What evidence will your solicitor use to assess the value of your whiplash claim? The first evidence and arguably the most important is the medical evidence.

Medical Evidence. You will have been asked to attend for an examination with a General Practitioner or Orthopaedic Surgeon in most cases. This expert will provide a report confirming the circumstances of the accident, the injuries sustained by you and the ongoing pain and suffering experienced by you. The expert will also recommend any treatment (such as physiotherapy or chiropractic treatment) and will provide a prognosis. This prognosis will detail when the Doctor expects you to make a full recovery (which normally happens in most whiplash claims) and therefore will provide the solicitor with enough information to be able to compare your injury to previously decided cases where compensation was paid to whiplash victims.

Once your solicitor receives the medical report he will check it against your witness statement to ensure that both confirm the accident as it happened, and that the details of the injury are consistent.

If your solicitor has obtained witness statements from members of your friends and family to detail the impact of the injury, he will also check that they are also consistent with the medical evidence. This is vital as any differences in the evidence will be picked up by the other side or by the Court if a final hearing was required. It is therefore vital that your solicitor checks these matters very carefully.

Finally, if any treatment has been recommended by your expert, your solicitor will normally help you to arrange this treatment. The cost of the treatment will also be included in your claim for compensation.

Your solicitor will send a copy of the medical evidence to you to ensure that you agree with the comments made by the Doctor. If you are happy with the medical evidence, your solicitor will then send a copy of the report to the other driver’s insurance company or solicitor for them to review.

He will also normally write to you with an estimate of the amount of compensation you are likely to receive. He will look at previously decided whiplash cases and also a book called the Judicial Studies Guidelines of the Assessment of Damages which provides guidance for the amount of compensation for accident claims.

He will send this with a Schedule of Special Damages which details all of your losses and expenses to the other side and if possible he will ask for offers in settlement. He will have provided you with a bracket of likely compensation (for example, £2,000 to £2,500) so that you know what to expect.

If the insurer makes an offer in settlement at this time he will advise you whether that offer is reasonable based on your solicitor’s estimate and your solicitor will give you further guidance as to whether to accept it or whether he or she thinks they may be able to obtain a slightly increased offer of compensation.

If the insurers fail to make a reasonable offer at this point, your solicitor will usually advise you to issue Court proceedings to spur them into action.