The new process for Low Value Road Traffic Accident claims

30 04 2010

If you instruct us to act for you in a claim for personal injury arising out of a road traffic accident after the 29th April 2010, please be prepared for a long conversation with us because we are obliged to submit your claim to the insurers of the driver who caused the accident on-line to a secured website operated by the Ministry of Justice.The amount of detail which needs to be provided is extensive.

This only applies to claims where the value of the injury or injury related claims such as earnings loss or private medical treatment is likely to be  less than £10,000.00.

On the same day as we submit the form to the insurers, we must send a hard copy to the other driver and in printed form, the claim will generally be about eight pages long.

The form has several sections and it will be helpful if you can have the following information available when we speak.

Your Personal Details

Your full name Address and postcode

Telephone numbers & e-mail address (for our records only)

Your date of birth

Your National Insurance number

Your occupation

Whether you wre wearing a seat belt

Details about your injury

Full details about your symptoms

The name (and address) of any hospital visited following the accident (and reference number if available)

Whether you have received any treatment such as physiotherapy or if this has been recommended

Whether you have been unable to work and the dates of your absence

Whether you have been involved in any other accident in the last three years (for our records only)

Details about the vehicles involved and of the driver responsible

The make, model (where known) and registration numbers of all vehicles involved

The name and address of the other driver or the owner of the vehicle

The number of people in the vehicle in which you were travelling

If you are the vehicle owner

Whether you are comprehensively insured or Third Party Fire & Theft

Who is repairing the vehicle (if not written off)

The name, address and reference number of any company that has provided a hire/replacement vehicle

The dates of hire

If you were a passenger

The name and address of the driver

Accident Details

Description of the accident circumstances

The date, time and weather conditions

The names of any witnesses

The details of any other driver/vehicles involved

Why you think the other driver is at fault

Other Information

Whether you have any legal expenses insurance (legal protection) sold with your motor policy or house contents policy or even travel insurance

If you were injured on public transport, the name of the bus or coach company, the Route number if any and whether you have proof of ticket purchase for the journey, along with the approximate number of other people on the bus or coach.

If it appears that the other vehicle was uninsured, a description of the driver . 

If you don’t have all the information to hand, we may not be in a position to submit your claim and advance your case until you do! However the person taking the information on our behalf will be able to advise you further about this.

A quick and easy process if there is no dispute

The good news, however, is that once the claim has been submitted to the other driver’s insurers they have only 15 Business Days (three weeks) to concede liability and save themselves considerable legal cost if they accept that their insured was to blame. If they miss this deadline, the claim will leave this streamlined process and be dealt with under the much slower and more costly system which has applied up till now.

On the other hand, undisputed claims will progress very quickly from the early provision of physiotherapy or similar treatment to a brief medico-legal examination by a local GP at an appropriate time. The GP then prepares a report in a standard format and if you agree the contents, we will discuss the likely value of your claim and propose on-line a settlement figure (discussed with you in advance) to the other driver’s insurers and upload the medical report along with any documentation confirming your out-of-pocket expenses.

The insurers then have a further 15 Business Days to accept or reject the offer and enter into negotiations over further 20 Business Days to avoid the matter proceeding to a court hearing.

In less serious cases, claims will be capable of being finalised within three to six months and we will be paid a fixed fee by the insurers of the other driver which will cover your legal costs


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Categories : Claim Notification Form, New Process for injury claims, Personal Injury

Fuel Scale charges from 1 May 2010

27 03 2010

Guest blogger Robert Killington explains about the new fuel scale charges.

This article first appeared in Robert’s  excellent VATark Blog and is reprinted here with his kind permission.

For periods starting after 30 April 2010

The fuel scale charge applies to all business cars which are used for
private motoring. The following table sets out the fuel scale charges
for VAT periods commencing after 30 April 2010.

The amount listed under Scale Charge is the VAT inclusive amount. You need to subtract the VAT due to get the figure to include in Box 6 on your VAT Return.

For vehicles which do not have a CO2 emissions figure, you should identify the CO2 band based on engine size, as follows:

  • if its cylinder capacity is 1,400 cubic centimetres or less, use CO2 band 140 or below
  • if its cylinder capacity exceeds 1,400 cubic centimetres but does not exceed 2,000 cubic centimetres, use CO2 band 175
  • if its cylinder capacity exceeds 2,000 cubic centimetres, use CO2 band 235 or above.Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the figures in the following tables are accurate you should still check that the figures are correct.

    •  

      12 Month return Three Month return One Month return
    CO2 Emissions Figure Scale Charge VAT due per vehicle Scale charge VAT due per vehicle Scale charge VAT due per vehicle
      £ £ £ £ £ £
    120 or below 570.00 84.49 141.00 21.00 47.00 7.00
    125 850.00 126.60 212.00 31.57 70.00 10.43
    130 850.00 126.60 212.00 31.57 70.00 10.43
    135 910.00 135.53 227.00 33.81 75.00 11.17
    140 965.00 143.72 241.00 35.89 80.00 11.91
    145 1020.00 151.91 255.00 37.98 85.00 12.66
    150 1080.00 160.85 269.00 40.06 89.00 13.26
    155 1135.00 169.04 283.00 42.15 94.00 14.00
    160 1190.00 177.23 297.00 44.23 99.00 14.74
    165 1250.00 186.17 312.00 46.47 104.00 15.49
    170 1305.00 194.36 326.00 48.55 108.00 16.09
    175 1360.00 202.55 340.00 50.64 113.00 16.83
    180 1420.00 211.49 354.00 52.72 118.00 17.57
    185 1475.00 219.68 368.00 54.81 122.00 18.17
    190 1530.00 227.87 383.00 57.04 127.00 18.91
    195 1590.00 236.81 397.00 59.13 132.00 19.66
    200 1645.00 245.00 411.00 61.21 137.00 20.40
    205 1705.00 253.94 425.00 63.30 141.00 21.00
    210 1760.00 262.13 439.00 65.38 146.00 21.74
    215 1815.00 270.32 454.00 67.62 151.00 22.49
    220 1930.00 279.26 468.00 69.70 156.00 23.23
    225 1985.00 287.45 482.00 71.79 160.00 23.83
    230 or above 1765.00 295.64 496.00 73.87 165.00 24.57

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    Categories : Fleet matters, V.A.T.

    Forensic Accounting

    28 02 2010

    A FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT OR A LOSS ADJUSTER IN FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT’S CLOTHES?

    Guest blogger Richard Forth of Forth Associates in Leeds describes some concerns about the use of forensic accountants by some insurers

    As many Claimant Personal Injury Practitioners will be aware, ithe managing director of Leeds basedt has become the increasing practise of many Insurance Companies, over the course of the past couple of years, to utilise the services of certain firms of Forensic Accountants to consider loss of earnings / loss of profits claims presented by them, in the pre issue phase of cases, to arrive at an assessment of such Claimant’s losses. 

    Whilst, ostensibly, it could be argued that the formulation of an independent assessment of such losses, in the pre issue phase of the case, is useful, we have listened to our Claimant Personal Injury Practitioner clients and note that many have voiced significant concerns, with the way certain purportedly independent firms are undertaking this practise, for a number of different reasons, the often quoted ones being:

    a)         Disproportionate requests for significant financial information in small loss cases.

    b)         Perceived arbitrary assessment of losses, hidden behind a purported Expert opinion (so called spurious academia) with no detailed specified reasons as to why that assessment has been made.

    c)         A perception that, in effect, the Forensic Accountants are not undertaking a full and comprehensive forensic task, rather adopting a loss adjusting type approach for the benefit of their insurance clients.

    Our Claimant Personal Injury Practitioner clients have identified a number of cases where their clients have been absolutely adamant that the assessment of losses, provided by the independent Forensic Accountant in their case, was understated and we have seen a significant number of instances where we believe that this is potentially the case.

    The moral of the story is beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing and, should you encounter a situation where there is a structured adamance by a Claimant that he or she is correct then full consideration should be given to instructing your own Expert in rebuttal of the other Expert’s evidence.

    Richard Forth is the Managing Director of Leeds based Forth Associates offering forensic accounting services to Claimant Lawyers and Insurers alike

     


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    Categories : Forensic Accountants, General accident matters, Guest blogs

    VAT recovery on accident claims

    11 02 2010

    Guest blogger Robert Killington (The Fun VAT Man) explains about VAT recovery in accident claims. 

    What’s the VAT situation for a VAT registered business that has to make an insurance claim for damage to one of it’s vehicles?

    Because a VAT registered business can recover the VAT it incurs on business expenses it is able to recover the VAT on the costs of repairing its vehicle. The insurance company will meet the cost of the repairs, less any excess, and the business will have to pay the excess plus the VAT on the repair costs.  The repairer will provide the business with an invoice for the repair costs plus VAT which the business will be able to include in its business records in the normal way. The VAT on the invoice will be credited to the business on its next VAT return.

    That’s the damage to the vehicle dealt with, but what about other expenses that might be covered by the insurance policy?

    Can you reclaim the VAT on those?

    Here I have to roll out my standard answer and that is: it depends.

    It depends on whether the expenses can be seen as legitimate business expenses on which the VAT can be recovered.  If the expense relates to, for example, personal injuries to an employee and the award of damages will be paid to the employee the business is unlikely to be able to recover the VAT and could reasonably expect these to be covered by its insurer.  Only where the cost relates to some expense of the business, e.g. uninsured losses such as hire of a replacement vehicle or the insurance excess, is the business able to recover the VAT on the legal costs.

    How does this affect a sole trader who is claiming compensation for injuries as the result of a car crash?

    Can they get the input tax back on the legal fees?  Probably not unless there can be established a clear connection between the costs incurred and the business run by the sole trader.

    All this means that if a VAT registered business, of whatever description, incurs expenses, including legal fees, that are covered by insurance the business is able to recover the VAT on those legal fees. The insurer will normally only pay out the VAT exclusive amount in such circumstances. It is therefore important to establish at the time a claim is made whether the VAT on the costs may be recovered.

    Ultimately the recovery of VAT on legal and other costs associated with a car crash depends on whether those costs are legitimate business expenses.

    Unfortunately I have to fall back on the age old comment that the outcome will depend on the facts of each individual case.

    Car Accident Aid is most grateful to Robert for his most helpful advice.  Robert has a wealth of knowledge on how to manage VAT.  You can meet him at 4Networking meetings in Crawley where he is the Group Leader and at various other 4Networking Events where he is the 4Sight speaker- on VAT of course!

    For more of Robert’s words of wisdom, view his VATark website


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    Categories : Fleet matters, Guest blogs, Uninsured Loss Recovery

    Skype with a Webcam

    31 01 2010

    Kaslers Solicitors LLP is a firm wholly dedicated to working in the modern age.  In our RTA department over 90% of our clients have internet access so why not use its benefits to the max!

    Whilst we are always happy to see clients in our offices in Kent or Canary Wharf, an appointment can now be made for a one-to-one face to face meeting using Skype and a webcam.  If you are not already a Skype user, you can download it free of charge

    Then just book up an appointment in the usual way except that you can enjoy and a cup of coffee from the comfort of your own office and home

    No cost, no travel , no carbon footprint!


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    Categories : Client Services, Fleet matters


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