It’s not unusual for the third party’s insurance company to contact you offering to settle your claim if you’ve been involved in an accident. So should you liaise with their insurers or use a road accident solicitor?
Insurance companies have been getting a bad press lately in the media, from consumer groups and from road accident solicitor groups for their use of a process known as third party capture. Or third party assistance if you want to give it its nicer name.
This basically involves contacting the innocent victim to make them an offer of settlement on their claim. This usually happens very quickly after the incident and often before the victim has consulted a road accident solicitor. Of course, you might interpret this as wonderful customer service which puts the victim first. If you were to ask your road accident solicitor, though, they might not see it that way.
This is because it has been known for the offers of settlements to be for considerably less than the real value of the claim and it is often believed that individuals would have been awarded far greater compensation had they used the services of a road accident solicitor.
Another worrying thing is that until very recently this practice was not regulated. Even today, all that exists is a voluntary code of practice. The code, set up by the Association of British Insurers states that insurers must not first approach the victim in person. This is to prevent insurance company agents from pressuring victims into accepting settlements prior to having sought the advice of a road accident solicitor. the code also says that victims should be reminded of their right to seek legal advice at every stage.
At the end of the day it is the victim who must decide how to go about getting compensation for their injuries and loss. But there is nothing to lose in asking a road accident solicitor for their opinion, particularly as they will probably take care of your claim on a no win no fee basis and recover their fees from the insurers.
