Doubts about legal expenses insurer
due to someone else's fault an injury , you'll want to compensation . That's understandable.
You'll always be dealing with an insurance company. A company with more expertise than you. And a company that doesn't always adequately consider your interests.
That's why it's almost always necessary to legal assistance . In the case of personal injury, it's best not to do so through your own legal expenses insurance, as they lack the expertise.
You're much better off using a qualified personal injury firm. In the Netherlands, this costs you nothing, just like your legal expenses insurance.
A qualified personal injury agency is always better
A personal injury firm exists specifically to only your interests vis-à-vis the opposing party. That is certainly reassuring for you.
Sometimes it might not matter who represents your interests. But that's really only true if your personal injury claim can be settled quickly and without personal contact. So, if it's just a matter of "tens of euros" and nothing more.
Legal expenses insurers are in principle perfectly capable of settling very simple personal injury claims for you in writing and without personal contact. But that is “mass production” and not “custom work”.
Personal injury covered by legal expenses insurance? NO!
If your injury has consequences beyond just a single visit to your GP, you should really start to wonder whether your legal expenses insurance is the right choice for you.
Because you really need to be able to trust 100% that the person helping you with your personal injury only has your interests in mind.
You must also be convinced that your representative experienced and knowledgeable enough to assist you as best as possible. With a bit of “controlled aggression” where necessary.
And then you're simply not in the right place with your legal expenses insurance. Many people are dissatisfied with their own legal expenses insurance and switch to a specialized personal injury firm like ours. And for good reason.
Would you prefer a tailor-made solution for your personal injury claim?
In terms of expertise and experience, we sometimes make the comparison between “mass production” and “custom work”.
Your legal expenses insurer is fully geared towards "mass production." Because "customization" is too expensive for them.
An expert and qualified personal injury agency like ours only delivers “custom work”.
Especially in cases of personal injury, a tailored approach quickly becomes essential. Otherwise, you won't get what you're entitled to: fair compensation for your injuries.
Why not with legal expenses insurance?
- We almost always you at home immediately and entirely without obligation . To get acquainted and to discuss everything that is important for your personal injury claim. This cannot be done with just “paperwork” or telephone contact. Your legal expenses insurer will only send you forms and perhaps call a few times. But there is usually no direct personal contact.
- An expert and qualified personal injury firm is extremely client-oriented; we maintain close, regular contact with you throughout the entire “duration” of your personal injury claim. You never have to chase after anything yourself. At legal aid insurers, work backlogs are often so high that your personal injury claim is simply “forgotten” there. If you do not constantly call or email yourself, often (too) little happens.
- We also maintain personal contact with each other in the form of home visits. Your legal assistance insurer will handle your personal injury claim as much as possible in writing, so without visits and without real personal contact.
- Our personal injury lawyers and (registered) experts possess the very highest degree of expertise. We do nothing but help people with their personal injuries. At your legal expenses insurer, you often find the less experienced and skilled “junior” personal injury lawyers.
Your legal expenses insurer is not independent
All Dutch legal expenses insurers are "owned" by the major insurance companies. Sometimes they even bear the name of the insurer in question and are located in the same office building.
But sometimes even without the name of an insurance company being directly mentioned. However, these companies are also owned by the joint insurers and therefore not independent.
So there's no real independence. Normally, and in any other case, that's not a problem at all.
But that's a major problem, especially with personal injury claims. Because it's almost always one of those large insurance companies, the owners of your legal expenses insurer, who is the opposing party in your personal injury claim. And they have to compensate you for your damages.
It's almost inevitable that this will become noticeable somewhere. Sooner or later. But even if it doesn't, it just doesn't feel right.
Complaints about legal expenses insurers
Dissatisfaction or a lack of confidence in your own legal expenses insurer usually arises because you are faced with:
- constantly changing lawyers who handle your personal injury claim
- lawyers who do not want to come to your home, except at the same time as the opposing party
- people who always too little time for your personal injury
- people who often settle your personal injury claim too quickly
- too low compensation for your personal injury and non-pecuniary damages.
Our personal injury law firm is here just for you!
We are truly convinced that legal expenses insurers cannot be independent of their "shareholders," the large insurance companies. People themselves, of course, disagree. But it simply isn't possible, and we see that in every way.
firm Van der Toorn Personal that is completely independent of insurance companies and their affiliated offices.
We are independent of anyone! We have only one interest, and that is yours. This is also explicitly stipulated in the regulations of the Keurmerk Letselschade, with which we have been affiliated since our inception.
Are you looking for an expert and qualified personal injury firm that has your best interests at heart? Then ask us to help you with your personal injury claim. We're happy to do it, expertly, and completely free of charge (FREE).
Personal Injury Agency is also 100% free!
The advantage of your legal expenses insurance is indeed that you are entitled to free legal assistance in the event of personal injury.
Although some legal expenses insurance policies now also charge a deductible, you'll have to pay the excess yourself before anyone will do anything for you.
However, engaging our personal injury firm is also completely free of charge . In cases of personal injury, a liable party is also obliged to reimburse your legal costs (read: our fees). This is regulated by law in Article 6:96.
Our legal assistance is guaranteed to be free of charge for you. There are “no hidden catches”. Before we start assisting you with your personal injury claim, you will receive a written guarantee from us.
It states that our assistance will be completely free of charge. You don't need to pay any upfront costs or anything like that. In fact, if you don't want to, you won't even see our invoices. Our invoices are sent directly to the other party.
And if they do not reimburse our invoices, or do not reimburse them in full, then that is our business risk and not yours. That is stated in the written guarantee (cost guarantee) that we have given you.
Personal injury without legal expenses insurance
That's right, with a "small caveat." Your personal injury damages aren't always recoverable from an insurance company. Or, you might have to incur significant costs before you know whether your personal injury is recoverable.
Suppose it concerns a complex medical error. It's never possible to accurately estimate your chances of receiving compensation. In that case, it's wise to contact your legal expenses insurance.
Dissatisfied with your legal expenses insurance?
We hear that all the time. It's quite common for people to become dissatisfied with the support they receive from their legal expenses insurance over time. So, you're not alone in this.
It is possible to leave your legal expenses insurer and “switch” to a personal injury firm without any hassle. You do not have to do anything for this, because we will take care of it.
Sometimes, more specialized legal assistance than that of your legal expenses insurer is simply better for you.
Or sometimes the collaboration with your legal expenses insurer simply doesn't feel right anymore, without you being able to figure out exactly why.
That's not a problem at all, because you can always change your legal representative. In fact, your legal expenses insurance won't mind either, because it saves them work and therefore money.
Legal expenses insurance or personal injury agency?
Always ask us for ADVICE: Are you unsure about who to contact to help you with your personal injury claim?
Or are you no longer satisfied with your legal expenses insurance and would you like to possibly “switch” to our firm?
Please feel free to ask us for advice. It's completely free and without obligation.
You can fill out the form on the website, call us, email us, or even chat with us. Whatever works best for you.
We'll provide you with honest , well-founded advice. And then you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
About the author
The information on this page was written by Floris de Bruin, a specialist in liability and personal injury. The content of this page fully complies with the requirements of the National Quality Mark for Personal Injury (NKL).
What customers ask
Is your help really free for me?
Absolutely, our help is truly FREE.
Your counterparty is also obligated to reimburse your legal costs (i.e., our firm's fees). This is stipulated by law (Section 6:96 of the Dutch Civil Code).
upfront written cost guarantee with a clear explanation. This also clearly states what you can expect from us and what we can expect from you.
We guarantee that the liable party will reimburse our costs. If they don't, it's our business risk. You'll never receive a bill from us. We promise!
Still unsure? Just contact us. We'd be happy to explain how our cost guarantee works.
If you'd like to learn more about our FREE personal injury assistance, click here. Clarity is paramount!
When can I claim personal injury damages?
You can claim damages for personal injury due to the fault of another person injury (been injured)
Personal injury can be caused by, for example:
In addition, you may think of injuries sustained during:
- organized trip
- unsafe product or
- fall at someone else's home, in a shop or on the street
It's best not to wait too long to file a personal injury claim. It's best to do so immediately after the accident.
Even if it is not yet clear at that time what your injury and its financial consequences consist of.
However, someone else must liable and must have taken out liability insurance for this (AVP/AVB/WA).
However, even if you caused the accident yourself, you can sometimes still claim compensation for personal injury. For example, if you SVI (Passenger Injury Insurance) or SVO (Opzittende Inschadende).
Are you unsure whether and when you are entitled to personal injury compensation?
Don't hesitate to contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation. It's free , and you'll know exactly where you stand. Afterward, you can decide for yourself what to do with our advice.
What injuries do you treat?
We can actually help you with all types of personal injury
Van der Toorn Personal Injury can help you with all types of injuries. We specialize in handling "serious personal injuries," such as:
- brain injury (ABI)
- spinal cord injury
- burns
- dystrophy
- bone fractures and
- cosmetic injury.
But of course, we are also very happy to be there for you if someone else has sustained an injury. Such as neck injuries, whiplash, back injuries, bruises, sprains, dog bites, temporary injuries, and you name it.
We cannot help with all types of personal injury
The only thing we cannot help you with is personal injury caused by:
- violence
- medical errors and/or
- situations of abuse.
In that situation, we will of course refer you to a party that is specialized in this.
Always request free, no-obligation advice on personal injury claims
Do you have questions about your personal injury? Or are you unsure if we're the right place for you?
Please do not hesitate to ask us for a complete and free, no-obligation personal injury claim consultation.
When should I contact you?
You don't have to! But it's in your best interest to as soon as possible contact
Only then can you be certain that there is someone who thinks solely of your interests . Because that is our job: thinking of *your* interests.
But what is: as quickly as possible?
Sometimes an insurance company will contact you very shortly after the accident. They'll ask how you're doing and also ask for all sorts of other information.
You cannot know whether that insurer is asking “too many questions” from a legal perspective. About your health before the accident and which doctors you visited. You would rather avoid that, wouldn't you? So never wait too long to engage a personal injury firm.
It's also likely that you'll quickly incur significant expenses . Or your incomemay disappear. We'll handle the initial damage payments from the other party. Then you can focus on your recovery.
Would you like to know what's best for you? Don't hesitate to without obligation us
We'll give you right away advice clear. Then you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
If we think we can help you, we will let you know right away.
At the same time, we guarantee that our legal assistance completely free of charge .
To learn more about our FREE personal injury assistance services, click here.
What personal injury compensation amounts am I entitled to?
The personal injury compensation amounts you are entitled to are:
Allowances for additional assistance, such as:
- household help, shopping, taking children to school, etc.
- help in the garden and
- help with the maintenance and painting of your home.
In addition, your personal injury may have consequences for your income, such as:
- income that is not fully paid (self-employed person, temporary worker, zero-hour contract, etc.)
- no more irregular hours allowance
- no longer being able to work overtime
- missed promotions and
- missed pension accrual
Finally, you can consider other equally important personal injury compensation amounts, such as:
- Study delay
- Reintegration costs for guidance to other work
- Costs associated with admission to a hospital or rehabilitation center
- Travel expenses
- Medical expenses
- Non-pecuniary damages
- Economic vulnerability
- Statutory interest
- Furthermore, all costs that you would not have incurred without the accident…
- For example, the wages you did not receive because you could not go to work.
- Gasoline because you had to go to the hospital or the physiotherapist.
- Medicines that were covered by your deductible.
In addition, you are always entitled to compensation for pain and suffering, also known as non-material damages.
This is compensation for "loss of enjoyment of life." Your damages should compensate you for your grief, pain, and anything else that might have made you less happy than before the accident.
Unfortunately, Dutch law is not generous in awarding damages for pain and suffering. Therefore, the amounts awarded in the Netherlands are not considered "fair enough.".
If you'd like to learn more about non-pecuniary damages, click here. If you'd like to learn more about personal injury damages, click here.
Calculating non-pecuniary damages
Calculating non-pecuniary damages:
You are always entitled to compensation for pain and suffering. This is the "non-pecuniary component" of your personal injury compensation.
What is non-pecuniary damages?
Pain and suffering compensation is not in itself a “hard legal term”. It is compensation for damage that cannot be expressed in monetary terms.
So, everything that doesn't fall under additional costs or lost income. It's essentially compensation for your "mental damage.".
How to calculate non-pecuniary damages
People often ask us at the very beginning of their personal injury case how much compensation they are entitled to.
That question is actually impossible to answer. And any personal injury lawyer who claims otherwise is mistaken.
When can you calculate my non-pecuniary damages?
Your compensation for pain and suffering can only be definitively determined at the end of your personal injury case.
Only then will it be known what psychological consequences your injury has had and/or will have for you.
Because it is the psychological consequences that largely determine your compensation for non-pecuniary damages.
Important factors in calculating non-pecuniary damages
Important factors for calculating your non-pecuniary damages include:
- the nature of your injury
- the severity of your injury
- your age
- your gender
- your level of consciousness
- whether you will have permanent scars and where those scars are located
- whether you have physical limitations that affect your quality of life
- how much pain have you suffered and continue to suffer
- how long your recovery period was and
- whether you have recovered at all or whether there is permanent damage.
Indication calculation of non-pecuniary damages:
We cannot predict exactly how much your compensation for non-pecuniary damages will be.
What we can do is give you a general indication of the amount of your compensation for pain and suffering.
If this sounds appealing, contact us today for a free, honest consultation. Afterward, you can decide for yourself what to do with it.
We are happy to help you calculate and claim your compensation for pain and suffering and other personal injury damages, such as your additional costs and lost income.
And if you choose our legal assistance, we guarantee you in writing in advance that our assistance will always FREE .
Calculating non-pecuniary damages? Ask for advice! We're happy to help. Want to know more about calculating non-pecuniary damages? Click here.
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