Millions of British drivers may be able to recoup their legal fees from an accident after a legal precedent said motorists were being overcharged.
So-called no-win, no-fee law firms, which sue the guilty parties in an accident, have been found to be cheating motorists out of £2bn since 2013 according to the experts.
Now companies are helping motorists reclaim some of their fees, with firms such as checkmylegalfees.com at the centre of the efforts to unmask the worst exponents of the rip-offs.
It’s claimed that some personal injury lawyers are setting a 25 per cent fee, the maximum allowed, even in the most straight forward cases, meaning that those who have little risk in a claim are paying the same as those whose claim is less likely to succeed.
The Court of Appeal ruled last year that no-win, no fee firms shouldn’t be charging the maximum in every case and that has now put the wheels in motion for some to reclaim some of their fees.
CheckMyLegalfees founder Mark Carlisle said "We conservatively estimate that the no-win, no fee law firms have overcharged road traffic accident injury victims by a total of £1.5 billion but that figure could easily hit £2 billion if the average claim increases.
"Anyone who has had a road traffic injury claim through a no-win, no-fee solicitor since April 2013 is likely to have a claim.
"Reforms in how law firms could make money from road traffic accident injuries came into force in April 2013 and from then on they nearly all adopted the same model," Carlisle said.
"This wasn’t explained to the majority of clients and on top of this they were taking the 25% from the total compensation payout when in fact in the majority of cases they should only take an extra 15% from the £600 fixed fee paid by the other side."