Could you give me some assistance?

[TC]

A few weeks ago, I was shafted by the law firm that head hunted me 12 months ago and I was made redundant for the second time (who says lightning doesn't strike twice? :roll:)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have been offered a job by another law firm allowing me to work from home amongst other benefits.

If I accept the role, one of the areas I have to consider is how best to market the firm, bearing in mind that they normally only deal with the higher end claim values rather then the conveyor belt cases of most other firms. Motorcycle cases usually come into the higher value claims area.

So, my question is, what would make you decide to use a particular law firm in the event that you were unfortunate enough to be involved in a serious crash or sustain a serious injury?

Would you go for word of mouth recommendation?

Someone who specialises in motorcycle accidents?

Someone who has a proven track record of dealing with high value claims?

Someone who is actively involved in the motorcycling arena?

A combination of all of these.

I am just looking for some input to see whether there is something I have done before which was beneficial and worked, or whether times have moved on and riders are less discerning about who deals with their claim.

I am not looking to getting into a debate about the pro's and cons of LEI, I am just after some feedback to help me decide whether this is a role I want to take on in addition to the investigation role I will continue to perform.

Thanks.

[Falcopops]

Firstly commiserations and congratulations.

Personally I would take a lot of comfort from knowing you were a police rider and social rider, so know the law and know what it's like to be biker.

If you were to mention you've been through the process as a claimant too (I'm assuming at some point you would have been) I'd be even more likely to seek out your services.

I think most of us hate the feeling of being just another case/number/file so being able to identify personally gives feel good factor.

[Olig7475]

I agree with Falcopops, although lucky enough not to have needed this service, I would look for some association with bikers ie 'for bikers, from bikers' that kind of thing. It would re-assure me that you know you are on the same wave length.

Cheers and good luck.

Oli

[TC]

If you were to mention you've been through the process as a claimant too (I'm assuming at some point you would have been) I'd be even more likely to seek out your services.

I think most of us hate the feeling of being just another case/number/file so being able to identify personally gives feel good factor.

2 good points, thanks for that As some of you will know, I have certainly been through the process as a claimant (hence the reason I am now disabled) and it was as a result of my experience I got into civil law

And I certainly take on your point about being a file/case number, something I have heard on a regular basis from people who have dealt with larger firms or LEI Lawyers.

[Aladinsaneuk]

word of mouth has always been the best form of advertising

being a biker yourself will help

punditry - as in some of the advice given here in these forums makes it far more likely i would use you - you have established your credentials in the real world if that makes sense?

[D-Rider]

Well as I'm a "user" going through this at the moment I guess I can give some comment.

My feeling is that most of us don't realise we have any choice in who we use until it's too late.

I was riding my son's bike (with his permission) on my insurance when I was hit - so I only had third party cover. The claim is being made against the third party using the legal expenses policy that I had taken out.

I reported the accident to my insurers as you must do. I followed up my phone call with a written report.
They sent me a load of forms including authorisation for their solicitors - never a mention that I could choose to use anyone else.
I suspect that is the way of things for most of us - we report it, we just want to get it sorted and move on, we fill in the stuff our insurers send us in the belief that they are the people that know what they are doing and are acting in our best interests. We end up with their tame solicitors.

I bet you've told us in the past that we have a choice in who we use to pursue our claim ... but that isn't something that came to mind when dealing with all the stuff my insurers sent me.
How you go about getting your message through to us is a difficult one.

Seems to me that ribs mend quicker than the claims process ... and the form filling and letter writing is a very time consuming task.

[Samray]

A few weeks ago, I was shafted by the law firm that head hunted me 12 months ago and I was made redundant for the second time (who says lightning doesn't strike twice? :roll:)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have been offered a job by another law firm allowing me to work from home amongst other benefits.

If I accept the role, one of the areas I have to consider is how best to market the firm, bearing in mind that they normally only deal with the higher end claim values rather then the conveyor belt cases of most other firms. Motorcycle cases usually come into the higher value claims area.

So, my question is, what would make you decide to use a particular law firm in the event that you were unfortunate enough to be involved in a serious crash or sustain a serious injury?

Would you go for word of mouth recommendation?

Someone who specialises in motorcycle accidents?

Someone who has a proven track record of dealing with high value claims?

Someone who is actively involved in the motorcycling arena?

A combination of all of these.

I am just looking for some input to see whether there is something I have done before which was beneficial and worked, or whether times have moved on and riders are less discerning about who deals with their claim.

I am not looking to getting into a debate about the pro's and cons of LEI, I am just after some feedback to help me decide whether this is a role I want to take on in addition to the investigation role I will continue to perform.

Thanks.

I would say all of the above but think Pops nailed it.

I think most of us hate the feeling of being just another case/number/file so being able to identify personally gives feel good factor.

Personal prompt attention with your experience from all sides and communication skills do it for me.

[back_marker]

I too am in the middle of a claim at the moment. I did things a bit different from DR though, having had the same dramas before that he is now having (total non-fault claim on car insurance where I still end up getting hammered come renewal time despite them retrieving all costs) I decided to go with an accident management company (Helphire).

Now I don't know how it's going to turn out but so far they have been very helpful - they have arranged for the repairs to be done and I have a nice shiny Honda Firebucket sat in the garage to use until it's fixed - but time will tel.

I think DR hit the nail on the head when he said that the biggest hurdle is geting the message to people that there is another way than involving the insurance companies. The other things that people are going to be looking for are simplicity and little or no personal outlay (I have paid a mere tenner for a so-called angel policy which will cover any costs that they cannot claim back from the other party's insurance).

As a side note TC I would be interested to hear if you have any previous knowledge of these accident management companies and whether the service they claim to provide really is as simple as they make out.

[Falken]

Good luck for the new job TC.
Word of mouth (or word of forum) means a lot to most of us, but also the other items you mentioned need contemplating.
As for the private claims companies, maybe more knowledge about them would help some of us who would just normally rely on the insurance companies.

[BikerGran]

When I had an accident many years ago and the 'appointed' solicitors appeared to know less than nothing about biking I went for a firm that advertised as having a specialist who was a biker. In the event I never dealt with this man himself but had no complaints about the young bloke who dealt with my claim or the amount of cash I got! But it was the fact that there was a biker there that influenced me to phone them in the first place.

After that, the fact they seemed to know what theye were talking about.

[D-Rider]

When I had an accident many years ago and the 'appointed' solicitors appeared to know less than nothing about biking I went for a firm that advertised as having a specialist who was a biker. In the event I never dealt with this man himself but had no complaints about the young bloke who dealt with my claim or the amount of cash I got! But it was the fact that there was a biker there that influenced me to phone them in the first place.

After that, the fact they seemed to know what theye were talking about.

So you actually spoke to them?
The lot I've got send me paperwork - asking questions I've already answered - and I then spend ages filling in forms and writing letters. Nobody has actually spoken to me (other than the insurer)

[TC]

Good luck for the new job TC.
Word of mouth (or word of forum) means a lot to most of us, but also the other items you mentioned need contemplating.
As for the private claims companies, maybe more knowledge about them would help some of us who would just normally rely on the insurance companies.

It would be wrong of me to comment on specific accident management firms. As with all things there are good and bad, unfortunately I only really get to know about the bad ones, and investigate the fraudulent ones, and this is where some of the problems lie.

Firstly, there are more and more bogus firms popping up, submitting false claims on behalf of their "Clients" and then vanishing as soon as a question is asked, and secondly, unlike law firms, they are unregulated and all too often stories abound of claimants who have lost a proprtion of their compensation to cover the cost of the accident managemnt firms fees.

But as I said, there are also some very good ones out there as well so my comments have to be balanced.

The ones I would question are those who require you to pay any money over before they commence the claims procedure.

A law firm offering a no win no fee will pay the insurance prmium on your behalf as a disbursment which often runs into several hundred pounds, and will then reclaim the cost of the premium off the third party when the case settles, the value of the insurance is based on the estimate of the compensation that is likely to be claimed. £10 is unlikely to cover very much, but in any case you should not have been required to pay out any money at all if they are happy that you have a better than 30% chance of success, hence the reason that a risk assessment has to be done.

I also know a lot of people who have had bikes hired to them, and then been landed with a large hire bill at the completion of the case because the accident management firm conveniently forgot to include the costs in the schedule of costs, or the third party queried the costs and the management firm was unable to justify them. Guess who gets to pick up the tab out of their compensation?

All I would say is be very carefull. If you use a law firm under a no win no fee, it will not cost you a penny, you are gauranteed to keep 100% of your compensation, law firms are regulated and you choose which firm you use. In most cases ypu are on safe ground, but you also have the option of being able to change firms if they do not do the job you require of them, something you may have difficulty with if you use an accident management firm.

[Falken]

Thanks for the reply TC, very enlightening.
Just hope i don't have to use any of them.

[TC]

As a side note TC I would be interested to hear if you have any previous knowledge of these accident management companies and whether the service they claim to provide really is as simple as they make out.

Incidentally, and following on from my post last night, I read an article today where the Finacial Services Authority (FSA) state that the majority odf complaints they receive concern accident management or accident claims firms who all promise to deliver a better service than most law firms, but!!!!!

The majority of claimants who go with accident management firms lose up to 25% of their compensation award to cover fees, and most claimants are misold insurance to cover the event of the case being lost.

Made for very interssting reading

[HowardQ]

First of all TC, sorry to hear about your bad news and hope things work out OK for you.
I think Falcopops has covered things very well and I would echo his thoughts.
Knowing your background I have always looked forward to your thoughts on a variety of issues. If I ever needed to look use this sort of service, I would certainly talk to you first. The only time I ever needed to take advantage of legal expense cover was a complete joke. I had claimed it was 100% the other bloke's fault, as I was on a dual carriageway in the car when a bloke pulled straight off a garage forecourt in front of me and I "T" boned him. I had managed to slow down quite a bit but the road was wet and there was no ABS on my car. Nobody was hurt but both cars had reasonable damage.
I heard nothing worthwhile for more than 6 months, then my insurance company came back and said they had settled for 50/50. I asked for the info they had and wrote a lengthy letter, with diagrams etc, explaining why I thought it should be 100% down to the other driver, shot the blokes silly arguments to pieces and had his company concede 100% fault within 4 to 6 weeks, job done. Have never paid for legal assistance cover since.
As mentioned above, if ever I had a serious issue, I would go with somebody like you and a specialist company.
Hope I never need to, good luck with the job!