Answer: Your insurer's advice to save the receipts for your medical expenses is correct. On the other hand, your questions suggest that the quality of service they provided - as well as that of your doctor - was very poor.

They need training in customer service. The process for settling claims for personal injuries (PI) can be complex and quite long. Claims for property damage are often simpler. The settlement times for PI claims depend to some extent on the type of injury.

You suffered what I believe is a whiplash injury. Being rammed from behind in a car is the classic cause of this type of injury.

Doctors say about one in five people involved in such a collision ends up with problems of the neck and the surrounding area.

The sudden impact pushes the car forward. After a brief delay, the body follows. The shoulders move forward until they are under the head. Then, while the head tilts slightly down towards the steering wheel, the neck extends forwards. These movements stretch and tear the soft tissues of the neck - the tendons, ligaments and muscles - and may damage the nerves and other structures in the area.

Most people recover in a matter of a few weeks. For a few, it can be the start of years of trouble. Your doctor should have told you of this.

Whiplash injuries

The insurer's advice to retain your receipts was probably based on the company's with claims for whiplash injuries.

The claim for medical expenses, loss of income and pain and suffering will not be paid by your insurers. This is even though you have a 'comprehensive policy'.

Your policy does not come into play when you suffer a personal injury. If the other car that hit yours was insured, and provided that the person who was driving it was licensed, payment should be made by the insurers of that vehicle.

The recovery of your expenses and the other costs are uncertain, not guaranteed. You can breathe much easier after your insurers have completed their checks on the third-party's insurance.

The third-party's insurer is unlikely to handle your claim bit by bit. This is for your benefit as well as theirs. If, for example, they knew you were desperate to recover the medical expenses part of the claim, they could use that information to delay paying the pain and suffering part, assuming that it represented the bigger part, in order to force you to accept a lower settlement.

That obviously would not be in your best interest. Remember: Insurers are in business to make money. Your PI claim should only be handled in cooperation with you, your doctor and attorney.

How to claim

Hundreds of websites on the Internet deal with the topic of claims for whiplash. A very useful one can be found at http://www.accidentin juryline.co.uk/.

It says: "Generally, the heavier the collision, the more severe the whiplash injury, and the younger you are, the faster you will recover, but every case is different. Some people find it very hard to get back to normal after a whiplash injury, and suffer intermittently for years.

"Others recover fully much faster than might be expected. Expert medical opinion can be very helpful in a whiplash injury case, and your specialist solicitor (attorney) will probably regard it as essential if the pain lasts for any length of time.

"It is better to be confident about your whiplash injury recovery rather than just settling your whiplash claim quickly in the hope that you will recover."

I could not have said it better.