If you have suffered from an injury that was not your fault, you may decide to make a claim for compensation. If you have been unable to work or suffered a lot then you could be owed a lot of money and you may need that money to pay outstanding bills which have accumulated while you have been out of work.

However, if you have been able to work  or get sick pay and your life has not been massively disrupted, then it could be a good idea to consider whether making a claim is a good idea. You may feel that it is something that you are owed but you should think about the long term consequences before you do so. Firstly, if you are making a claim against your own insurance then it will put your premium up and you will have to pay more money each month or year and may end up paying as much as the claim is worth. It is more likely that you will be claiming against someone else's insurance and therefore they will be paying.

That does seem fair but it may mean that other people who use that insurance company end up paying more as well. In fact if people are likely to be claimed against, such as younger male drivers, all of their premiums will go up as the insurance company will see them as more of a risk. This means that your policy may go up in the long run or maybe if you have a son, they will not be able to afford to take out car insurance. By more and more people making claims and taking cases to court, it could encourage lots of people to do it and it could mean that everyone pays the price in the future.