Re: That's what insurance is for
You must contact your insurers and get their advice regarding this matter and let them look after it.
While I agree with the thrust of the last post, I wouldn't necessarily agree with this last point. You have three choices about how you handle you claim (assuming that you have comprehensive insurance).
1) You claim off your own comprehensive insurance, and leave your insurance company to fight it out with his insurance company, or
2) You claim directly off his insurance company
3) You engage a solicitor to manage the claim directly off his insurance company on your behalf.
If you choose option 1, you may well hit your own no-claims bonus, which after is just that - a no-
claims bonus, not a no-blame bonus. This will depend on the exact terms of your cover and no-claims protection or step-back options may reduce the impact.
If you choose option 2, you have a bit more hassle, and you have to bear the risk that you as a non-claims professional are dealing with professions who manage these claims for a living every day of the week.
Option 3 gets a professional working on your behalf, but does incur legal costs and may make the insurance company more defensive & careful.
My wife had a similar accident a few years ago and needed some checkups and a couple of physio sessions for her neck. I went for option 1 and I was surprised how easily/quickly the insurance company paid out for the cost of the car repairs and the small amount of medical costs incurred.