Can You Sue For A Car Accident With No Injuries?

By Daniel Kirk. Last Updated 30th November 2022. Welcome to our guide on claiming compensation after a car accident with no injuries. If you have been in a car accident and are unhurt, you might be wondering if you could be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

Car accidents can be inconvenient and stressful times, even if you haven’t suffered any injuries. The damage to your vehicle can make it difficult for you to get around, and you may feel shaken up or stressed by the experience even if you aren’t physically hurt.

This guide will examine the question of whether you can claim compensation for a car accident with no injuries. In addition, we will look at the steps you should take if you have been injured in a car accident and how you could claim.

Can you sue for a car accident with no injuries guide

For more information on the points discussed in this guide, or to speak to an advisor about whether you would be eligible to make a personal injury claim, why not speak to our team? You can do so by:

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A Guide On If You Can Sue For A Car Accident With No Injuries

In this guide, we will answer the question of whether you can claim compensation after a car accident in which you weren’t injured. As the name suggests, in order to make a personal injury claim, you need to have suffered some injury. We will begin by looking at the types of injuries that can be sustained in a car accident and the compensation awards that these injuries could attract.

We will go on to examine why a personal injury claim is not possible in a scenario in which you haven’t been injured. If you’ve been involved in a car accident without any injuries, you will probably be wondering how you can claim for the damage to your car. We will explain the steps that you should take, including the time limit in which you should let your insurance know about the accident.

Towards the end of this guide, we will look at No Win No Fee agreements and how you could use them to fund legal representation in a personal injury claim. We’ll then provide you with some additional resources that could help you further.

To summarise, we will provide you with some statistics on road traffic accidents in the UK. We will also answer some commonly asked questions about claiming compensation with no injuries.

The Whiplash Reform Programme came into effect on 31^st May 2021. Passengers and drivers who suffer low-value injuries this includes whiplash, in road traffic accidents will make their personal injury claim using a Government portal. Personal injury claims with a value of £1,000 – £5,000 plus special damages would no longer have part of their legal fees paid by the defendant in successful cases. All personal injury claims will now need a medical exam. The tariff has changed for whiplash injuries. You would no longer look to the Judicial College guidelines for amounts. The amounts relate to the time and severity of an injury.

Calculate Compensation For A Car Accident

Compensation in a personal injury claim is calculated by examining the effects of a person’s injury. For this reason, you would not be able to make a personal injury claim for compensation for a car crash that left you with no injuries.

If you had suffered an injury in a car crash, the effects that would be examined would be:

The pain and distress caused by your injury
Financial losses directly tied to the injury

General damages is the amount of compensation that would be awarded for the pain and distress caused. To calculate an amount to award you in general damages, the injury you had suffered would be assessed. Previous awards for similar injuries can help with compensation calculation; these can be found in the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), which looks at previous claims that have gone to court to create compensation brackets.

To show you examples of compensation for a car accident, we have created a compensation table using information found in the April 2022 edition of the JCG.

Injury	Compensation
Significant burns on 40% of the body	Likely to exceed £104,830
Arm amputated at shoulder	Not less than £137,160
Severe Injuries to the arm	£96,160 to £130,930
Serious damage to both hands	£55,820 to £84,570
Less severe arm injury	£19,200 to £39,170
Less severe elbow injury	£15,650 to £32,010
Moderate or minor elbow injury	Up to £12,590
Less severe wrist injury with lasting damage	£11,820 to £22,990
Serious shoulder injury	£12,770 to £19,200

You can seek an additional amount of compensation to address your financial losses and we give you more information about this in the section below.

If you were harmed in a car accident, and are unsure about how to properly receive a medical assessment, please reach out to one of our advisers. A medical report proving an injury could help you receive financial compensation after a car accident.

Types Of Damages

Being injured can cause you to have to cover various costs and suffer financial losses. These losses can be taken into consideration when the second part of your claim, known as special damages, is calculated.

Special damages cover financial losses caused by your injuries, not the accident itself. In order for you to claim special damages, you must be awarded general damages, too. Special damages can include things like:

Medical costs. This might include physiotherapy or other treatment that isn’t available on the NHS.
Travel costs. This includes travelling back and forth to visit the hospital as well as incurring additional public transport costs due to being unable to drive because of an injury.
Lost deposits. For example, if you have had to cancel a trip or a holiday or other arrangements that you had already spent money on, you could be compensated for these expenses.
Lost income. If you have lost out on wages, bonuses, or contracts because you have been left unable to work by an injury, you could claim this back. In some cases, you may have been left with a permanent disability that forces you to take a less physically demanding job that pays less money. You may even be unable to return to work at all. If this is the case, you could be entitled to compensation equivalent to your earnings until you reach retirement age.

In order to be eligible to claim back this money in compensation, you will have to provide evidence. You can do this by presenting things like wage slips, bills, invoices, contracts, receipts, tickets and so on. Without these, you would not be able to claim special damages.

What Is A Car Accident With No Injuries?

Not all car accidents result in injuries. In some cases, a minor accident like a rear-end shunt can cause injuries, such as whiplash. But in other cases, an accident that causes the car to be written off completely can result in no injuries to the driver.

In cases where a driver is injured in an accident, they could be entitled to claim personal injury compensation for their injuries. In cases where the driver is unhurt, they would not be entitled to claim personal injury compensation. However, they could be entitled to claim compensation for damage to their car. A car accident could leave a vehicle needing repair or even needing to be replaced entirely. You can cover these damages by claiming them from the insurance policy of the other driver or from your own insurance company.

To find out more about whether you would be able to claim following your accident, get in touch with our team today. They can offer you free legal advice about whether you have grounds for a personal injury claim.

Why Can You Not Sue For A Car Accident With No Injuries?

If you have not suffered from injuries in a car accident, you will not be entitled to make a personal injury claim for compensation. This is because making a personal injury claim is only for situations in which the victim has suffered either a physical injury or a recognised psychiatric injury.

This is because the aim of compensation is to return you, as much as possible, to the situation you were in before the accident occurred. For people who’ve suffered a personal injury, this includes a payment to compensate for any impact that the injuries have had on their quality of life. If you haven’t suffered any injuries, your quality of life will not have been sufficiently impacted to warrant a personal injury settlement.

You could still be entitled to claim compensation to cover other damages from the accident, such as repairs to your vehicle or income lost due to being off the road. However, if you do not have proof of having actually suffered a personal injury, you will not be entitled to claim personal injury compensation.

Hit And Run Car Accident – Can I Still Claim If I’m Not Injured?

When you’re involved in a hit and run car accident, you could still be eligible to claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). The MIB aims to give those injured in a road traffic accident an opportunity to still receive compensation if injured by an uninsured motorist, or even in a hit and run accident where the faulting driver is untraceable.

In other words, when claiming for an accident, compensation can be awarded through the MIB even if you sustain no physical injuries. It is possible to make a claim for just property damage.

However, this is not a guarantee. The MIB may state that you need to claim via your own insurance policy if this is possible. You could appeal their decision in some instances.

Get in touch today for more information on claiming compensation for a car accident in which you were not injured.

How Do I Inform My Insurance Company About An Accident?

Usually, you will be able to report your accident to your insurer by filling out a form. You should include as much detail as possible in your report to your insurance company. Include the other driver’s details and any witness details that you were able to collect. You should also provide information as to the circumstances of the accident.

Sometimes, insurance is bought through an insurance broker rather than directly through the insurance provider themselves. If this is the case, then your broker may be able to help you report the accident to your insurance company. It’s advised that you keep any documents or letters that you receive in this process.

Is There A Time Limit To Report An Accident To My Insurance Company?

Most insurers ask that an accident be reported to them within 24 hours of it occurring. However, this can vary. If your insurer requires that the accident is reported within a certain timeframe, then this will be found in your policy documents.

If your insurance policy does not dictate how long you have to report an accident, you should still do this as soon as you reasonably can. Failure to report an accident might affect your ability to claim for your car damages and may even result in your policy being voided.

To check and see whether you could be entitled to compensation following a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, why not get in touch with our claims team? Our advisors can offer you free legal advice about claiming for injuries you have sustained following an accident, even if you don’t initially think they warrant making a claim.

How Long After A Car Accident Can You Claim On Insurance?

As per the Limitation Act 1980, you generally have 3 years to begin your claim from the date you were injured. However, there can be exceptions.

For example, some car accident claims may be made on behalf of children. Those under 18 are not permitted to make their own claims. When a litigation friend is appointed to claim for a child’s injuries, they are free to do so with no time constraints. However, once the child turns 18, they can make a claim on their own behalf if one has not already been started. They must do so within 3 years.

When making car accident compensation claims, the injured party may have sustained an injury that results in a reduced mental capacity, or they may already have had reduced capacity prior to the accident. Regardless, the time limit for someone to begin a claim if they belong in this category is suspended. A litigation friend must be appointed to claim on their behalf.

However, should the injured party ever reach or return to a point where they can claim for themselves, then this is when the 3-year time limit begins.

Get in touch if you have any additional questions regarding the time limits for car accident claims.

Could I Claim For Damage To My Car?

If your car has suffered damage from an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to claim compensation to cover the costs of repairing the damage. You may also be able to claim for the cost of replacing the car if the car was written off.

If you are to be awarded compensation from third-party insurance for damage to your car, you will need to prove that the car was damaged and the third party was at fault. You can start doing this by taking photos of the scene of the accident and the damage to your car. In order to prove that the accident was someone else’s fault, you may be able to collect witness details so they can provide statements later on. You could also collect CCTV from somewhere nearby that showed how the accident occurred.

How Could My No Claims Bonus Be Affected?

If you make a car accident claim against a third party and their insurance pays out for the damage to the vehicle and any injuries suffered your no-claims bonus should not be affected. If you claim on your own insurance policy even if the accident was not your fault your no claims bonus usually will be affected by this.

Can Another Party Request My Insurance Details?

When you’ve been in an accident, whether it resulted in injury or just damage to the vehicles involved, you may be asked to provide your name, address and registration number. You have to provide these to anyone with reasonable grounds to require them. This might be the other driver or their insurance company.

If you were in an accident while driving a vehicle that you don’t own, you’d also need to provide the details of the person who owns the car. If you’re involved in an accident with someone who isn’t insured, you should report this to the police.

You may be unsure whether you have grounds to make a personal injury claim following a non-fault accident. If so, get in touch with our team today. One of our advisors could offer you free legal advice about this matter.

Car Injury Claims – No Injuries: No Win No Fee Solicitors

All of the lawyers on our panel can work with you on a No Win No Fee basis. What this means is that they only take a legally capped percentage from your settlement if your claim is successful. If it fails, you do not pay your solicitor.

You may also not be expected to pay any upfront or ongoing fees to work with a No Win No Fee solicitor.

To find out more about making a claim with a No Win No Fee lawyer, get in touch with our advisors today. We can help you understand more about when you could potentially claim, including after a car accident hit and run.

Get Advice About Making A Claim

Do you want more advice about the process of claiming compensation for an accident caused by third party negligence? Perhaps you’re wondering whether you would be entitled to claim? If so, you can get in touch with our team today by:

Calling 0161 696 9685
Sending a message through our contact form
Sending a message through our pop-up messenger.

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Statistics On Reported Road Traffic Accidents In The UK

The most recent figures show that year ending June 2020 there were 131,220 reported road traffic accidents that caused injuries, and 1,580 people reported as being killed in road traffic accidents in Great Britain. This is a fall of 16% and 14% from the previous year respectively. This figure may represent a fall in the number of people using the roads over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.

FAQs On Car Accident Compensation Claim

A car accident was my fault; what happens in the UK?

If you were at fault for causing a car accident in the UK, then the other party could make a compensation claim against you for the damage to their car or any injuries sustained. If the accident has caused damage or injury, then you have a legal requirement to pass on your name, address and registration number to the other party or their insurer.

Who pays personal injury claims in a car accident?

When a personal injury claim is made in a car accident, there are two ways that compensation could be paid to the claimant. One is for the insurance policy of the person responsible for the accident to pay the compensation. The other way, in cases where the responsible party has no insurance policy or cannot be identified, is for the Motor Insurers Bureau to make a compensation payment to the victim of the accident.

How to report a non-injury car accident

If you have been in a car accident, then you will usually need to report it to your insurance company within 24 hours. The amount of time you have to report the accident can vary; you should check your insurance policy to be sure.

How much compensation can I claim for anxiety after a car accident?

The amount of compensation you could receive for anxiety following an accident can vary. If you just suffer from travel anxiety in the absence of any physical or recognisable psychiatric damage, you usually won’t be entitled to compensation.

Thank you for reading our guide on claiming for a car accident with no injuries.

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