Insurance Companies Fight Back Against Fraudulent Whiplash Claims
Whiplash injuries invoice for 80 per cent of all car accident claims in the UK, but the figure of pseudo cases is on the increase according to Admiral Insurance.
Claims for whiplash cost the insurance industry up to ฃ1. 6 billion a tide, with 250, 000 people saying to have been affected by it annually; 2, 000 of these are left with lasting disabilities.
There is no evidence of an injury immediately in most cases, after all victims are likely to suffer pain and discomfort due to damage to the muscles and ligaments. This may not planed exposition up on an Endearment - glint which makes fraudulent claims for whiplash oppressive to distinguish.
Staging a car accident is the new way criminals are troublesome to exploit the insurance system. This practice involves people deliberately longitude up a road smash in lineup for them to make a claim for injury and damage to their vehicle. Witness statements will ofttimes be sought, but these onlookers are likely to be in on the scam according to industry experts.
Admiral Insurance has recently been involved in coextensive 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 impact which resulted in his injuries. In future the driver of the other car, an Admiral customer, uttered although he did hit the car in front, he was travelling at only 2 to 3 miles per hour and caused a small-scale 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 ergo went to court where the appraiser dismissed the claimants’ tragedy 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 expounder for Admiral oral, “We are obviously impressed about people faking whiplash, as the more money we pay out for sham claims, the more money legitimate people have to pay for their insurance. Whiplash is identical a laborious existence to prove that someone hasn’t had. ”
Barclays Insurance Services carried out research game the causes of whiplash and get going that although known are many cases of actual injury, a majority of drivers and passengers in cars don’t help themselves by not alteration their headrests to help them mark 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 upping of a new aid to help insurers’ spot people who had suffered potentially serious neck injuries more quickly to enable them to accept the best medical care as directly 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 upholder for ABI uttered, “Insurers are bent to do all they can to expose these cheats so that more stint can be accustomed to treating pure whiplash claimants. ”
