Road Traffic Accident Claims

Have you been involved in a road traffic accident?

P R Scully & Co have 20 years experience of dealing with road traffic accident compensation claims. We act for nearly all of our clients on a “no win, no fee” basis, recovering compensation on their behalf. If you have been involved in a road accident, you can contact us for an initial consultation and we will be able to advise you whether we think your claim is likely to succeed. Once you have spoken to us, you can then decide whether you would like to go ahead.

Who deals with damage to my car in road accident claims?

Even if your insurance is fully comprehensive, you do not have to claim against your own insurance policy if you would rather not. If it is clear that the accident was not your fault, we can arrange for an Engineer to inspect your car and assess how much the repair cost is going to be. You can then have your car repaired at a garage of your choice.

We can arrange for you to have a replacement hire car while your car is off the road. Once the repairs have been completed to your satisfaction, we will recover the cost of repair and the cost of hiring a car from the fault insurers.

What if my car is written off in a road accident?

Even if your motor insurance is fully comprehensive, you are not under an obligation to claim against your policy. If your car has been very badly damaged and is likely to be written off, we will arrange for your car to be inspected by an independent Engineer. The Engineer will place a value on the car and, as long as you are happy with the Engineer’s valuation, we will forward a copy of the Engineer’s report to the fault insurer and ask them to make payment. We can arrange a hire car while your car is off the road. Once the payment for the write-off value of your car has been received and you return the hire car, we will then recover the hire account on your behalf.

What happens to my car if it has been written off?

If your car has been written-off, the Engineer will assess a salvage value. The amount that you will receive from the fault insurer will be the market value, less the salvage value. As an example, if your car is valued at £5,000 and the salvage value of the car is £500, you will receive £4,500. There are various options in terms of what might happen with the salvage. The fault insurer may agree to keep the salvage, in which case, they will pay you a further £500 for the salvage value. Alternatively, you may wish to sell the salvage yourself if you think that you might get more than £500. If you wish, we can put you in touch with a Vehicle Management Company that will help you to sell the salvage.

You may feel that you would rather keep the car yourself and have it repaired. As long as the Engineer has said that the car is safe to be repaired, you can have the car repaired, as long as you can find a garage that is willing to carry out the repair at an agreed price. If you do have the car repaired, you should be aware that the car will still be registered with the DVLA as having been written-off so when you come to sell the car, you would be under an obligation to let any buyer know that you have had the car repaired.

Who arranges a hire car?

We can put you in touch with a Hire Car Company who will provide you with a like for like replacement whilst your car is off the road. The Hire Car Company would have to be satisfied that you were not at fault for the accident and that the fault party is properly insured.

Even if someone is not at fault for an accident, they are still under an obligation to keep costs to a minimum. The Hire Car Company will therefore be checking to make sure that the hire account does not run on too long.

What happens if I cannot work because I am injured?

We understand how difficult it will be if you are losing income as a result of being injured but you still have bills to pay. If liability is not disputed, we will ask the fault insurers to make an interim payment to cover your lost earnings while you are off work. We will need copies of your wage slips or written confirmation from your employers how much you would normally earn. If you are self-employed, the fault insurers are likely to ask for copies of your accounts or tax returns before they will agree to release payment. We can discuss this with you in more detail if necessary.

What happens if I need medical treatment, but cannot afford to pay for it?

If we are satisfied that the accident was not your fault, we can arrange for you to have physiotherapy carried out and we will recover the physiotherapy costs from the fault insurer. A Physiotherapist will carry out an initial assessment and should be able to tell you how many sessions of treatment you are likely to need.

How will my injuries be assessed?

We will arrange for you to be seen by a doctor who will ask you questions about the injuries that you suffered as a result of the accident. The doctor will also ask whether you have had to take time off work and how your home life has been affected. Before you meet the doctor, it would be a good idea to think about the ways in which your life has been affected by the injuries. For example, have friends or family members had to help you with day to day tasks such as housework that you would normally have done yourself.

Once they have met with you, the doctor will then prepare a report and will predict, as accurately as possible, how long they think it is likely to be until your injuries have healed completely. If you have suffered from a soft tissue injury to your neck or back (more commonly known as a “whiplash” injury), the doctor will say how many months they think it will be before you make a complete recovery from your injuries. The Doctor may also recommend treatment, such as physiotherapy.

How much compensation will I receive for my injuries?

Once we have the medical report through from the doctor that examined you, as long as you are happy with the report, we will let the fault insurers have a copy and ask them to make an offer for compensation. We will be able to advise you in advance how much compensation we think you should receive. The amount of compensation varies depending on how serious your injuries are and how long they are likely to last for. We know from experience what you are likely to receive. To assess an amount for compensation, we look at previous cases that have been decided by the Court and also at the Judicial College Guidelines which sets out how much compensation clients should receive. If the amount of compensation that is offered is too low, we will advise you whether we think Court proceedings should be issued.

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How can we help?

Contact our Accident Claim Solicitors