The square 4 lives again - white van man (part 2)

[alan.moore]

Mark
Out of interest how did your insurance claim go ? I hope the other side are having to pay out large sums of money to compensate you for all your..and the Square 4's pain and suffering.

Best Regards
Alan

[MARK.WALSH]

Alan
regarding the insurance - that could be a subject all to itself.
The idiot who ran over me admitted full liability and his insurance company Aviva were under the circumstances a pleasure to deal with. I did all the negotiating myself armed with £1000s of pounds worth of receipts, and they gave me a full pay-out and I was allowed to keep the bike. Dealing with them could not have been easier, quicker or fairer.
My insurance company however have been slow and in a lot of cases hopeless as regard's my personal injury claim. It is a well known firm who sponsor classic events and they boast legal cover, however, I found the legal firm never answered emails, never kept me up to date, and so far sent me to a 'quack' to assess my injuries where I attended on two crutches barely able to walk (back in May) . It took him 12 weeks to produce a report that was so bad it could almost have been a mix up with another patient. examples are - My right femur is broken - his report said right shoulder. I was born in 1963 - his report 1970. I could not drive - his report - he drives well but struggles to use a hoover!!! In total there were 10 inaccuracies and each one was enough to reject the report.
The funny thing is throughout this time lapse, the legal firm refused to answer emails as stated and I eventually found out that they believed I never attended my own medical. It took me months to convince them that I did and only then did I get the botched report.
Now they are sending me to a specialist to assess my injuries, but I was so underwhelmed at their ability to act on my behalf that I returned to work to avoid facing half pay from my employer (I did not trust the legal cover to actually cover me for loss of earnings)
To date I have lost probably a couple of thousand on recovery fees, loss of overtime and destroyed motorcycle clothing but have had no interim payment to cover these losses. Hopefully the legal firm will turn things around and pull their finger out once I see their specialist. The only question that remains is .......what is a hoover???? (I must ask the wife)
regards
Mark

[alan.moore]

Yes I know a lot of these these legal cover firms are all too quick to take all our £29.99 annual fees but when it comes down to a claim they can be somewhat slow and incompetent.
I have seem a fair few of those 'medical' reports and your inaccuracies are not uncommon. There always appears to be a lot of 'cut and paste' going on. The reference to 'hoovering' appears in the vast majority of the ones I have seen!!

The system is really ponderous, the legal cover firms are normally just a 'go between' organizing medical reports and solicitors. A lot of people go back to work early for the reason you describe. I think they hope people just give up.

Going to a solicitor yourself for an initial free consultation / second opinion is an option if it drags on and on after your next 'medical'. If you choose a good well known firm you have a much much better chance of coming out on top.

Best of look and keep us updated on the Square 4

Alan

[MARK.WALSH]

Alan
thanks for the good advice, as it mirrors what a retired claims expert has told me and a prosecution lawyer who is a lifetime friend.
Both have told me to go to an independent solicitor and mentioned that my case should have been 'a walk in the park' for any competent claims firm.
I have delayed this pending the so called specialist getting a chance to correct matters but if that fails I am jumping ship.
It is terrible to find out the hard way on how poor these companies are as we hope we will never need them. In future I'm leaving off the legal cover and will employ an independent solicitor as required
Regards
Mark

[alan.moore]

'Back in the day' when the UK claims system had not caught up with 'the States' there were not that many solicitors working on a 'no win no fee' basis. In those days Legal cover was probably worth it. Nowdays, if you pick a reputable longstanding firm of solicitors experienced in road traffic collision personal claims, and your case is water tight (which yours appears to be) the claim for lost wages, hire cars, medical expenses, clothing, physical hardship, mental hardship, loss of earning / loss of full mobility for the rest of your life etc etc is a walk in the park. An initial consultation for advice is usually free...you just need to check.

When the facts are clear the other side will want a quick out of court settlement (about 90% of these types of claim are settled out of court). However, where there is significant injury, as in your case, the major 'monetary' part of a claim can be how the injuries will effect your quality of life and earning abilities for the rest of your working life. The medical evidence from 'an expert' is therefore very important and it is this area where the solicitors earn their keep.

I am not going to advise anyone not to take out Legal Cover. If you have a good Legal cover company (and you would expect your 'Classic event' based insurance company would only use a good company...clearly not), it can take a lot of the leg work out of sorting your own solicitor. But once the solicitor is on board the procedure is just the same.

You have friends who have advised you in these matters but others my not be so lucky. I have provided my take on the issue to give others a 'heads up' on how the system works..or doesn't work.

Regards
Alan

[MARK.WALSH]

Alan
I totally agree with all the comments you make. Hopefully a number of members will read this and store it in the back of their minds in case they ever need legal assistance after a crash. I hope however they never have the need to apply it, and that they ride safely and have luck on their side. (you'll always need luck as defensive riding will not always be enough)
Regards
Mark