Rampant fraud in whiplash insurance claims
The Daily Mail reports, not for the first time, that car insurance costs are rising steadily due to a stream of bogus whiplash claims. The problem has got so bad that we are now the “whiplash capital of Europe” according to the Association of British Insurers. These claims also seem to be representative of a wider issue in society where exaggeration for financial gain is seen as being little more than a white lie and adoption of a view that if it’s ok for everybody else to do it, why shouldn’t I. . We refer here to the scandalous level of fraud in self certification mortgages before the financial meltdown. Unfortunately, we all suffer, as insurers will always seek to make profits, hence the hike in premiums. In addition to exaggeration of claims and injuries, there are countless instances of completely bogus claims. The writer has in fact been advised by a prominent injury lawyer that his insurer clients have spotted trends whereby in certain postcodes, families seem to be unbelievably accident prone, being involved in multiple care crashes per year !
The Daily Mail states that a staggering 1 out of every 140 people claim for a whiplash injury each year. To put this figure into context, it represents a whopping 1,200 claims every day. This is 6 times more than the number of claims per day for work injuries.
The problem with whiplash claims is that they are soft tissue injuries to the spine and notoriously difficult to diagnose or rule out both initially and in terms of prognosis. These injuries are also associated with the most common types of accident, where a stationary car is hit from behind. fraudsters.
Some more figures from the Daily Mail article
- ¾ of all PI claims are whiplash claims
- Insurers are paying out nearly £2 billion every year for whiplash claims.
- the cost of motor cover soaring by 40% in the last year
- The ABI estimates that whiplash claims are adding an average of £74.00 for each car insurance policy.