When Can You Make A Car Accident Claim?

This guide provides information on making a car accident claim if you’ve been injured in a car accident because another driver breached their duty of care. We explain the eligibility criteria for personal injury claims and discuss what evidence could help to support your case.

Additionally, we provide guidance on the duty of care road users owe one another and give examples of how a car accident and subsequent injuries could occur if this duty is breached.

Furthermore, we discuss road traffic accident compensation payouts, including how they are calculated and what they could comprise following a successful case.

Finally, we look at the ways in which one of our experienced solicitors offering No Win No Fee terms could assist you in seeking compensation.

If you need any further information about road traffic accident claims, please continue reading. Alternatively, you can reach out to an advisor for free advice using the following contact details:

Call us on 0151 375 9916.
Complete our “Contact Us” form to enquire about your potential case.
Connect to an advisor online via the chat function below.

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When Can You Claim For A Car Accident?
Examples Of How A Car Accident Could Happen
What Evidence Could Help You Make A Car Accident Claim?
How Are Car Accident Claim Compensation Amounts Calculated?
Can I Use No Win No Fee Solicitors To Claim For A Road Accident Injury?
Read More About Making A Road Traffic Accident Claim

When Can You Claim For A Car Accident?

The Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code contain rules and regulations that road users must adhere to in order to uphold their duty of care. The duty of care they owe, including drivers, is to use the roads in a way that prevents others and themselves from experiencing damage or harm.

If you have experienced an injury in a car accident because a driver failed to uphold this duty, you might wonder whether you could make a personal injury claim. In order to do so, you must prove the following:

You were owed a duty of care by another road user.
This duty of care was breached.
You experienced a physical injury, psychological harm, or both as a result of the breach.

Claiming For Whiplash And Other Minor Injuries From A Car Accident

Since the introduction of the Whiplash Reform Programme, the way certain road traffic accident claims need to be made has changed.

If you are a passenger or driver of a vehicle, are over the age of 18, and have sustained injuries worth £5,000 or less, you must make your claim via a different route. Additionally, if you have suffered any whiplash injuries, these will be valued in line with the tariff set out in the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021.

If you have injuries that take the total value of your claim over £5,000, you will claim via the traditional route. However, any whiplash injuries you have sustained will still see a value assigned to them by the tariff in the Regulations 2021. Any injuries not found in this tariff will be valued the traditional way.

Call our team to learn more about the eligibility criteria for making a car accident claim and how the whiplash reforms could influence the way in which you start your case. Alternatively, read on to learn more about how settlements are calculated.

Examples Of How A Car Accident Could Happen

There are several ways a car accident could occur leading to different types of injuries. For example:

A rear- end collision could occur if another driver is using their phone and fails to see you stopped at a red light. Due to the impact of them crashing into the back of your vehicle, you experience a serious neck injury.
If a lorry collided with your car when changing lanes on the motorway without checking it was safe to do so, this could lead to you suffering a severe head injury.
A driver may have failed to stop at a give way sign on a cross junction. As a result, they drive through the junction when it is unsafe to do so and collide with the side of your vehicle causing you to sustain a back injury involving damage to the spinal cord.

Please keep in mind that not all road traffic accidents will form the basis of a valid claim. To discuss your specific circumstances and find out whether you are eligible to proceed, please contact an advisor on the number above.

What Evidence Could Help You Make A Car Accident Claim?

The collection of evidence can help you build a strong case. Evidence can help prove liability and show the injuries you sustained as a result of another road user breaching their duty of care. Examples of what you could gather can include:

Photographs of the accident scene, any vehicle damage and your injuries.
A police reference number if you reported the accident.
Dashcam footage of the accident.
Witness contact details.
A copy of your medical records and a diary of any hospital or GP appointments you attended.

If you have an eligible case, you could be connected with one of our experienced car accident solicitors. They can assist you through the different stages of the claims process and help you gather evidence to substantiate your case.

Find out more about how they could help by calling an advisor on the number above.

How Are Car Accident Claim Compensation Amounts Calculated?

If you make a successful car accident claim, you could be awarded a settlement comprising up to two heads of loss:

General damages: Compensating for any pain and suffering caused by your injuries, both physical or psychological, or both.
Special damages: Compensating for any financial costs incurred due to your injuries. This can include lost earnings, medical expenses, care costs and travel costs. You will need evidence of these costs such as receipts, bank statements or wage slips.

As part of the road traffic accident claims process, you will need to attend an independent medical assessment. This can be arranged for you. The report produced from this assessment can be used to help value the general damages part of your payout. Additionally, they can use the guideline valuation brackets listed in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).

Compensation Table

The table below contains figures from the JCG, which are only to be used as a guide. It also contains fixed amounts from the tariff found in the Regulations 2021 which, as mentioned above, are used to value whiplash injuries.

Injury Type	Severity Level	Compensation Guidelines	Further Information
Leg	Amputation (i)	£240,790 to £282,010	Both legs are lost.
Brain	Moderately Severe	£219,070 to £282,010	Where a brain injury results in serious disablement where the injured party needs constant professional care and is substantially dependent on others.
Neck	Severe (i)	Around £148,330	Incomplete paraplegia with an associated neck injury.
	Moderate (i)	£24,990 to £38,490	Fractures or dislocations causing severe and immediate symptoms which require a spinal fusion.
Arm Amputation	Loss of One Arm (ii)	£109,650 to 130,930	The loss of a single arm above the elbow.
Back	Severe (iii)	£38,780 to £69,730	Soft tissue injuries leading to chronic conditions.
	Moderate (i)	£27,760 to £38,780	Compression or crush fracture of the lumbar vertebrae causing a substantial risk of osteoarthritis and constant pain and discomfort.
Other Arm Injuries	Severe	£39,170 to £59,860	Injuries falling short of amputation but that are still extremely serious and cause the person to be little better off than if they had ended up losing the arm.
Whiplash	Multiple or One Whiplash Injuries	£4,215	Symptoms lasting 18-24 months.
	Multiple or One Whiplash Injuries With Multiple or One Minor Psychological Injuries	£4,345	Symptoms lasting 18-24 months.

For further guidance on how much compensation you could receive for a car accident and the subsequent injuries you sustain, please contact an advisor on the number above.

Can I Use No Win No Fee Solicitors To Claim For A Road Accident Injury?

When you get in touch with one of our advisors, they can offer a cost-free and no-obligation assessment of your case. If it’s found you have valid grounds to proceed, they could connect you with one of our specialist solicitors who has experience handling car accident compensation claims. They can offer services such as:

Collecting and collating evidence relevant to your claim.
Managing all correspondence on your behalf.
Let you know how the claim is progressing regularly.
Value your settlement.

If your claim is taken on, your solicitor will offer these services on a No Win No Fee basis under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). As such, you typically don’t have to pay for your solicitor’s work in advance, during the claim or if the case is lost.

If you do receive a compensation payout, a success fee will be deducted and paid to your solicitor. However, this is taken as a percentage that’s legally capped so you still receive the largest share of any compensation awarded.

Why not let us check if you have a valid car accident claim by:

Calling 0151 375 9916.
Chatting with an online advisor.
Filling out our “Contact Us” form.

Make A Car Accident Claim