Whiplash research quashes some of the claims myths

[MartDude]

And another way they recoup their costs is to penalise those least able to afford it - my company stuck an extra £30 on the premium because I'm now unemployed. Arseholes.

[lazarus]

And an independent survey, commissioned by the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) also found that almost 40 per cent of people who have suffered a whiplash injury have never claimed compensation for it.

That is about as independent a survey as one conducted by the insurance industry itself.

Almost 30 per cent of people were encouraged to claim compensation by insurance companies

The independent survey also found that almost 30 per cent of respondents were encouraged to claim compensation by insurance companies.

and the other 70%? By ambulance chasing lawyers maybe? with wall to wall adverts on TV at times?

“Instead of pointing the finger at everyone else, insurers really need to stop and look in the mirror,” said Tonks. “They need to stop paying compensation without even asking for a medical report. And they need to start sharing the information they hold about fraudsters to help claimant lawyers identify them early in the process. .

That really is a bit of special pleading by the lawyers. If the insurance industry starts to fight small claims then who gains extra work and extra fees? The real reason the industry doesnt fight many small claims is that the costs of doing so are way more than the cost of paying out. Dont forget that fighting the small claims involves staff time, and professional fees with the possibility that the claim still has to be paid including the now much larger fees for the claimants side.

The one thing the insurers havent done is to point the finger at the really guilty - the lawyers who love this business for the high fees that it generates. And if you dont think the fees are high, ask yourself why they can afford a level; of TV advertising higher than many major consumer brands. maybe the government should limit legal fees - say to something like £20 per hour. For a solicitor that is.

Until they do then there will always be lawyers who encourage or at least dont discourage claimants from padding things .

Sorry TC but that report seems to me to be one sided.

[TC]

Sorry TC but that report seems to me to be one sided.

It is not an issue as far as I am concerned because we do not deal with whiplash injuries or any other type of minor injury for that matter, but APIL are independent, and again I have no vested interest as I am not a member.

It is not the majority of law firms who are the problem, but the minority retained by the increasing number of claims management firms who sell on the cases to the highest bidder along with the insurance companies who are increasingly selling on claims to their tame retained LEI firms.

There are a lot of law firms who will not touch fast track cases (valued at below £15,000) and in fact as an example we only take on cases with a value of £25,000 or more (The genuine serious claims), but there are a lot of reported cases where the insurers and in particular have for want of a better word persuaded claimants to claim for a whiplash even though there is no evidence of such an injury, for 2 reasons.

The claimant insurers can claim a larger proportion of their costs back

And Claims management firms can ask for a referral fee of up to £1,000 plus they make substantial money on hire bike and hire car costs.

It will be interesting to see what happens to a lot of these soft tissue injuries and claims when referral fees are banned and the fixed fee portal system really starts to kick in.