Medical insurance and bike crash

surrey_commuter

Looking for advice here.

Was right hooked heading south on Balham Hill. Probably going about 20mph when I hit his wing so am guessing serious damage to the bike plus all the incidental damages/costs. The police said it was all his fault but I am awaiting their report.

Anyway other than a mild concussion I have escaped with soft tissue damage to the shoulder which needs an MRI scan. To ease the burden on the NHS I reached for my AXA PPP medical insurance and have now been contacted by a law firm who will try and recover their costs from the driver's insurance. They have offered to act on my behalf - does anybody have experience of this? Is it a good idea?

wolfsbane2k

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Looking for advice here.

Was right hooked heading south on Balham Hill. Probably going about 20mph when I hit his wing so am guessing serious damage to the bike plus all the incidental damages/costs. The police said it was all his fault but I am awaiting their report.

Anyway other than a mild concussion I have escaped with soft tissue damage to the shoulder which needs an MRI scan. To ease the burden on the NHS I reached for my AXA PPP medical insurance and have now been contacted by a law firm who will try and recover their costs from the driver's insurance. They have offered to act on my behalf - does anybody have experience of this? Is it a good idea?

Sorry to hear of the accident. Get well soon. And bikes are only metal or carbon etc and can be replaced. When was the accident? If they are at fault, most driver insurance companies will offer to pay for fees etc directly when referred by a gp.

No personal history with this, just insurance companies and lawyers in 2 cases so far :-(

Edit: sorry. Missed the final bit of the q, is the q itself :oops:
Find out where they got your details from, how they are getting paid,k what the terms are if they represent you, is how much of a cut they will take
.
Are you not CTC/BC covered for legal?

Your other option is to contact the guys insurer directly, inform them of the claim, and deal directly. That option is almost definatley quicker, although if you want damages, rather than fees, they may not be 'fair'.

I'm sure BTR will be along soon to give advice.

surrey_commuter

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Looking for advice here.

Was right hooked heading south on Balham Hill. Probably going about 20mph when I hit his wing so am guessing serious damage to the bike plus all the incidental damages/costs. The police said it was all his fault but I am awaiting their report.

Anyway other than a mild concussion I have escaped with soft tissue damage to the shoulder which needs an MRI scan. To ease the burden on the NHS I reached for my AXA PPP medical insurance and have now been contacted by a law firm who will try and recover their costs from the driver's insurance. They have offered to act on my behalf - does anybody have experience of this? Is it a good idea?

Sorry to hear of the accident. Get well soon. And bikes are only metal or carbon etc and can be replaced. When was the accident? If they are at fault, most driver insurance companies will offer to pay for fees etc directly when referred by a gp.

No personal history with this, just insurance companies and lawyers in 2 cases so far :-(

Find out where they got your details from, and ask if they are only looking for the medical expenses, not any other losses.

Cheers. Don't really care at the moment but I am sure I will in the future. They were instructed by AXA to recover the medical costs and are offering to act upon my behalf. Sounds too good to be true - can I trust them to have my best interests at heart?

wolfsbane2k

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Looking for advice here.

Was right hooked heading south on Balham Hill. Probably going about 20mph when I hit his wing so am guessing serious damage to the bike plus all the incidental damages/costs. The police said it was all his fault but I am awaiting their report.

Anyway other than a mild concussion I have escaped with soft tissue damage to the shoulder which needs an MRI scan. To ease the burden on the NHS I reached for my AXA PPP medical insurance and have now been contacted by a law firm who will try and recover their costs from the driver's insurance. They have offered to act on my behalf - does anybody have experience of this? Is it a good idea?

Sorry to hear of the accident. Get well soon. And bikes are only metal or carbon etc and can be replaced. When was the accident? If they are at fault, most driver insurance companies will offer to pay for fees etc directly when referred by a gp.

No personal history with this, just insurance companies and lawyers in 2 cases so far :-(

Find out where they got your details from, and ask if they are only looking for the medical expenses, not any other losses.

Cheers. Don't really care at the moment but I am sure I will in the future. They were instructed by AXA to recover the medical costs and are offering to act upon my behalf. Sounds too good to be true - can I trust them to have my best interests at heart?

Cross edit post, sorry all!

Will they have your best interests at heart? Not necessarily but they should be comparable to any other lawyer firm under the legal code.

Ask how they will handle the case, named solicitor, direct dial access etc, past experience with Claims for cyclists etc.
Consider the option of using BC/CTC and asking the axa instructed team to contact them.

surrey_commuter

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Surrey Commuter wrote:

Looking for advice here.

Was right hooked heading south on Balham Hill. Probably going about 20mph when I hit his wing so am guessing serious damage to the bike plus all the incidental damages/costs. The police said it was all his fault but I am awaiting their report.

Anyway other than a mild concussion I have escaped with soft tissue damage to the shoulder which needs an MRI scan. To ease the burden on the NHS I reached for my AXA PPP medical insurance and have now been contacted by a law firm who will try and recover their costs from the driver's insurance. They have offered to act on my behalf - does anybody have experience of this? Is it a good idea?

Sorry to hear of the accident. Get well soon. And bikes are only metal or carbon etc and can be replaced. When was the accident? If they are at fault, most driver insurance companies will offer to pay for fees etc directly when referred by a gp.
I'm
No personal history with this, just insurance companies and lawyers in 2 cases so far :-(

Find out where they got your details from, and ask if they are only looking for the medical expenses, not any other losses.

Cheers. Don't really care at the moment but I am sure I will in the future. They were instructed by AXA to recover the medical costs and are offering to act upon my behalf. Sounds too good to be true - can I trust them to have my best interests at heart?

Cross edit post, sorry all!

Will they have your best interests at heart? Not necessarily but they should be comparable to any other lawyer firm under the legal code.

Ask how they will handle the case, named solicitor, direct dial access etc, past experience with Claims for cyclists etc.
Consider the option of using BC/CTC and asking the axa instructed team to contact them.

Thanks for the input. I am not with BC/CTC :? I might have legal cover on house insurance.
Good advice on questions to ask. I am thinking the police report will tell me if I need to fight to prove liability. On the assumption that AXA would not employ cowboys I am tempted to make my life easier.

First.Aspect

As others have said, they might be equivalent to any number of alternative personal injury solicitors, but in your position I'd want confirmation that there to be two entirely separate claims going on; yours and Axa's. Otherwise, who is doing the driving?

surrey_commuter

First Aspect wrote:

As others have said, they might be equivalent to any number of alternative personal injury solicitors, but in your position I'd want confirmation that there to be two entirely separate claims going on; yours and Axa's. Otherwise, who is doing the driving?

That echoes my concern that my part will be the crumbs potentially left on the table.

wolfsbane2k

Arr, house insurance legal cover normally excludes anything where you are pushing for personal injury, rather than being sued for it, even if you paid extra (so I found). If considering legal claim on house insurance, make sure it doesn't affect your no claims before you call either.

I'd have thought you wouldn't be crumbs on the side, because the more crumbs, the more they get paid typically.
However, they have possibly got an agreement with axa on a set fee, so might be able to set up something for yourself, which will cost £80ish to cover a specific type of insurance in case the courts/other side doesn't award full costs, but you only pay that upon settlement, so nothing in advance
I found that out by using an insurance company defined lawyer (I was claiming against the insurance company and they refused to deal with me directly)

apreading

Personal injury payout will always be better if you are represented by a solicitor - they just wont take you seriously without one and pay you derisory amount. In fact some insurance companies will even refuse to deal with you direct.

If AXA are covering the 'risk' i.e. if the claim is unsuccessful you are not liable for anything personally, then they are probably as good as anyone else you would get. I think anyone you got yourself would have to process the claim for AXA anyway as a 'subrogated claim' and would effectively replace AXA's solicitor as if you are making a claim against the liable party, you are responsible to seek recovery of AXA's costs as part of this claim.

There is a book which lists all the different injuries and what they are worth - all personal injury specialists will have this, its based on payouts for cases which have been disputed and actually taken to court in the past. So they will know how much to go for - they will probably appoint an independant medical assessor to provide tesimony of your injury and recovery to base the PSLA (Pain, Suffering and Loss of Amenity) claim on. Even soft tissue damage can take a long time to heal and cause significant inconvenience.

surrey_commuter

I love this forum - many thanks guys it is much appreciated

wolfsbane2k

Surrey Commuter wrote:

I love this forum - many thanks guys it is much appreciated

It's unfortunate that so many of us know about having to deal with solicitors after an accident...:-(

rolf_f

apreading wrote:

Personal injury payout will always be better if you are represented by a solicitor - they just wont take you seriously without one and pay you derisory amount. In fact some insurance companies will even refuse to deal with you direct.

This is true. I got knocked off my bike twice in three months and claimed simultaneously for both via Slater and Gordon through CTC membership. Eventually, it transpired that the second accident was effectively not covered by S&G because I had had no serious personal injury from it and they needed at least £1000 worth of personal injury to deal with it. All I wanted was the cost of the replacement bike covering but I was then left in semi limbo as I couldn't manage to even get the details of the defendants insurers and S&G were telling me I'd have to find my own solicitor to deal with it or I'd get nowhere. This all sounded pretty depressing for an incident which would have been dealt with in a couple of weeks if I'd been driving.

Thankfully, S&G relented and pursued the case and I finally got what I'd asked for. It did take three years to resolve though! The case where I was injured will hopefully be resolved just short of four years after the event.......

surrey_commuter

Update in case anybody is interested and it helps others. Apparently there is something in the medical insurance contract where I agree to help them recover costs from a 3rd party. This means that the solicitors are acting for me and I reimburse AXA. I also get a named person to deal with.