What information will you find on this page:
What is whiplash injury
Whiplash injury in which you have suffered an injury to your neck as a result of an accident.
Whiplash injuries are caused by a violent swinging movement of your head relative to your torso.
Generally, it is an unexpected very quick movement without your head hitting anything.
In a fraction of a second, your cervical spine is therefore over-stretched and bent extremely backward and/or forward.
People choose us because:
- 15,000+ victims helped
- Customer rating of 9+
- The specialist in chronic whiplash and personal injury
- The most involved personal injury law firm in the Netherlands
Whiplash injury
This impact can cause whiplash injuries. It can cause very unpleasant symptoms that can make your normal functioning difficult or even impossible.
Whether or not you have a whiplash injury can actually only be determined by doctors.
But: if you experience whiplash symptoms or characteristics, contact a doctor immediately to be sure.
Financial consequences of whiplash injury
Whiplash injuries can cause personal injury and this has financial consequences for you.
In that case, it's best to seek expert help as soon as possible. Because if your injury doesn't heal within a few weeks or months, the insurer responsible for covering your personal injury will no longer recognize whiplash.
Whiplash injuries are very common
In the Netherlands, between 15,000 and 30,000 people whiplash injuries every year.
Most cases of whiplash injury are caused by a car accident, often by being hit from behind. However, whiplash injuries are just as often caused by a side impact, a fall, or a sudden movement.
Causes of whiplash injury
The impact of the accident strains your neck. This initially causes bruising of the muscles and tendons in your neck. These bruises are the cause of the symptoms that arise.
In some cases, damage can even occur in your cervical spine, other neck structures, in your face, in your cervical spinal cord and in the brain and brainstem, according to the Dutch Whiplash Foundation.
How can I help you?
Sylvia Kuiper NIVRE-re
Registered Expert
Registered Expert
How long does it take to recover from whiplash injury?
Whiplash injuries usually heal relatively quickly (within six months). Approximately 80% of people recover almost completely from their whiplash injury within two years.
Unfortunately, 1 in 5 people (20%) experience whiplash symptoms that never go away. If this happens, it's called post-whiplash syndrome.
If your injury persists for a longer period (more than a few weeks), you had better seek expert legal assistance.
Because insurers do not recognize whiplash as a permanent injury.
Whiplash injury and personal injury
In case of whiplash injury, you are always entitled to compensation for your personal injury.
Your personal injury consists of:
But beware: insurance companies have a strong tendency not to recognize whiplash as a (full-fledged) injury.
A liability insurer often has a very different perspective on your whiplash injury and your personal injury damages than you do, especially if you suffer permanent symptoms and limitations from your whiplash injury.
In case of whiplash you cannot do without legal assistance
Fortunately, in the Netherlands, the legal costs you incur to claim compensation for your personal injury must also be reimbursed by the opposing party.
This means you can essentially recover your personal injury damages for FREE . So our legal assistance is always free of charge.
Do you need some advice without any obligation?
Our legal experts can – if you prefer – schedule an appointment at your home. We can then discuss in detail exactly what happened and how we can help. There are no costs associated with this either.
And will we help you recover your personal injury damages? Our first email guarantees that our assistance will be completely free of charge
How can I help you?
Sylvia Kuiper NIVRE-re
Registered Expert
Registered Expert
Curious about your chances?
About the author
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).
At Van der Toorn Personal Injury, you'll receive a written cost guarantee upfront 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 if you have suffered an injury (been injured) due to the fault of another person
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 contact us as soon as possible
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 contact us , without obligation
We'll give you clear advice right away . 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.
Stories from the field
After the collision, we started having neck pain; we could no longer work..
It happened when I was driving to work with a colleague. Just on the highway, not even in a traffic jam. It was, of course, busy during the morning rush hour. We were going about 70 km/h. Someone behind us wasn't paying attention and crashed right into us. We didn't see it coming at all.
Affiliated with:
