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If you’ve been injured as a passenger in a road traffic accident, you might be giving some thought to passenger injury claims. These types of accidents can result in minor injuries, such as whiplash or range to life-changing injuries such as paralysis or amputation. Oftentimes, the physical impacts of suffering a passenger accident can be made worse by rising financial worries, particularly if you’ve been left unable to work.
With the right support from a solicitor on our panel, you could seek compensation that considers the full extent of your injuries, whether physical or psychological. Not only this, but compensation can be used to reimburse any financial losses that have occurred following your car accident. Get in touch with our advisors to learn more about making a car accident passenger claim.
Your Need To Know Questions Answered
- Can I Claim Even If I Wasn’t Wearing a Seatbelt? Yes, you could still claim even if you weren’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. Your claim would be affected by contributory negligence, and your compensation would be adjusted based on your level of contribution to the injury.
- What Injuries Can I Make a Car Accident Passenger Claim For? You could claim for any type of injury that was sustained, ranging from minor injuries like whiplash or soft tissue injuries, to more severe injuries such as traumatic brain injury, bone fractures or injuries leading to paralysis.
- What Do I Need In Order To Bring a Claim? You will need evidence that shows who is at fault for the accident. This can include CCTV or dashcam footage, medical reports and the insurance details and registration number of the vehicles involved in the accident.
- What Should I Do After a Passenger Injury Claim? Prioritise seeking immediate medical assistance, then when it is safe to do so, gather information about the accident and the scene. Following this, you should report the accident to the police, and paramedics if they are required.
- How Common Are Passenger Accidents? In 2024 alone, 55% of road traffic accident casualties were car occupants, where some of these could have been passenger accidents.
Jump To A Section
- A Guide To Claiming As A Passenger Injured In A Car Accident
- What Are Car Accident Passenger Injury Claims?
- Road Users Duty Of Care
- Whiplash And Other Injuries Caused By Car Accidents
- Passenger Car Accidents Where The Driver Is At Fault
- Passenger Car Accidents Where A Pedestrian Is At Fault
- Passenger Car Accidents Where The Road Surface Caused The Accident
- Passenger Car Accidents Where A Non-UK Driver Was At Fault
- Car Accidents And Contributory Negligence
- Establishing Who Was At Fault In A Car Accident
- Eligibility To Make A Car Accident Passenger Injury Claim
- Examples Of Damages Car Accident Victims Could Claim
- Passenger Car Accident Claim – Example Payouts
- How Car Accident And Passenger Injury Claims Work
- No Win No Fee Claims As A Passenger Injured In A Car Accident
- Start A Claim
- Resources And Other Information
A Guide To Claiming As A Passenger Injured In A Car Accident
We’ve put this guide together containing a detailed breakdown of the different circumstances in which you could potentially make a personal injury claim for being injured while riding in a vehicle as a passenger. We want you to be informed before making the decision to contact our team to begin a claim and to show you the kind of free legal advice we can offer to prospective claimants.
As well as talking about how to make different types of claims we have also included a personal injuries claims calculator to demonstrate the amounts of money that could be involved in a compensation payout for a car accident claim.
By reading this guide, you will also find out more about the benefits of no win no fee claims on offer to claimants. This guide is a useful starter, but reading it should only be your first step, you are also invited to call our advice team who can give you a consultation free of charge and answer any questions you have about the details of making a claim. You may also find it useful to look through this general guide to making a road traffic accident claim.
What Are Car Accident Passenger Injury Claims?
A car accident passenger injury claim is a personal injury claim that could be made if you suffered an injury in a car accident while riding as a passenger. When you are a passenger, the driver is largely responsible for your well being and for making sure an accident doesn’t occur. If you do suffer an accident that was not your fault, then you could be entitled to seek compensation from the person or party responsible for causing the accident on the grounds that they did not meet their responsibilities to keep you safe.
Road Users Duty Of Care
When driving a vehicle, a driver has a duty of care to those around them. Crashing a vehicle could cause serious injury and death, not just to the driver, but to the passenger, other drivers and pedestrians, so cars and other road vehicles must be operated with care. This duty of care applies to passengers and other road users.
Passengers
Drivers are responsible for the well-being of the people riding in the vehicles. This means that they could be liable (meaning that they are responsible) for injuries suffered by the passenger if they are found to have failed this duty of care. They must drive safely and in accordance with the Highway Code and the law. They are also responsible for making sure that the car is in a safe condition to drive. It must have its MOT, must have working tyres and so on. Failure to keep passengers safe could result in passenger injury claims.
Other road users
Drivers also have a duty of care to other road users; this means people driving other vehicles such as cars or motorbikes as well as pedestrians. Drivers must not only drive in accordance with the law, by obeying the speed limit and traffic lights and so on, but also drive with the safety of other road users in mind. This rule is especially important when it comes to pedestrians. Pedestrians are highly vulnerable to injury in a collision with a vehicle and are also much less visible to drivers than other vehicles.
Drivers must take care to keep an eye out for pedestrians who look like they are about to try and cross the road. They should take extra care when approaching something that might prevent them from spotting a pedestrian about to walk into the street, such as a bus, a building or a corner. If a driver hit a pedestrian and didn’t follow their duty of care, they could be found to be liable.
Whiplash And Other Injuries Caused By Car Accidents
Whiplash is an injury commonly associated with car accidents. It is a condition that emerges where the ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues in the neck are overstretched to the point of damage. This is often caused by a sudden jerking movement of the head. Being in a car accident can easily cause this.
Whiplash and Passenger Injury Claims
Some passengers suffering whiplash from a car accident will need to claim compensation through the Whiplash Reform Programme. This is due to the introduction of the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 in May of that year. In order to claim in this way, you must:
- Be 18 or older.
- Suffered an injury (or multiple injuries) valued at £5,000 or under.
- Be the driver or passenger in a motor vehicle.
- Suffered the accident in England or Wales.
If all of these apply, your claim will be made through the Reforms. Furthermore, whiplash injuries suffered in road traffic accidents will be valued using the tariffs found in the Whiplash Injury Regulations, regardless of the route the claim takes. Additionally, if you did not suffer whiplash but your injuries are valued at £5,000 or less and the rest of the criteria apply, you will claim through the Reforms.
Other injuries that could be caused by a car accident include:
- back injury
- head injury
- face injury
- fracture
- break
- broken rib
- fractured rib
- internal injury
- knee injury
Passenger Car Accidents Where The Driver Is At Fault
Passengers who have been injured in accidents in which the driver was at fault could be able to seek compensation from the driver through passenger injury claims.
Endangering passenger safety could include:
- Breaking the speed limit
- Driving under the influence
- Turning without indicating
- Driving through a red traffic light
- Driving a vehicle which was not roadworthy, i.e. one that had worn-out tyres or faulty brakes
If your road traffic accident occurred in a public vehicle, such as a taxi, then you may find this article and other similar ones across our site to be helpful.
Passenger Car Accidents Where A Pedestrian Is At Fault
You could get compensation if your driver was driving in a manner fully in accordance with the law and was showing due care for the safety of passengers and the pedestrian caused the accident by doing something foolish like running out into the street suddenly. If you have any confusion or concern, then just call our advice team and ask.
Passenger Car Accidents Where The Road Surface Caused The Accident
Not all road traffic accidents are caused by the negligence of drivers or of other road users. Sometimes the state of the road itself can cause accidents. Roads which have not been maintained correctly by the authorities responsible for them can be dangerous to drive on. Some of the hazards that can emerge from a lack of road maintenance can include:
- Potholes
- Debris on the road
- Ice on the road
- Lack of street lighting
- Lack of accurate street signage
On roads in the UK national authorities are responsible for maintaining motorways and other roads are the responsibility of the local council authority in their respective areas. If a hazard has emerged because they have not met their responsibility to maintain the roads, then they could be liable for paying compensation to people who have been injured as a result.
Passenger Car Accidents Where A Non-UK Driver Was At Fault
It is possible to find drivers from abroad on UK roads. That means you may have to worry about the legal implications of wanting to seek compensation for a road traffic accident in which the driver responsible is not only foreign but also has a licence, vehicle, and insurance registered to another country. Luckily so far as you need to be concerned, there will not be much difference between making a passenger injury claims against a foreign driver and a British driver.
Currently, the UK is still under EU law until December 31st 2020 despite no longer technically being a member state of the EU. This means that until that point, it is possible for a UK based solicitor to bring a claim against a driver from an EU state and seek compensation from their insurance firm. It is best to contact our team now in order to have the best chance of making a successful claim or if you want more information on what to do if the driver who caused the accident was from outside the EU.
Car Accidents And Contributory Negligence
Contributory negligence is when the victim of an accident is ruled to have contributed to the accident occurring through their own negligent behaviour or actions, while still not being entirely responsible and sharing some of the blame with a third party. In cases of contributory negligence cases the victim could be awarded compensation, but at a reduced rate which reflects the degree of culpability that the court sees them as having for the accident. If you were a passenger who was injured in an accident and you are concerned that you might be seen as having partly contributed to causing the accident yourself, then you could benefit from advice from our accident claims team.
Establishing Who Was At Fault In A Car Accident
In order for someone to be liable for an accident, and therefore responsible for paying the compensation (in most cases from their insurance) there has to be proof of how and why their actions led to the accident. In cases in which the driver of another vehicle was responsible for an accident, it could be necessary to have proof that they had violated traffic laws, i.e. by driving through a red light, turning without using signals, speeding and so on.
Once passenger injury claims are underway, solicitors will begin looking for evidence which could support claims, i.e. CCTV footage, dash-cam footage etc. You can also help to provide evidence that will confirm the liability of the other driver by filing a police report. Having a police report of the incident could greatly improve your prospects of receiving compensation.
Eligibility To Make A Car Accident Passenger Injury Claim
You might have come across this article because you were wondering if a passenger could make a claim against you for an injury that occurred while you were driving a vehicle. The truth is that it depends on the exact circumstances of the accident.
If you do have a claim made against you by a passenger and it results in compensation being awarded to the passenger, then you will at least not have to worry about paying it yourself as the money will come out of your car insurance. Our accident claims team would be happy to provide you with advice on what to do if a claim is being made against you.
Examples Of Damages Car Accident Victims Could Claim
You could be compensated after making a successful personal injury claim for being put in a reduced financial situation by an injury in a car accident. There are many ways that the victim of an injury could end up losing money.
- Losing income through taking time off work through sick leave, or by having to move into a new occupation with a lower pay rate, or by having a disability which prevents the victim from working.
- Spending money on healthcare, such as cosmetic surgery, physiotherapy or medication which was not provided by the NHS.
- Spending money on care, such as hiring caring staff to look after the victim if they have become disabled
- Travel expenses: Travelling to and from hospital appointments and other journeys necessitated by the injury and its treatment.
If you are able to keep an accurate record of how much money you have lost as a result of your injury by providing payslips, receipts, contracts and other forms of proof of your outgoings, then you could be compensated for the money you have lost through passenger injury claims.
Passenger Car Accident Claim Payouts
Payouts in passenger car accident claims can encompass two different heads of loss, called general and special damages. The first is concerned with the physical and psychological impacts of your injuries; this can consider the extent of pain and suffering, as well as any impact on your daily life.
Moreover, special damages can consider the financial implications caused by your injuries. This can appreciate any loss of earnings or limited employment prospects, and any medical expenses you might now face.
However, you might be wondering how general damages are valued. Professionals can consider frameworks such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) which is a document that offers categories of compensation brackets for injury types and severities.
Our table below shows some figures taken from the JCG, to illustrate brackets of compensation you could receive for certain injuries sustained in passenger injury claims. Please note that the top entry has not been taken from the JCG, and that these brackets are guidelines only. Furthermore, the bottom two figures are examples of the tariffs found in the Whiplash Injury Regulations. All figures are a guide only. For a more accurate estimate of how much compensation you could claim, please speak with an advisor.
| Injury Type | Severity + Notes | Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries + Special Damages | A number of serious injuries as well as special damages such as medical expenses, care costs or lost income. | Up to £1,000,000+ |
| Paralysis | Tetraplegia (also known as Quadriplegia) - physical pain will be present and there will be an impact on the senses and ability to communicate | £396,140 to £493,000 |
| Paraplegia - the level awarded will be impacted by the level of independence and any impact on sexual function | £267,340 to £346,890 | |
| Brain Damage | Very Severe - there might be some capability of following commands, and postural reflex movement | £344,150 to £493,000 |
| Moderately Severe - very serious disablement, and substantial level of dependence on others | £267,340 to £344,150 | |
| Amputation of Arms | Loss of Both Arms - reduces the injured person to a level of considerable helplessness | £293,850 to £366,100 |
| Back Injury | Severe (i) - damage to spinal cord and nerve roots, causing severe pain and disability | £111,150 to £196,450 |
| Severe (ii) - root damage leading to a loss in sensation, and causing impaired mobility | £90,510 to £107,910 | |
| Whiplash | One or more whiplash injuries and psychological injuries | £4345 |
| Whiplash | One or more whiplash injuries | £4215 |
How Car Accident And Passenger Injury Claims Work
When you make a personal injury claim with a solicitor, the solicitor will do much of the work of gathering evidence and preparing a case. Having a skilled, experienced solicitor can make the difference between winning and losing a case. You will want a solicitor whose dedication and experience you can rely on; you’ll also want a solicitor who will keep you regularly updated on how your claim is getting along as you may have to wait some time as the case is worked on. With Legal Helpline you can have just this, our panel of solicitors have been working on accident claims for years and will always be happy to answer questions if you contact them to ask about how the case is getting along.
No Win No Fee Claims As A Passenger Injured In A Car Accident
Your money may be tight at the moment, especially if the injuries you have sustained in an accident were severe enough to make you take time off work or if you have had to spend money on care and treatment. You might be concerned about how you are going to pay for a solicitor to take on your case. You have nothing to worry about, however, if you make a claim through Legal Helpline because our panel of solicitors offers no win no fee claims.
A no win no fee claim takes the financial burden off you and does not require any up-front costs, if you make a no win no fee agreement then you will be asked to pay your solicitor up to 25% of the compensation you receive for their services if the claim results in a payout. (The exact amount is negotiable with your solicitor). The converse of this is that if the claim does not result in compensation being paid out, you will not be obligated to pay your solicitor. For any further details please use the contact details below to reach our team.
Start A Claim
The first step is simply having a conversation with one of our advice team members, they will answer any questions you have about passenger injury claims and discuss the details of your accident. You can reach them by either calling 0333 000 0729, our free 24/7 phone line, or by putting your details into this enquiry form and waiting for a callback.
Resources And Other Information
You can learn more about car accident claims below:
- The Motor Insurance Bureau, an agency which can help victims claim compensation when the driver responsible for the accident can’t be located.
- The Highway Code
- The .Gov Page On Driving And Transport
- Road traffic accident compensation claims
- Car accident claims
- Claiming for tinnitus after a car accident
Passenger Injury Claims FAQs
Can I claim for being a passenger in a car accident?
You could make a claim if you were a passenger in a car accident, providing the accident caused your injuries and you didn’t cause the accident.
What is the average settlement for a car accident with an injury?
A car accident can cause anything from minor to major injuries. This is one of the reasons why knowing the average settlement of car accidents might not be helpful to you. The compensation claimants can be awarded is dependent on the severity of injuries and financial loss. Each case is unique, but our advisors could help with a reasonable estimation. Call them today.
What is a good settlement offer?
A good settlement offer is one where you feel that you’re sufficiently compensated for your physical and mental injuries as well as any financial loss.
Thank you for reading our guide to passenger injury claims.
