I was a passenger injured in crash where driver was responsible. Can I claim compensation and how long will it take?

I am 19 years old working as a self employed masseur at a health spa. I was involved in an accident as a passenger in a car where the driver, my boyfriend, was probably responsible. My injuries were not too severe - I broke my nose which now has a bump (which I hate and would like to have surgery to correct) - and received some scarring on my forearm and hand as the car tipped over. I also had some problems with whiplash which meant I took five works of work when I was not paid by the spa. My friend says when her mother was injured in a road accident the claim took forever to settle (over 2 years!). Would I not just be better accepting I am not going to get my snubby little nose put back to how it was and should accept my scars and the wages I lost. Also although my boyfriend and me have split up now we still hang around in the same gang and I wouldn't want to cause any problems.

You actually have quite serious injuries and, assuming you were wearing a seat belt and your ex-boyfriend had not to your knowledge been drinking heavily, your claim is bound to succeed in full. 

Your ex will already have lost his no claims bonus as a result of the accident, if he or anyone else has already made a claim on his insurance, thus he should be no worse off.

Very probably, the insurers of your ex will offer to pay for any treatment required and if not get good personal injury solicitors who do their utmost to insist upon this.  More serious injuries often take a while before they are finally paid out and so they should.

Insurers usually want to finalise a claim before it costs them too much and a responsible personal injury lawyer will advise his client against settling before the full extent of the claim is known.

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