traffic accident compensation

Traffic Accident Compensation: The Types of Compensation You Can Claim In A Road Accident

Find out all about the different types of compensation you are entitled to claim in a road traffic accident – from compensation for your pain to financial loss and legal expenses. Thereafter, we describe how your solicitor calculates the compensation payout for your personal injuries.

Table of Contents

What are you entitled to claim as part of your traffic accident compensation in the United Kingdom?

There are five main types of loss and expense that you are entitled to claim as part of your UK traffic accident compensation, which include:

1. Special damages

These are past financial expenses that you have already incurred as a result of your road accident and include:

  1. Lost income up to the date your claim concludes – known as “past lost income”.
  2. The cost of repair to your damaged vehicle )or write-off value).
  3. Medical expenses.
  4. The costs of a hire car.
  5. Travel expenses.

See our car accident compensation article for a full list of the types of expenses that you can claim as part of your traffic accident compensation claim

2. General damages

Compensation for general damages is money to compensate you for your pain and suffering and uncertain losses as a result of personal injury. These losses do not have a fixed value and are calculated by your injury solicitor, including:

a) Compensation for pain and suffering due to trauma

The pain and suffering can be caused from physical injury (such as whiplash neck injuries) or psychiatric trauma (for example post traumatic stress disorder).

See our injury amount calculations for all types of injury article.

b) Compensation for financial losses into the future

If you are still suffering from your injuries when your claim concludes it is likely that financial losses into the future will also continue. For example, income losses which continue after your claim has concluded are known as “future lost income”. The amount will depend on an estimate by a consultant in a medical report as to how long you will continue to be absent from work combined with accounting evidence.

c) Traffic accident compensation for uncertain losses

Uncertain losses include a reduction in life expectancy. Sometimes injuries can be so severe that trauma to your body can reduce how long you can expect to live. The prediction into the future is very uncertain.

3. Include your motor insurance company outlay as part of your UK road accident compensation

It is typical that a comprehensive motor vehicle insurer may have met some expenses associated with your RTA before your claim for compensation from the driver-at-fault was commenced. For example – the cost of repairing your vehicle.

This expense is known as your “insurance company outlay”.

It is important that you include all of your insurance company’s expense as part of your claim. This will ensure that:

  1. Any insurance policy excess you have paid is refunded to you.
  2. Your no claims bonus is reinstated or remains unaffected.
  3. The motor insurance annual premium does not sky rocket for future renewals.

A specialist road accident solicitor will include your “insurance company outlay” automatically as part of your motor accident compensation. However, it is best to clarify with your solicitor that this is being claimed.

neck injury traffic accident compensation
Neck Injury Traffic Accident Compensation

4. Interest on the compensation you claim

You are entitled to claim interest on both general damages and special damages. The rate of interest will vary depending on whether the type of damage is general or special.

You are only entitled to interest once your claim has commenced in court.

Interest on general damages runs from the date you commenced your claim in court. Whereas interest on special damages runs from the date that your accident occurred.

So long as your overall general damages claim is beyond the small claims limit for road accident personal injury claims – you are entitled to claim the majority of your legal fees as part of your traffic accident compensation claim.

Driver-at-fault pays the winner’s costs

As a rule in UK law – a driver-at-fault who loses a claim should pay the winner’s legal costs. This is true – even if your claim was concluded before commencement in court.

Accept Offer Subject To Payment Of Legal Costs
Generally – for you to be entitled to receive your legal costs prior to commencement in court of your claim – your accident lawyer must accept the traffic accident compensation on your behalf subject to the payment of legal costs.

How does a solicitor calculate the payout for pain and suffering for your injury?

Your solicitor can value pain and suffering for your personal injury by looking at the sums awarded for a similar injury by the UK courts in the past. In addition – judicial guidance for all manner of injuries can be referred to.

If a previous claim with a similar injury was decided some years ago – your RTA lawyer will increase the figure in line with inflation before using it to calculate the amount of traffic accident compensation your injury is worth.

10% Increase In Your Compensation
Since the 1st April 2013 (when using a no win no fee) the law allowed an increase of 10% to be applied to the general damages aspect of your claim.
This was in part because the losing party no longer had to meet all of your solicitor’s legal fees from that date.

Traffic Accident Compensation Summary

In this article we have described the five types of loss and expense you can claim as part of your traffic accident compensation. together with the means by which your solicitor can calculate the amount of traffic accident compensation you should receive for pain and suffering for various different types of trauma.

We offer specialist road accident solicitor legal help if you have suffered injury in a road accident. You can ask an online question or speak direct to our solicitors to discuss your RTA and how to claim traffic accident compensation.

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