If you are injured or experience illness due to the actions or inactions of someone else, then you can pursue a personal injury claim against them. 

The amount awarded includes compensation for illness and injury, loss of earnings, pain, suffering and future costs. 

Personal injury claims can be brought against private individuals, businesses, employers, local authorities or medical practitioners (in medical negligence claims). 

Usually, the defendant of a case will be represented by their insurance company or a specialist lawyer. If the insurance company realises that the defendant does have a case to answer, then they might act swiftly and make an early compensation offer for accident injury compensation. 

At this point, you may be unsure of what to do. Should you take the first compensation offer? 

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What Is An Early Offer?

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An early offer is exactly what it sounds like. 

An insurance company will offer an amount of compensation before a final judgement is made. While it might be tempting to take the money and put the entire thing behind you, this isn’t always in your best interests. 

You are not the priority for the insurance company. Their job is to complete the process as quickly as possible, for as little cost as possible. They use a number of different tactics in order to pressure you into accepting their first offer. 

This can include contacting you personally, rather than through your legal representative, or trying to dissuade you from engaging a solicitor entirely. They will also put a ticking clock on the offer, giving you the impression that you have to accept the offer or risk losing compensation. 

Some insurers may even send you a cheque through the post, without any agreement in place and ask you to sign an agreement to bring the matter to a close. 

It’s very important that when you receive an early offer from an insurance company, you do not agree to anything without first consulting a legal professional if one is already not handling your case. 

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Any agreement from your side, even if it is under pressure from unscrupulous insurers, can make it almost impossible to get any further compensation for the same injury at a later date. 

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The fact that they have offered you any money at all shows that they know they have a case to answer, and you are likely to be owed much more money as a settlement. Accepting now will mean that you will not get that money. 

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Pre-Medical Offers

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If you receive an offer before the full extent of your injuries and prognosis is apparent, then you should not accept. 

After all, you may not know how you are going to be affected by your illness or injury over the long term, so how can you know how much compensation you’re entitled to before the facts are known? 

The defendant's insurers don’t have all the facts either and will try to make an offer before a full medical assessment has been completed in an effort to reduce the cost of the compensation. 

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Contact Nevis Beck Now

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If you have received an early offer from an insurer, and you haven’t yet sought legal advice, this should be your first action. 

Our claims management team at Nevis Beck can review your claim and provide you with a realistic estimate of the amount of compensation you are entitled to. 

Don’t be pressurised by unscrupulous insurers who try all manner of tactics to get you to settle early and for less than you’re entitled to. In almost all cases, taking the first offer of accident injury compensation isn’t the best option for you. 

If you are contacted, tell them you’ll consider it but don’t agree to anything and certainly don’t sign anything. If you choose Nevis Beck to handle your claim, then simply give them our details and tell them to contact us directly. 

We will of course review any offer that is made to you. The final decision on whether or not to accept the offer will be yours. 

The following will be taken into account when assessing offers: 

• The extent of your injuries and your level of recovery
• Medical reports
• Existing financial losses and potential future financial losses 
• Pain and suffering
• Renovations needed to your home
• Future medical costs

This information is used to assess the level of compensation you are entitled to. We negotiate on your behalf with the insurance company and are not susceptible to their usual scare tactics. 

We operate on a no win no fee basis when it comes to your accident injury compensation, so you can rest assured, you are in safe hands with us.