Insurers Con Government Again

Has anyone noticed a dramatic fall in their car insurance premiums over the last few years? Because this is precisely what the Insurance Industry promised the Government a few years ago.

What happened was that the Insurance Industry went to the Government and complained that because of this supposed ‘compensation culture’, i.e. the Insurers paying out compensation to injured Claimants and Solicitor’s costs, car insurance Premiums were higher than they needed to be.

The Insurance Industry therefore offered a deal to the Government, if the Government denied Access to Justice for the thousands of people injured in road traffic accidents each year, then millions of motorists would benefit by way of substantially reduced Premiums.

The Government fell for this and therefore as from April 2013 the Government have said that innocent Claimants who are injured by the Negligence of others have to pay towards the costs of their own cases. This goes against all motions of justice – imagine if you were burgled and the police charged you a £100 call out fee. People would be shocked if victims were asked to pay towards the costs of investigating a crime against them, so why should it be any different to innocent personal injury victims?

Insurers Saving Money

All this money which the Insurers are saving has not been passed back to customers by way of reduced car insurance premiums, as promised at the time. It has simply been absorbed by the Insurers themselves.

But now the Insurers are trying to persuade the Government to take it even further – the next proposal is that a person who has been injured but suffered only minor soft tissue injuries will not be entitled to any compensation at all. It is one thing to have a low cost procedure for minor injury claims – but to say that someone whose Negligent driving has caused you significant pain for a number of weeks should not have to pay any compensation (through their insurance company) is completely unjust and unfair.

Claim for Compensation

Injured people are entitled to compensation. A claim for compensation is not profiting from your own injuries – it is the Court trying to put you back in the position that you would have been in but for the injury. The role of a Solicitor is to ensure this entitlement is recovered from the Defendant’s insurance company. Insurers have, for years, attacked Lawyers, but now they are shifting their attack to the Claimants themselves and so it is now perhaps even more important that an injured person speaks to a Solicitor about their entitlement to compensation.

Richard Clegg, Director and Senior Solicitor of GMS LAW.

Call us today to speak to one of our Specialist Solicitors on 0800 0463 272 or e-mail us today at [email protected].