‘Figures have suggested that Britain had become the “whiplash capital of Europe”’
Last week David Cameron hosted a meeting at 10 Downing Street between insurance companies, representatives of Government and consumer groups.
The primary purpose of the meeting was to reduce the impact of “trivial claims”. Britain’s ”compensation culture” is often quoted in the tabloids and figures suggest that it is the ‘whiplash capital of Europe.’, These figures make grim reading for those responsible for arranging motor insurance either for themselves, their family or their business:
* Whiplash claims cost insurers £2 billion a year
* These costs add £90 to the average motor policy
* Currently around 1500 whiplash claims are made in Britain every day
The Government is now looking to bring forward legislation that will require objective evidence, both of the injury and the effect on the claimant’s life, before compensation is paid. The current system, Ministers believe, is open to abuse, as there is no medical diagnosis for whiplash as an injury; it is self reported. Director General of the ABI, Nick Starling, said insurers are “swamped with exaggerated or even fraudulent claims. If an insurance company wants to challenge a whiplash claim, it has to effectively say that someone is lying and we think that needs to be reformed”.
This will come as welcome news to Britain’s 38 million motorists. Figures from the AA show there was a 15.3% increase in motor insurance premiums during 2011, with premiums increasing 5.4% in the last three months alone.
In addition, further good news was the Government’s commitment to reduce the £1200 fee that solicitors charge for low value personal injury claims.
In return for the Government’s commitment, insurers have pledged to pass on any savings to their policyholders.
Clearly, these changes will take some time to feed through the system, but flexibility in motor premiums is still available. More recently, this has been limited to motor fleet business (typically five vehicles or more insured together under one policy) whereas, on behalf of our clients, MPW will always present a compelling case to ensure that your business presents a lower risk through better driver and risk management than the norm.
Julian Nicholas ACII
