Insurance Companies Fight Back Against Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

Insurance Companies Fight Back Against Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

Whiplash injuries bill for 80 per cent of all car accident claims in the UK, but the cipher of simulated cases is on the increase according to Admiral Insurance.
Claims for whiplash cost the insurance industry up to ฃ1. 6 billion a duration, with 250, 000 people saying to have been affected by it annually; 2, 000 of these are left with surviving disabilities.
There is no evidence of an injury immediately in most cases, fundamentally victims are likely to suffer pain and discomfort due to damage to the muscles and ligaments. This may not commensurate representation up on an Butterfly - beam which makes fraudulent claims for whiplash tough to recognize.
Staging a car accident is the new way criminals are hard to exploit the insurance system. This practice involves people deliberately locus up a road smash in cast 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 allying 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 force which resulted in his injuries. Conclusively 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 short 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 accordingly went to court where the critic dismissed the claimants’ legend 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 counsel for Admiral uttered, “We are obviously engrossed about people faking whiplash, as the more money we pay out for false claims, the more money legitimate people have to pay for their insurance. Whiplash is congeneric a onerous concern to prove that someone hasn’t had. ”
Barclays Insurance Services carried out research curiosity the causes of whiplash and raise that although licensed are many cases of genuine injury, a majority of drivers and passengers in cars don’t help themselves by not alteration 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 expansion of a new sustain to help insurers’ spot people who had suffered potentially serious neck injuries more quickly to enable them to come by 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 attorney for ABI oral, “Insurers are determined to do all they can to expose these cheats so that more shift can be inured to treating actual whiplash claimants. ”