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Whiplash Claims – How To Prove Whiplash And Claim Compensation

By Ian Morris | Updated June 12th, 2024

149 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Many who oppose the no win no fee personal injury claims process say that whiplash is a made up injury and abused by claimants looking for a quid or two. However, anyone who has sustained a whiplash injury knows the truth. Whiplash can cause serious pain, ongoing discomfort and prevent people living their life as usual. In some cases, people can suffer permanent injuries as a result. By seeking compensation with a whiplash claim, claimants can win a settlement to cover the pain and distress of their injuries, recover any losses (including lost wages) and access rehabilitation therapies.

Claims for whiplash compensation are usually an easy matter to resolve and can be settled within a short period, usually 3-6 months from the date a whiplash claim is started. But before you can win a settlement, you need to know if you actually have whiplash and a valid claim.

What is whiplash?

Most people think whiplash is simply a pain in the neck, yet it can be much more than that. Caused by the hyper extension of major and minor muscles, whiplash is a phrase used to cover injuries to the muscles and soft tissues around the spine, most commonly in the neck and shoulder region.

In minor cases, a person suffering whiplash is likely to have stiffness in the neck, a feeling of weakness and pain from simply supporting their head and perhaps discomfort when turning their head in one particular direction. These symptoms are painful and upsetting, but you should expect to recover within 4-8 weeks from the date of the accident.

In more severe cases, symptoms can last many months or indeed be permanent, and could also include pins and needles in the arms, a loss of sensation in the hands and fingers, severe headaches, loss of balance, lack of sleep, lower back and even leg pain. Of course, the more severe the symptoms, the greater the value of a settlement, should you be successful with a claim for personal injury compensation.

Most whiplash related injuries are caused in car accidents. However, whiplash can also be caused by slips on wet floors or tripping accidents. Indeed, any heavy impact that causes the muscles and ligaments of the upper spine and neck to be violently jolted from side to side, or back and forwards, is likely to cause a whiplash related injury.

How to make a whiplash compensation claim

The sooner you start your claim, the sooner we can help you make sure that you have the maximum chance of succeeding. We can run through an accident claim checklist, help you to make sure that you have reported the accident to the right people and give your whiplash compensation claim the best chance of succeeding.

No two accidents are the same and with this in mind, it is vital that you seek proper advice so that you know whether or not you have a viable claim. However, there are some basic pointers that can help you identify where you stand regarding the strength of a claim or otherwise:

Have you been involved in an accident that was not your fault?
Have you developed whiplash related symptoms – pain or stiffness in neck, shoulders or upper back?
Have you received medical treatment, seen a GP or been to A&E?
Has your doctor confirmed your injuries as whiplash?
Do you think that your whiplash related pain and discomfort will last more than a few days?

The above is nothing more than a basic guideline. Even if you answer no to some of these questions, you may still have a valid claim for whiplash injury compensation.

How to prove you have whiplash with medical evidence

As with all claims for personal injury compensation, whiplash claimants need to provide sufficient evidence to support their claim. In order to prove that you have suffered a whiplash injury, you will need to have a professional medical diagnosis made of the symptoms you are suffering with. This can be done by visiting an A&E department or by seeing your GP.

People injured in a car accident are often not sure what to do next after such a traumatic and upsetting event. Whiplash injuries can take a few hours or even a few days to become painful, so victims don’t always receive immediate treatment from a doctor or hospital. However, medical evidence will be needed to support a claim for compensation and prove to the defendant that you have suffered a whiplash injury, and it will also prove the severity of your injury.

It doesn’t matter if you have not already seen your doctor or been to hospital, you can still start your claim and we advise that you do just that – don’t delay your claim for too long as it could have a negative impact on the outcome.

How much compensation do you get for whiplash?

Every whiplash claim is different as a result of the injuries sustained, so it’s impossible to tell exactly how much compensation you could be entitled to without a medical assessment. In negotiating a settlement awarding whiplash compensation for your injuries, the following factors are taken into consideration.

How severe the whiplash injury is
Whether the injury prevents you from working
How much of an impact the injury has on your day to day activities
Whether ongoing treatment is necessary

These are the most important elements in assessing the value of your whiplash compensation claim, although there are many other factors to consider too. When the initial evidence has been collected your solicitor will be able to let you know the likely level of compensation you can expect for your injuries. Your settlement will not only cover your injuries, but expenses such as lost earnings, and car hire and repairs.

Your solicitor will gather all of the evidence necessary to obtain the maximum amount of whiplash compensation for you. Claiming can also allow you to access specialist rehabilitation therapies to help speed your recovery, all at the expense of the liable party.

Whiplash rehabilitation therapies

By the time people suffering from whiplash injuries contact us to start their claim for compensation, most have not had any rehabilitation therapy whatsoever, just the painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs initially prescribed to them. Many have been referred to their NHS physiotherapy provider, but with waiting lists often approaching 6 months, it can feel like it is not worth bothering.

By making a no win no fee claim for whiplash injury compensation, your solicitor can arrange a course of suitable rehabilitation therapies to help you recover more quickly from your symptoms. The costs for these therapies will be met by the insurers you’re claiming against, not deducted from your injury compensation settlement, and because they are privately funded access to the therapy will be fast. Appointments for treatments will be made at a provider local to you and at a time to suit you. Common types of whiplash rehabilitation therapy can include:

Physiotherapy
Osteopathy
Massage Therapy
Acupuncture
Personal training

See if you can make a whiplash claim

We understand that making a claim for whiplash compensation can be a daunting prospect. However, at Direct2Compensation we’ll explain the stages of our simple claims process and give you the confidence to proceed with your claim. Indeed, if you have any questions, you can contact us with no obligation. At Direct2Compensation we guarantee two things: Firstly, that we will never pressure you in to making a claim, and secondly, that should your claim fail, it won’t cost you a penny.

If you’re wondering about your situation, feel free to leave a question at the bottom of this article or call us on 01225 430285, or if you prefer, .

Lastly, if you are suffering from whiplash, the NHS website has some useful guidance available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/whiplash/.

149 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus whiplash claim examples...

I’ve been in a car accident on the 28 june 2019, at about 02:00 we were on the way home and i was a passenger, my friend was driving I told him I’m going to close my eyes for a couple minutes. I was woken up by a big bang and when I opened my eyes we were standing still in front of a big tree, my head went through the windscreen and flipped back into seat with a severe headache and my neck starting to pull stiff. I’ve asked him what happened and he said someone thru stones at the car and he lost control and went into a curb n that big tree. I was booked off work by my doctor for 2 weeks and I’m still in pain, I can’t sleep at night and getting up in the mornings gets worse by the day, I get dizzy when I lift myself out of bed. I was in work today after two weeks and my boss send me back home cause he could see I was still in pain and I must go see the doctor again tomorrow for this discomfort, which I know he’s going to book me off again and I’m the breadwinner of my family. To whom this may concern, can you please help!

As the passenger in this car accident, you are able to make a claim for compensation for the injuries sustained. The fault for this accident would appear to be that of the driver of the car and as such, any claim you were to make would be against the insurance policy of the driver.

I had an accident in December 2018, when I was with my wife and my son. A van hit my can from behind. I took a picture of the cars and his face and then afterwards, I called my insurance to pursue a claim.

The insurers called me after 3 months and said they denied the accident – even though I had sent the evidence!

After 6 months the insurers accepted the accident had happened but they would not accept the whiplash claim. My Solicitor sent me to a Doctor for a report and then recently sent the offer to the insurers. However, the way he was talking wasn’t very confident about whether they would accept the claim.

Now I don’t know what to do! My solicitor said because they got the garage report and it was only a small dent and only cost £800 to fix, that it shows it was a low velocity impact and that they can refuse the claim?

In cases where there is a ‘low velocity impact’ (LVI), an insurer may refuse to accept that an injury has occurred our could have been caused and will therefore refuse to settle a claim.

I was involved in an accident yesterday which wasn’t my fault but insurance is saying it will probably go to a knock for knock unless I try and fight it, I have proof of her admitting fault and also a witness to say she seen the car speeding a minute before it hit me, I have whiplash and tissue damage and was wondering if I could still claim if it will go for a knock for knock and if I don’t go through insurance?

It would seem that you have some good evidence to support your claim in this matter. Given that, you should immediately make sure that your insurers are aware of this and make sure that they have copies of the evidence.

Me, and my family were hit recently whilst parked in a lay by outside my child’s school waiting for it to open. Our car engine was off and we had no belts on as we had been there about 10 minutes already. Me and my parter have been to the doctors today as we both have pains in neck and shoulders, the doctor said it has just muscle pain from the impact. Can we claim?

Yes, you can pursue a claim against the offending driver and we can help you pursue your claims on a No Win No Fee basis. If you have the vehicle details for the 3rd party that caused the accident, our specialist Solicitors will be able to pursue a claim against their insurers for any injuries and associated losses caused. Your Doctor appears to have diagnosed ‘soft tissue’ injuries and commonly in cases of Road Traffic Accidents, this refers to whiplash.

If the 3rd party vehicle drove off, you don’t have their details or they were uninsured, we can still assist you in claiming compensation for the personal injuries you have sustained.

I was involved in a 2 car accident on the m6 motorway last night. A car braked suddenly in front causing the car directly in front of me to come to an emergency stop. I attempted to swerve to avoid a collision but impacted the rear nearside causing damage to both vehicles. I have severe neck pain and stiffness and will be going to the doctor. Is there anything I can do to claim?
Thanks

There is no harm in allowing us to further investigate your prospects of claiming compensation. As we work on a No Win No Fee basis, if we can’t take your claim further or if we do and it fails, you will not face liability for costs.

The main ‘problem’ I can see at this stage is the issue of you being the car at the rear. Whilst you have not directly caused the collision, as the car behind you would normally be expected to have been sufficiently distant to be able to stop should the cars ahead break or change direction. Clearly, you have attempted to avoid collision, but not been able to do so. The car that came to an emergency stop would have done so for a valid reason, so it may be hard to establish liability against that driver.

So that we can take this further, please make sure that you have the vehicle registration details of all parties involved and email them to us at justice@direct2compensation.co.uk along with a brief explanation of the incident and your contact details.

I accidentally crashed into someone in extremely slow moving traffic. No cars damaged. He is claiming wiplash. I was in greater shock than he was. He was taking photos, taking details etc. I could not move, but did see no damage was done to the cars. How wiplash is investigated? Are independent doctors assessing it? My concern is that claimant was harassing me about garage fees and me being difficult trying to talk to my husband about “car damage”. I informed my insurance.

In a road traffic accident, it is not always the case that a vehicle needs to appear badly damaged for an occupant to sustain whiplash injuries – this is especially true when an accident involves newer vehicles.

If you are suspicious about the claimant and believe that this person may not have suffered whiplash, but has instead fabricated his symptoms, you need to report that to your insurers to allege a possible case of fraud. The insurers will then investigate the claim to ensure that the only payments made out are legitimate.

Hi, I was in my friend’s car when we were involved in an accident. Driver behind failed to stop at the lights and plowed straight into us. Details have been exchanged. In terms of whiplash claim, does my friend claim for all this on his insurance? Or do I need to process my own claim? If so, do I need to speak to my own car insurance company? Or do I just find a private law firm to help me?
Also, 3 months ago I was involved in a robbery, where I suffered cuts and injuries. I have severe back pain and GP is currently assessing me. I am also in the process of making a claim under Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Will any of the above cause problems with my whiplash claim? Will they see that I’ve already been to my GP for back issues and think I’m milking it now. Will they link my new injuries to my previous incident and void any new claim?

You need to pursue your own claim and seek a specialist (such as Direct2Compensation and the Solicitors we work with) to act for you on a No Win No Fee basis. This is not something that you need to discuss with your own vehicle insurance company as it is a separate matter and best kept so.

The issues you mention with regards to your ongoing claim with the CICA is not something that would stop you from being unable to make a claim for compensation for the worsening of your symptoms or any new injuries caused in the recent road traffic accident. Of course, you have done the right thing in immediately raising the issues of the pre-existing injuries as they do need to be disclosed to any Solicitor you instruct.

Please call us on 01225430285 or use the ‘start a claim’ page of our website to start the ball rolling with your claim for compensation. We have expertise in managing claims such as yours and our specialist Solicitors would ensure that you were appropriately compensated for the injuries sustained and that the right medical evidence was obtained to demonstrate the exacerbation of any pre-existing injuries.

Hi, I was in an accident a little less than 7 days ago. It was a side impact accident from a roundabout where the person didn’t yield and I was already in the roundabout. I had back pain, neck pain, and a headache almost immediately and numb fingers and toes but I attributed the numb fingers and toes to the cold. I went to the doctor a couple of hours later after the police report and everything was taken care of. The doctor basically told me I have whiplash but they didn’t do MRI’s or anything. My back has been on constant pain since. Only heat to the back helps slightly. I’ve taken extra strength tylenol and advil and they barely make the pain bearable. Some days the pain is worse then others and some days I got like a shotting pain down the outer side of my hip and other days no shooting pain. It hurts to bend, and move. It is affecting my work now and I feel very limited. Do I have a case? Or is it too late since I didn’t get MRI’s done?

It is not too late to make a claim or even seek further medical attention at this time. The accident was only 7 days ago and it is unlikely that an MRI scan would be arranged so early in the injury process. What you should do is return to your Doctor and discuss your symptoms and suggest to them that you should have further investigative scans to find out exactly what has happened.

UK Law affords you a period of 3 years from the date of your accident in which you can make your claim for compensation.

Forgot to mention, it was an unlicensed driver, wasn’t their car or their insurance. I’m currently stuck using my insurance while they investigate.

Hi there,
2/3 years ago I was involved in an accident in a Supermarket Car park. This driver drove into the side of my father’s car, from a parking space, causing us occupants to have severe pains, such as whiplash as the collision occurred. I have been suffering with a bad back ever since we had this accident a good few years ago. The driver was taken to court for it which we all had to give evidence against him. However, we never did as he admitted full liability to the accident. As a result, we were given a settlement via his party, I’m unable to remember if it was through insurance or something different. I as well as my family members were given £2,600 as a settlement.

In recent years, I have managed to overlook the pain of my back as it hasn’t been bad, however, after starting a new job role, it has come back. In my previous employment,I also struggled with my back but I hid it because it was only minor.

As a result of me being unable to hide it anymore, I unfortunately, reluctantly, went to my GP. They have prescribed me some anti-inflammatory tablets to try and help with my pain. I have explained all of this to them but they do not seem to be doing anything and taking me very seriously.

My back has only been bad ever since the accident, however, as the driver admitted liability to it, we never got the day in court.

Is there any advise you’re able to give to me? I’d be eternally grateful.

Given that this matter was settled with the defendant driver admitting liability in full there is nothing further you can do. The defendant did not have to go to court on the basis that they admitted liability for the accident. As you and your family members have accepted a full and final settlement of £2,600 the matter will be deemed to be closed.

My hospital thinks I was faking my whiplash. But my gp examined me also my practice nurse. They think it is whiplash. How do I stand with insurance claim?

I would ignore what was said to you in the Hospital – if your GP is happy to confirm your injuries and list them on your medical records, they are then hard to refute.

When anyone pursues a claim for compensation for whiplash injuries, it is usual protocol for them to undergo a medical assessment during the claims process in order that the extent of the injury can be determined and prognosis for recovery confirmed. It is from this that the value of a whiplash compensation claim can be decided.

If you would like some help to pursue a claim for whiplash compensation, please call us on 01225430285. We would be most happy to help you.