any other injuries will be assessed in the usual way.
Please get in touch for further guidance on how the whiplash reforms could influence car accident neck injury claims.
Evidence You Could Use In Car Accident Neck Injury Claims
Proving how your accident happened and how you’ve suffered as a result is vital in any type of road traffic accident claim. Therefore, when making a neck injury compensation claim, you could use any of the following to support your case:
- Details of any medical treatment you required.
- Contact information for any potential witnesses to your accident.
- Dashcam or CCTV footage of the accident.
- Photographs of the accident scene, any vehicle damage, and any visible injuries.
- Police report, if applicable.
If your claim is valid and taken on by a car accident solicitor from our panel, as part of their service they can help you obtain evidence to strengthen your case.
Find out whether you could instruct a solicitor from our panel to represent you and begin working on your case by calling the number above.
Make A Neck Injury Compensation Claim On A No Win No Fee Basis
The solicitors from our panel have experience handling car accident neck injury claims and could work your case under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This type of No Win No Fee contract typically means the following:
- Your solicitor won’t charge you for their services upfront, during the claims process or if the claim fails.
- If you are awarded a settlement, you will pay a success fee. This is taken as a legally capped percentage of your compensation.
To see if you could be represented by a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel, you can:
- Call 0151 375 9916.
- Contact us by filling out our form online.
- Use our live chat service 24/7.
Read More About Claiming Neck Injury Car Accident Compensation
Here are some additional guides from our site discussing different types of personal injury claims:
- Learn if you could claim for a cycle accident in which you sustained injuries.
- Find out whether you could claim if you were injured on public transport.
- Discover your rights after an accident at work, including whether you could seek compensation.
Here are some external resources that could help:
- Guidance on road safety laws from Think!
- Helpful road accident and safety statistics from GOV.UK.
- NHS advice on dealing with neck pain.
Thanks for reading our guide on car accident neck injury claims. Please call if you’d like any further information on when you could be eligible to seek compensation.