Insurance Companies Fight Back Against Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

Insurance Companies Fight Back Against Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

Whiplash injuries tally for 80 per cent of all car accident claims in the UK, but the character of phony cases is on the increase according to Admiral Insurance.
Claims for whiplash cost the insurance industry up to ฃ1. 6 billion a ticks, with 250, 000 people saying to have been affected by it annually; 2, 000 of these are left with abiding disabilities.
There is no evidence of an injury immediately in most cases, climactically victims are likely to suffer pain and discomfort due to damage to the muscles and ligaments. This may not equivalent parade up on an Smooch - shaft which makes fraudulent claims for whiplash oppressive to identify.
Staging a car accident is the new way criminals are tough to exploit the insurance system. This practice involves people deliberately latitude up a road smash in orderliness for them to make a claim for injury and damage to their vehicle. Witness statements will recurrently be sought, but these onlookers are likely to be in on the scam according to industry experts.
Admiral Insurance has recently been involved in parallel a court case with a driver claiming to have suffered whiplash after his car was hit from behind by another vehicle.
The motorists seeking damages claimed to have been struck by a car at 35 to 40 miles per hour, shunting him forward with severe potency which resulted in his injuries. Yet the driver of the other car, an Admiral customer, oral although he did hit the car in front, he was travelling at only 2 to 3 miles per hour and caused a dwarf amount of damage to the bumper area.
The claimant asked for a settlement of ฃ6, 500 from Admiral who agreed to pay only ฃ548 for the damage to his car. The matter thus went to court where the appraiser dismissed the claimants’ non-fiction of events and instead of awarding him a payout of several thousand pounds, ordered his side to pay the legal costs bill of up to ฃ40, 000.
A speaker for Admiral spoken, “We are obviously sympathetic about people faking whiplash, as the more money we pay out for fake claims, the more money authentic people have to pay for their insurance. Whiplash is same a onerous substance to prove that someone hasn’t had. ”
Barclays Insurance Services carried out research passion the causes of whiplash and inaugurate that although acknowledged are many cases of veritable injury, a majority of drivers and passengers in cars don’t help themselves by not adjustment their headrests to help them ambition any impact suffered.
This claim was backed up by figures released by the motor industry’s research centre, Thatcham, who indicate that 72 per cent of front seat occupants fail to do this.
The Association of British Insurers ( ABI ) announced the unfolding of a new sustain to help insurers’ spot people who had suffered potentially serious neck injuries more quickly to enable them to come into the best medical care as right now as possible.
ABI verbal that although the majority of people recover from whiplash injuries relatively quickly, some cases can lead to ‘significant long term problems’ like disabling pain and depression.
Malcolm Tarling, a campaigner for ABI oral, “Insurers are on ice to do all they can to expose these cheats so that more tempo can be habituated to treating real whiplash claimants. ”