Personal injury claims soar despite fall in collisions

12.00 | 4 July 2012 | | 5 comments

Despite an 11% fall in the number of road collisions in 2011, personal injury claims rose by 18% (BBC News).

A report from the Actuarial Profession says that a higher proportion of people involved in accidents are making claims for personal injury, such as whiplash, and that this may cost the insurance industry an extra £400m a year.

The Government is planning new laws to limit the amount of money that firms can make from ‘no win no fee’ cases. The legislation, announced in March 2011 by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, would prevent lawyers claiming “success fees” from the losing side. Instead they would receive a share of the damages.

The proposals follow a review carried out by Lord Justice Jackson in 2010, at the request of the previous Government. The legislation also aims to prevent insurance companies and others from passing on motorists’ details after a collision.

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said that increases in the number of claims could result in higher insurance premiums. He added that the report builds on an earlier one from the same organisation which shows a clear correlation between injury claim hotspots and the location of claims management companies.

Click here to read the full BBC News report.

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    My late father, a solicitor, was utterly horrified when “no win, no fee” legal representation was allowed for the first time and predicted exactly what we have been seeing on an increasing scale ever since – and we are all paying through the nose for those companies’ fat profits.

    He also warned against Moral Hazard – as Mervyn King at last does, but my father was referring to the Law Society Compensation Fund, set up to compensate clients losing out to rogue lawyers. Again he was right – knowing that their clients would get their money back from the Fund, rogue lawyers found it easier to cheat them.


    Idris Francis Petersfield
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    The insurance companies are not that bothered in my opinion. We are all obliged by law to have insurance, and all they do is pass on premium increases to policyholders to fund the fraud. I may be a hard-bitten old cynic, but I am fairly sure this view is near the truth.


    David, Suffolk
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    Whilst I do agree there are bogus claims and these need to be stamped out, the majority of claimants are injured and do deserve the compensation paid out. A few years ago insurance companies claimed uninsured drivers were the reason why premiums were high and now most drivers are insured and there has been no reduction in premiums so if you actually believe insurance companies will lower premiums I’m afraid your kidding yourself. It didn’t bother insurance companies when they received referral fees from solicitors for every personal injury claimant they referred on to them.


    supplied
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    Dave, I agree with you. I have to ask the question where are all the insurance fraud investigators, have insurance companies reduced their numbers or are they not doing their jobs properly? I’m sure a majority of these bogus claims could be spotted from a mile away with proper investigation by the insurance companies themselves…..


    Michael Piechocki, Retired Class 1 Police driver, Surrey
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    This is a major issue with huge potential knock-on effects.

    Massive fraud, including deliberately staged crashes, is forcing insurance sky high, leading to many, particularly the young, unable to afford insurance.

    This brings the law into disrepute with some driving uninsured rather than pay for the crimes of others. I have experience of being aggressively encouraged to claim despite making it absolutely clear that I had not been injured.

    Politicians need to change the law back to what it was before this corruption started and the Police need to target the fraud as a priority, above the drivers who can’t afford insurance.

    We need to get some sanity back.


    Dave Finney – Slough
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