Which losses can matter in a personal injury claim?

Identify costs already incurred

Record medical costs left to you, travel to treatment and necessary assistance. Keep statements from your health insurer too. Show what was paid elsewhere and what you personally bore, avoiding uncertainty about duplicate compensation.

For each item, record the date, amount, reason and supporting document. For household help, what you did yourself before the accident and what you now cannot do also matter. Track activities and hours, including help from people you know.

Income, studies and the future

For reduced earnings, payslips, annual income statements and information about your work are useful. For self-employed people, annual accounts, tax returns and specific assignments may be relevant. Comparing only two months does not always provide a reliable picture, particularly with variable earnings.

Study delay or future limitations may also require attention. These concern reasonable expectations and supporting evidence, rather than a fixed amount per diagnosis. Discuss what expertise is needed and which assumptions are used in a future-loss calculation.

Make the overview a basis for discussion

De Letselschade Raad has guidelines for various loss items. They can assist assessment. According to Rechtspraak, a judge may use them and may also depart from them. Check the applicable version and whether your circumstances warrant a different calculation.

Ask the insurer which items are accepted and which need further explanation. Show advances received separately. During recovery, a schedule of loss often remains a working document: update it and retain earlier versions so you can follow changes to amounts and assumptions.

A schedule of loss is more than a total amount

A schedule of loss is an organised overview explaining, item by item, the harm caused by the incident. Include not just an amount, but the period, calculation, evidence and any reimbursement already received. The insurer can then respond to each part. Separate undisputed items from those awaiting medical information or future expectations, for example. This makes clear what can already be settled.

Use the same structure consistently and date every version. New information may increase, decrease or reclassify an item. Record the reason so a change does not appear to be double counting. A paid invoice and a request for reimbursement are different administrative steps. State whether you paid an amount yourself, still owe it or have already recovered it from another party.

• Give each head of loss a period, calculation and evidence reference.
• Use separate columns for reimbursement elsewhere and advances received.
• Date each version and explain changes or continuing disputes.

Make small everyday expenses visible

Many small expenses only become a clear item when combined: parking for treatment, extra transport, aids or necessary deliveries. Record why the expense relates to your limitations. A receipt shows what you bought, but not always why the accident made it necessary. Write the explanation immediately; after several months, a loose receipt can be difficult to place.

Not every expense after the accident date was caused by it. Groceries you would have bought anyway require a different assessment from demonstrably extra delivery charges. Before major or unusual spending, investigate whether necessity and reasonableness are accepted. Discussing it beforehand may reduce disputes, but request a written response: an informal comment that something sounds logical is not a clear payment agreement.

Value assistance without treating every task alike

Household help concerns tasks you previously performed yourself that must now be taken over because of injury. Record the division of tasks before the incident, your current limitations and others' contributions. Not every family visit is assistance eligible for payment. A social visit may be assessed differently from regular cleaning or necessary care. Describe specifically what someone does.

Include assistance that is not invoiced too. Whether and how it is valued legally needs a separate assessment. Avoid one rounded number of hours without support where several different activities are involved. Also check whether another arrangement or insurer already meets the need. Keep clear what practical support is actually provided and what part of the disadvantage remains unresolved.

Income needs comparison over a suitable period

For employees, salary, normal allowances and variable earnings may be relevant. For self-employed people, turnover is not the same as personal income: costs, replacement workers, seasonality and the business's legal structure matter. A downturn after the accident must therefore be investigated against the situation likely without injury. Collect documents supporting that picture, including records before the accident date.

A future calculation contains assumptions about recovery, capacity for work and career development. Ask which are supported and which uncertain. Keep concrete training records, contracts and earlier career arrangements. Do not present plans as guaranteed promotions, but do not automatically exclude them because they had not yet materialised. An expert can explain how reasonable expectations and uncertainties are handled.

Use guidelines without losing sight of your circumstances

De Letselschade Raad publishes guidelines for various loss items. These help handle common situations practically. Check the version, conditions of application and period an amount covers. A guideline amount on an old webpage may since have changed. This guide therefore gives no general current rate that automatically applies in every case.

When a guideline is used, ask what information was entered and whether your actual situation fits it. Different needs may call for different supporting evidence. That does not mean any higher amount you choose is reimbursed. The discussion concerns demonstrable circumstances, necessity and reasonableness. According to Rechtspraak, a judge can use guidelines and depart from them; they remain aids to assessment.

Checks before considering a total offer

Check that all loss items remain identifiable when the insurer offers one total amount. Examine advances, insurance payments received, future costs and legal assistance costs. Also ask whether statutory interest is included and how. Its calculation can differ by item. Do not copy an interest percentage from an old example without having the relevant period checked.

An attractive rounded figure is difficult to assess without knowing its assumptions. Have the offer broken down and discuss remaining uncertainty. Ask which items will be closed definitively and whether a reservation is needed. Your own spreadsheet or our expense tool helps preparation; it does not independently calculate legal entitlement, causation, future losses or apportionment of liability.

• Check the period, evidence and payments received for every item.
• Show which costs someone else has already reimbursed.
• Separate incurred losses from assumptions about the future.
• Ask for a response to each disputed part rather than just a final offer.