Insurers dirty tricks for personal injury claims

Wednesday 8th March 2017

At Digby Brown, we hear many stories from our clients about how they were treated by insurance companies in regards to their personal injury claims and some of the ‘tricks’ insurers may use to try and ensure clients stay with their legal expenses cover insurers – who our experience shows will try and under settle their claim.

Insurers try to under settle personal injury claim quickly – without medical evidence

Making an offer of compensation before any medical evidence has been obtained is a very common method used by some insurance companies to trick injured parties into accepting compensation which is well below what they are entitled to.

For instance, we have one client which was injured when they were run over by a car. They were offered £30,000 in full and final settlement for injuries and were informed they would receive the cheque within 7 working days upon acceptance. However, they advised our client that if embarked on the formal legal route, this process could take 250 days.

Our specialist solicitors recently rejected an offer of £170,000 – almost 6 times the offer by the insurers - as this still didn’t truly value the losses and injuries from the accident. Proper medical evidence has been essential to properly establishing our client’s losses and the value of their claim.

Insurers falsely say they are not responsible for paying compensation

Another tactic we have seen is where some insurers challenge that they are the responsible party for paying compensation to an injured victim.

Our solicitors encountered a case where the insurers claimed they had no obligation to deal with the case as the accident occurred on a driveway which is a private road and they only cover public roads. This was not true. The insurers then offered £2,000 out of "goodwill" but our solicitors settled the claim for over 3 times this initial offer.

Insurers accuse injured victims of fraud

In some cases, insurance companies have been known to suggest victims are making fraudulent claims to try and put them off from pursuing a legitimate claim.

Recently, we have seen a case where a pregnant woman was injured in a road traffic accident and her GP recorded that she was experiencing ongoing stress as she was scared that her injuries may cause her to lose her baby.

The third party insurers admitted liability for the accident but are refusing to pay compensation as they believe the claim is fraudulent – despite our client being taken to hospital by emergency services at the scene and having medical evidence which describes her injuries.

Insurers continuing to contact injured party

In another case, we witnessed the insurers continuing to contact the client once they have instructed our personal injury solicitors at Digby Brown – which they are not meant to do.

They suggested to the client that because the accident injury happened some time ago – although they were within the 3-year limit to make a claim – that it was perhaps fraudulent, and made this suggestion to the solicitor as well.

At Digby Brown, we collect detailed medical evidence and investigate cases thoroughly to fully establish the circumstances between every incident. We would not take on cases that we suspect are not legitimate cases where clients have been injured.

The right person for the job matters

The fact of the matter is insurers are not independent and their job is to offer as little compensation as possible.

Seeking independent legal advice is crucial after a road traffic accident. This is the only route which ensures you receive legal advice which is in your best interest.