Road traffic law – whoever settles the claim determines the figures.

Traffic-law mandates break down into three areas that rarely occur together, but each of which has its own time limits. The first is accident settlement. Here the issue is money, and the decisive observation is unspectacular: the amount of compensation depends less on the law than on the basis of valuation. Anyone who accepts the opposing insurer’s expert report accepts that insurer’s figures. In accidents for which you are not at fault there is as a rule a claim to your own expert report – and to the opposing insurer bearing the costs, just as it bears the costs of legal representation.

Typical reduction items are well known: referral to cheaper repair options instead of the workshop of your choice, deductions on spare parts, disputes over loss of use and hire-car class, non-recognition of diminution in value, blanket rejection of damages for pain and suffering in the case of lighter injuries. Each of these points is to be reviewed individually, because they add up. In a notional settlement – that is, payout on the basis of the expert report without repair – separate rules moreover apply, which are frequently overlooked.

The second area is fine and administrative-offence proceedings. The time limit for objecting to a fine notice is two weeks and cannot be extended. Deciding within that time limit presupposes access to the file – in particular to the measurement record, the calibration certificate and the training certificate of the measuring personnel. Without these documents an assessment is not possible, and an objection “on suspicion” is rarely sensible, because it can also lead to a higher sanction.

The third area concerns the driving licence, and that is where the economically heaviest consequences lie. A driving ban, withdrawal, points standing and orders for assessment intervene directly in occupation and everyday life. Here the structuring of the proceedings is often more important than the factual question – for example on whether a driving ban can be averted against an increase in the fine, or whether conditions in the administrative proceedings are open to challenge.