Car Crashes Reported Decrease While Whiplash Claims Increase
02/07/2013
The amount of people filing claims for whiplash injuries is soaring, regardless of the fact that the number of accidents that have recently been reported, continue to decrease. Apparently, nearly ninety percent of claims that are made for whiplash injuries are bogus. This means that Britain, that has claimed the name of being the whiplash capital of the world, after it beat out the US for this title, is also being considered as the most litigious country as well.
Insurance analysts have reported that the amount of whiplash claims that are being filed in Britain have increased by an astonishing high amount, however, claims that are being filed for damages made to vehicles has decreased. Obviously, the amount of claims that are being filed for vehicle damages should run in tandem with the amount of claims that are being filed for whiplash cases.
Insurance analysts are blaming the recent boom that has taken place in America, where law firms searching for claims farming has become a big hit. This is causing the amount of whiplash claims that are filed in the UK to increase dramatically, with a larger portion of these claims being exaggerated or entirely bogus reasons.
Evidence regarding these false claims was shown by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. This organisation carefully assessed the financial risks and liabilities that businesses have in this regards. According to the organisation, there has been a five-percent increase in the amount of third party claims reported for bodily injuries in both Wales and England.
Nine out of ten of the claims are cases for small amounts of whiplash, where individuals who are claiming they are suffering from whiplash demand under £20,000 for their injuries. The average amount that is being rewarded for these claims is £9,512. However, while the amount of these claims that are being made are increasing, at the same time, third party claims regarding damages to motor vehicles have seen a steady decline.
The chairman of IFoA, David Brown announced in a recent interview that nearly sixty percent of the whiplash claims that they see are exaggerated or misinterpreted. This means that looking at these claims from a number's scenario, that nearly £1 billion claims are entirely bogus. Mr. Brown went on to further explain that ninety percent of the third party claims that were filed in 2012, were considered to be fairly small claims, where the amount of money being asked was less than £20,000. There were also a surprising number of claims made in 2012 that were for accidents that occurred in 2010 and 2011, this is proof that there are a volume of backdated claims being filed, also known as claim's farming.
According to Mr. Brown, additional data that was collected over the last four years, reveals that there has been a decline in the number of accidents experienced in the UK. However, despite what the numbers say about the accidents that are being experienced in the area, there continues to be an increase in the amount of third party claims that are being filed.
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