By Jo Greenwood. Last updated 20th December 2024. In this guide, we look at whether you could make a claim after a car accident despite not suffering an injury. To be able to make a personal injury claim, you need to prove that you have suffered an injury due to another road user breaching their duty of care. If you have not suffered an injury, you will not be able to make a personal injury claim.
However, later in this guide, we will look at how to make a car insurance claim for vehicle damage. We will also discuss whether you could make a claim for stress and anxiety after a car accident. Additionally, we will discuss the benefits of making a personal injury claim with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
If you would like to discuss what happens after a car accident, or if you have any other questions regarding your car accident claim, you can get in touch with one of our advisors. Our friendly team is available 24/7 to help you and offer free advice.
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Select A Section
- What Is A Car Accident Without An Injury?
- What Should You Do After A Car Accident In Which No One Was Injured?
- How To Tell Your Insurance Provider About A Car Accident
- Can Someone Else Request Your Insurance Details?
- Can I Claim For A Car Accident Without An Injury?
- Compensation Payouts For Car Accident Claims
- No Win No Fee Claims If Injured In A Car Accident
What Is A Car Accident Without An Injury?
A car accident without injury is a road traffic collision where no vehicle occupants, pedestrians or other road users sustained injuries. While this is definitely a positive outcome to any incident, the question that remains is whether you can claim for a car accident without an injury.
In order to make a personal injury claim, you need to have sustained some harm. This harm can be physical, such as broken bones, internal injuries or brain damage, or it psychological such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If no harm has been sustained, you cannot make a personal injury claim, although you could make an insurance claim for any damage to your vehicle.
All road users have a duty of care to one another to avoid causing each other harm. This means abiding by the standards of both the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the Highway Code. We have provided the eligibility criteria for road traffic accident claims here:
- You were owed a duty of care by another road user.
- That road user failed to uphold this duty.
- Their failure resulted in an accident in which you were injured.
If no physical injury has been sustained, you could still claim for any psychological distress, as well claiming through the other road user’s insurer for the damage to your vehicle. A non injury car accident solicitor could help you to seek compensation following an accident where no physical harm has been sustained.
What Is The Car Accident Claims Time Limit?
As we have previously stated, you must have suffered a physical or psychological injury to be able to make a personal injury claim. If you are eligible to make a compensation claim, you must adhere to the personal injury claims time limit. Under the Limitation Act 1980, you will generally have 3 years to start your claim. This runs from the date of the accident.
There are certain exceptions to this limitation period. For example, the time limit is temporarily frozen for those under the age of 18. From their 18th birthday, they will have 3 years to start a claim. However, prior to this date, a litigation friend could make a claim on their behalf.
To learn more about the other exceptions to this 3-year time limit for car accident claims, you can contact our advisors. They can also provide you with free advice on whether you could make a claim if you have not suffered an injury.
What Should You Do After A Car Accident In Which No One Was Injured?
The actions we advise you take after a car accident that has caused damage to property or people are as follows:
- Stop your vehicle (it is an offence not to stop at the scene of an accident)
- Switch your engine off
- Put your hazard lights on
- Check for injury to yourself and any passengers you’re carrying
- Make a note of the fact that there aren’t any injuries to anyone or damage to vehicles in case a claim is put in. Take photos too.
- If someone is hurt or the road is blocked, call the emergency services
- Don’t admit fault until you are completely sure of what has happened. Shock and adrenaline could distort your thoughts and this could protect you from liability if the accident was not your fault.
- Take photographs of the vehicles and the scene if possible
- Take the details of any witnesses and the driver involved, as well as their insurance details
If no one has been hurt and there doesn’t appear to be damage to vehicles, you should still inform the police of the accident within 24 hours of it occurring. If you don’t report an accident, you could be fined and may receive points on your licence.
Criminal Offences After An Accident
Failure to stop after an accident that has caused property damage or injury and failure to report an accident could be considered criminal offences. You may be found guilty of either a failure to stop or a failure to report. In some cases, you could be found guilty of both.
The penalties you could get for each offence could be up to £5,000. You could also receive 5-10 penalty points on your licence. In some cases, the courts could even have to power to disqualify you from driving.
How To Tell Your Insurance Provider About A Car Accident
You should inform your insurance company about a car accident you’ve been involved in, even if it wasn’t your fault and you don’t intend to claim. If you’re not intending on making a claim, you should make sure to tell them you are making an ‘information only’ report.
This could ensure that your insurer doesn’t settle a claim with the insurance company of another driver without your knowledge.
How Do You Tell Your Insurance Provider About A Car Accident?
Whether the accident was or was not your fault, your policy documents should show you how the accident should be reported. Some insurers ask you to fill in forms and send them by post, while others have online claims portals or forms to fill in. Some prefer you to report a car accident by telephone and then will send you a form to fill in.
Whichever way you report your car accident to your insurer, you should ensure that all the facts are reported fully. You may need to include details of the road conditions, the other vehicle involved and any insurance details of the other driver.
If you are not making a claim for a car accident without an injury, you should make sure to write a letter to the insurer, and keep a copy, telling them the report is for information only.
Can Someone Else Request Your Insurance Details?
If you were involved in a car accident, then even if you don’t believe you were at fault, you have to give your insurance details to someone if they believe you were responsible for the accident. This would be the case even if there were no injuries to either party.
The other party could request your insurance details after the accident, either right away or later on, and you have to provide them with these details. It is an offence not to do so unless you have a reasonable excuse.
One example of what could constitute a reasonable excuse would be if you were injured at the time of asking and could not provide this information.
Can I Claim For A Car Accident Without An Injury?
If you have sustained no injuries at all in an accident that was not your fault, you cannot make a personal injury claim. Personal injury claims are designed to compensate you for pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by injuries sustained in an accident you were not at fault for.
Compensation Payouts For Car Accident Claims
As we have already mentioned, you cannot make a personal injury claim for a car accident without an injury. However, we always recommend working with a solicitor and getting an independent medical assessment because not all injuries are visible.
So, how much compensation could you get if you were injured? Most car accident claims can be split into two heads, which are general damages and special damages. All successful claims will result in general damages, as this heading covers the injuries caused by the car accident.
This includes visible injuries like breaks and sprains, but also invisible injuries, like whiplash and psychological damage. General damages is often calculated with the help of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
This document provides guideline compensation amounts for a number of injuries, and we’ve listed some examples of these below. We’ve also included tariffs from the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021, which changed the way that some claims are made in England and Wales. Please note that the first entry in this table isn’t from the JCG.
| Type of injury | Guideline Payout Amount |
|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries + Special Damages | Up to £500,000+ |
| Severe Psychiatric Damage | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Moderately Severe Psychiatric Damage | £23,270 to £66,920 |
| Moderate Psychiatric Damage | £7,150 to £23,270 |
| Less Severe Psychiatric Damage | £1,880 to £7,150 |
| Severe PTSD | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately Severe PTSD | £28,250 to £73,050 |
| Moderate PTSD | £9,980 to £28,250 |
| Less Severe PTSD | £4,820 to £9,980 |
| Whiplash injuries | £4,215 |
| Whiplash injuries | £4,345 |
Special damages cover the financial losses caused by your injuries. For example, if you have severe PTSD, this can remove your ability to work. In this case, special damages could cover your lost earnings. It could also cover the cost of:
- Prescriptions and medical treatments.
- Physiotherapy.
- Help with cooking and cleaning.
- Childcare.
- Home adjustments.
- Mobility aids.
You need to provide proof of these losses to claim. This can include things like invoices and bank statements.
Contact our advisors today to learn more about claiming for a car accident, or keep reading.
No Win No Fee Claims If Injured In A Car Accident
While you cannot make a personal injury claim for a car accident without an injury, if an injury has presented itself after the accident, and you could prove it was caused by the accident, you could make a personal injury claim.
While you could make a claim without a personal injury solicitor to help you, claiming after the event could be quite complicated, and you may prefer to have a legal professional on your side.
The great news is that you could use the services of a personal injury solicitor from Legal Expert without having to pay them until your compensation settlement has been paid out. All of our solicitors work under No Win No Fee payment terms, which means there would be no legal fees to pay upfront or during the process of your claim.
You would be asked to sign a Conditional Fee Agreement in order to begin your claim. Your solicitor would send this to you and it would explain the success fee you’d pay them if they achieved a settlement for you. This is a legally capped amount and would usually be a small portion of your eventual settlement.
If a compensation settlement wasn’t achieved, you wouldn’t pay your lawyer the success fee. In addition to this, you wouldn’t be expected to pay their costs.
If you’d like us to assess your case to see if you could make a No Win No Fee claim, or if you have any questions, simply call our advisors today. We’ll be happy to help you.
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