How Long Will My Whiplash Claim Take To Settle

If you have been unfortunate enough to have suffered a whiplash injury as a result of a car accident you may be considering making a whiplash claim. A common question asked by people considering making such a claim is ‘how long will my whiplash claim take to settle?’. The answer to this depends on several factors, as discussed below, relating to assessing the value of your claim and issues regarding liability.

Before attempting to settle your whiplash claim your solicitor will carry out an assessment of your injuries and other losses to estimate how much your claim is worth. Your injury claim (called your ‘general damages’ claim) will usually be assessed by comparing the injuries you have sustained with that of Claimants who have suffered similar injuries to your own (and who have taken a similar amount of time to recover) and who’s cases have already been settled. To do this, your solicitor will usually instruct a medical expert to prepare a medical report detailing your injuries and providing a prognosis with regard to your expected recovery process.

When the medical report has been obtained and your solicitor has assessed the value of your claim based on the information provided in the report you will then have two choices regarding securing settlement of your claim. You can either instruct your solicitor to begin immediate settlement negotiations with the third party’s legal representative and aim to settle your claim on the presumption that the prognosis in the medical report will turn out to be accurate. However, if you chose this option but do not then recover as expected (i.e. your recovery takes longer than predicted by the medical expert) you will not be able to go back and claim further compensation if your claim has already been settled. Alternatively, you can wait until the time by which the medical expert has estimated you will recover (for example, this might be 9 months post accident) and then, assuming you have recovered as expected, instruct your solicitor to negotiate settlement of your claim.

Another factor affecting how long your whiplash claim takes to settle is the issue of liability. If the third party’s legal representative admits liability for the accident on behalf of the third party – or at least does not contest liability – then your solicitor will be able to begin settlement negotiations as soon as you have either recovered from your injuries or are happy to rely on the prognosis given by the medical expert. In such circumstances, liability will not be an issue and will not, therefore, delay settlement of your claim. However, if liability is an issue – i.e. the third party will not accept all or any blame for the accident – then the issue of liability will need to be resolved between the parties legal representatives and it may even be necessary to issue court proceedings if the issue of liability cannot be resolved. These issues will obviously mean that your claim takes longer to settle than in cases where liability is not raised as an issue.

It is apparent, therefore, that the length of time it takes to settle a whiplash injury is not clear cut and factors such as liability, and the extent of your injuries and length of your recovery progress, will all have an effect on the length of time your claim takes to conclude.

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