Road Traffic Accident Claims Process Moves into the Fast Lane

Recent policy changes have culminated in the launch of a new system used to process road traffic accident personal injury claims where the estimated value of the claim is between £1,000 and £10,000. It is anticipated that the enhanced process will encompass the majority of all road traffic accident personal injury claims; affecting as many as 500,000 individuals.

The system sees the creation of a secure website portal which will be used by both Claimants and Defendants to provide swift, electronic exchange of all relevant claim information relating to who is to blame for the accident (liability) and how much compensation is being is being sought (quantum). The hope is that the electronic portal will enable key decisions to be communicated more quickly whilst also reducing duplication which will in turn help reduce operational costs and enable the Defendant to agree settlement more swiftly.

Insurers currently have between over 90 days to accept or deny liability for such personal injury claims, however, under the new regulations this time frame will be reduced to just 15 days. Following the initial 15 day period the hope is that the Defendant will admit liability and offer a settlement figure which is acceptable to the Claimant, upon which the entire claim will be settled within a matter of weeks.

If the settlement figure offered by the Defendant is not accepted, the claim will then proceed to a second stage whereby the Claimant must obtain a medical report. Again, once the report is electronically served upon the Defendant they have another significantly reduced timeframe of just 15 days to consider the evidence and to make a further offer of settlement to the Claimant. The parties then have 20 days in which to settle the claim.

If settlement still cannot be reached between the parties the claim will then proceed to a third stage whereby Court proceedings are commenced. However, as they will have both followed the new protocol from the beginning of the claim both the Claimant and Defendant will have very little further preparation to make before the claim is concluded before the Court.

All in all it is anticipated by both parties that the new electronic portal will greatly speed up personal injury claims. Currently, it can take several months to establish liability if the Defendant has to request further information. Additional work by either side increases both legal and insurer handling costs. By requiring the use of standardized forms to be passed between Claimant lawyers and Defendant insurers through a secure electronic portal, within specific time frames, the flow of agreed information on both liability and quantum will be streamlined which will inevitably increase efficiency on both sides and will enable the claim to settlement more quickly.

SAS Daniels LLP are always ready and willing to embrace change that will benefit our clients. We hope that the new electronic portal will be successful in speeding up our client’s personal injury claims and as such we look forward to assisting our clients in making a claim using the system.