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Can You Claim For A Passenger Injury After A Car Accident?

Have you been been injured as a passenger after being involved in a road traffic accident? If so, you might be wondering whether you could be eligible to seek personal injury compensation and how to do so. In this guide, we review the criteria you’ll need to meet in order to have a valid passenger injury claim, the evidence you could gather to strengthen your case, and how the whiplash reforms could potentially affect how you proceed.

passenger injury
Can You Claim For A Passenger Injury After A Car Accident?

We’ll also discuss the duty of care road users owe one another and provide examples of how an accident involving a passenger could occur if this duty is breached and the injuries they could sustain as a result.

Depending on the type and severity of the injury you sustain, you could be impacted in different ways including physically, psychologically, and financially. Later in our guide, we explore how personal injury settlements are calculated and the compensation that could be awarded to address the way your injuries have affected you.

Finally, our guide looks at the benefits of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor, the services they could offer, and the terms under which they could provide their work.

If you have any other questions about road traffic accident claims, please contact an advisor using the details provided below:

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Can You Claim For A Passenger Injury After A Car Accident?

Road users, including drivers, owe a duty of care to one another. They must operate their vehicles and use the roads so as to prevent others, including passengers, and themselves from becoming harmed or sustaining damage. To adhere to this duty of care, they must follow the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the rules in the Highway Code.

If you have been injured as a passenger in a car accident because this duty was not upheld, you might wonder whether you could begin a passenger injury claim.

However, in order to do so, you must meet the personal injury claims eligibility criteria:

  • Another road user owed you a duty of care.
  • This duty of care was breached.
  • You sustained an injury, either physical, psychological, or both, because of the breach.

To check if you might be entitled to passenger injury compensation, please call the number at the top of the page.

How Could A Passenger Accident Happen?

There are many reasons why a passenger injury may occur. Here are some examples:

  • Side-collision: Another vehicle crashes into the passenger side of a car after the driver failed to check it was safe to pull out at a cross junction. As a result, the passenger sustains a severe neck and head injury.
  • Head-on collision: Another vehicle crashed into a car head on after the driver failed to check it was safe to over take on a narrow road. As a result, the passenger and driver sustain multiple injuries, including broken bones and paralysis.
  • Rear-end collision: When stopped at a set of traffic lights, another car crashes into the back of the vehicle in front. As a result, the driver and passenger sustain whiplash injuries.

To discuss your specific case and find out whether you’re eligible to begin a car accident passenger claim, call our helpful team on the number above.

Potential Compensation You Could Receive For A Passenger Injury

If you make a successful personal injury claim following a car crash, up to two heads of loss could form your compensation payout:

  • General damages compensate for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by the injuries you sustained.
  • Special damages compensate for the monetary expenses incurred as a result of the injuries you sustained. For example, medical costs, lost income, care costs and travel expenses could all be reimbursed if there is evidence to prove the losses. Evidence can include payslips, invoices, and receipts.

To calculate general damages, your solicitor can arrange an independent medical assessment. This will produce a report that provides details on the full extent of you injuries. They can use this medical report alongside the guideline valuation brackets found in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The figures in the JCG correspond with different types of injuries.

You can find a selection of these in the table below. However, please use them as a guide only because passenger injury payouts can be influenced according to the unique and individual circumstances of each case.

We have also included two whiplash entries with figures taken from the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021. These are used to value whiplash injuries and are fixed amounts.

Compensation Table

InjurySeverityCompensation Brackets - GuidelinesDetails
BrainModerately Severe£219,070 to £282,010The person will be very seriously disabled, require professional or other care constantly and depend on others substantially.
LegSevere (i)£96,250 to £135,920Injuries, such as fractures that haven't united and extensive bone grafting has been undertaken.
NeckSevere (i)Around £148,330Neck injuries associated with incomplete paraplegia
Moderate (ii)£13,740 to £24,990This bracket includes soft tissue or wrenching-type injuries.
BackSevere (iii)£38,780 to £69,730Disc lesions or fractures or fractures of the vertebral bodies.
Arm AmputationLoss of One Arm (ii)£109,650 to £130,930Amputation of one arm above the elbow.
Other Arm InjuriesLess Severe £19,200 to £39,170There have been significant disabilities but there is a substantial level of recovery that has already happened or will be expected.
Whiplash One or Multiple Whiplash Injuries£4,215Symptoms last for 18-24 months.
One or Multiple Whiplash Injuries with One or Multiple Minor Psychological Injuries£4,345Symptoms last for 18-24 months.

Can A Passenger Claim For Whiplash?

As per the Whiplash Reform Programme, there have been changes made to the way certain road traffic accident claims are made. The changes affect adult passengers and drivers of vehicles with injuries valued at £5,000 or less. In this instance, the claim is made via a different avenue. Furthermore, whiplash injuries are valued using the tariff in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, as mentioned above.

If you have sustained injuries that bring your claims value above £5,000, you will claim via the normal route. Additionally, if you have suffered any injuries that the whiplash tariff does not cover, these will be assigned a value in the traditional way. However, whiplash-related injuries will still have their value calculated using the fixed tariff amounts.

For more information regarding the whiplash reforms and how they could influence the way you seek compensation and what you could be awarded, call our team on the number above.

How To Claim As A Passenger In A Car Accident

When claiming compensation for a passenger injury, you will need to provide evidence of how you were injured, who was liable and how you’ve suffered as a result.

As such, you could benefit from gathering the following:

  • Dashcam or CCTV footage of the accident.
  • Medical records, such as copies of scans and other test results.
  • Photographs of the accident and any visible injuries.
  • Contact details of anybody who saw your accident happen so witness statements can be taken at a later date.

If you have a valid case and it’s taken on by one of our solicitors, part of their service may include helping you with gathering evidence to build and strengthen your case.

To see if one of our solicitors could help you to claim for a passenger injury in a car accident, please call today.

No Win No Fee Passenger Accident Claims

Our road traffic accident solicitors can offer several helpful services, such as:

  • Arrange for you to attend an independent medical assessment.
  • Send important correspondence on your behalf.
  • Ensure your case is submitted within the correct limitation period.
  • Send regular updates so you know how your claim is progressing.
  • Value your case.

Additionally, they offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis by providing a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The usual terms of a CFA mean that you don’t pay for your solicitor’s work and services upfront, during the claims process or if the claim fails.

If you are compensated, a percentage of the compensation will be deducted by your solicitor as a success fee. This is capped by law so you’ll still receive the bulk of any settlement awarded.

To see if you could make a passenger injury claim with one of our experienced solicitors, you can:

Learn More About Claiming Passenger Injury Compensation

Here are some more of our articles that you might find helpful:

Also, we’ve listed some external information that you may wish to read:

For further information about passenger injury compensation claims, please feel free to contact us.

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