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Honest Drivers Paying For Fraudulent Whiplash Claims

According to a report by the AA, the average cost of car insurance has risen over the last 12 months by around 39.3%. In real terms, this means that drivers pay around £792 to keep a car on the road for one year. The government’s Transport Select Committee has recently challenged insurers to justify this price increase, only to hear the insurance industry claim that it has not made a profit for the last 16 years. According to insurers, the main factor behind this escalation in charges is the increasing number of fraudulent whiplash claims - a condition that can be difficult to disprove or dispute.

Global ratings agency Fitch Ratings has released figures that suggest that for every £100 in premiums paid the insurance industry has to pay out £123 in personal injury claims for whiplash. This translates into around 50% of a driver’s policy costs being used to pay for whiplash claims, fraudulent claims, the cost of legal fees and tax. It is estimated by Fitch Ratings that around 20% of the cost of a policy is used to cover the costs of fraudulent whiplash claims alone.

Whiplash - easy to fake?

Whiplash is one of the most commonly faked or exaggerated personal injuries in the insurance world - and once you are familiar with its cause and symptoms it is not hard to see why. Whiplash is caused by a sudden impact that causes the spine to imitate the movement made by the cracking of a whip. Typically, whiplash will usually be the result of a rear impact, which causes the spine to extend beyond its usual range of motion and at speeds for which it was not designed.

Most of the damage is done to the soft tissues surrounding the spine itself, although compacted vertebrae are not uncommon. The muscles, tendons and ligaments are stretched beyond their normal capacity and can be torn, bruised and ripped. The symptoms of whiplash usually manifest within hours of an impact, although they can take weeks or even months to make themselves apparent. These symptoms can range from the very mild, such as headaches and stiffness in the neck and shoulders to much more severe such as loss of balance, loss of dexterity in the fingers and immobility of the arms. As a genuine condition, whiplash can be extremely painful and debilitating.

Relying on the victim’s account

However, part of the problem in diagnosing whiplash is that there are often no physical symptoms other than those complained of by the victim. A GP or medical practitioner will have to rely on the victim’s account of their symptoms in order to arrive at a diagnosis. Because of this, whiplash is an extremely attractive condition for unscrupulous drivers looking to make a fraudulent claim.

The AA’s report estimates that the cost of this sort of fraud is not only shouldered by the motorist. A large portion is levied at the taxpayer as well. Each time a patient visits a GP for a whiplash consultation, the Government pays a fee of £18. With the rising number of whiplash claims being made, the cost to the taxpayer is now thought to be around £8 million per year. Yet while the number of whiplash claims is increasing the Government’s statistics for road casualties show that the number of ‘slight’ injuries sustained through road accidents has decreased - a discrepancy that will continue to burden the honest driver until more rigorous screening techniques for whiplash are employed.

You Need To Know More Vital Information About Whiplash?

For more vital information that you really should know please download our free Essential Guide To Whiplash. It will tell you:

• What "No Win No Fee" really means and how to ensure you do not get caught out
• Whether a Claims Company or a Solicitor is the right choice for you
• What does it mean if you have Legal Expense Insurance (and do you have to use the solicitor that they tell you too if you do not want to)?
• How to obtain private treatment for your injuries at no cost to you
• How to quickly obtain a replacement car or motorcycle if you need to
• Why accepting an offer directly from the other driver's insurance company could cost you thousands of pounds and lead to longterm injury problems

There is no cost so please complete your details below now and we will immediately send you the guide.

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What If I Could Not Avoid The Accident?

Read our guide explaining what to do following an accident "Road Accident and Injury Claim Guide"

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