Figures show that
roughly one quarter of car accidents result in an injury claim.
In England, a staggering 80% of these claims are for alleged
whiplash injuries; a particular problem that hardly existed a
decade or so ago. Furthermore, over the border in Scotland
(where claims for this type of injury are viewed with far more
scepticism) whiplash injuries are far fewer. Why is this, is the
neck of the average person in England weaker than in the rest of
the world? Or are we all being taken for a ride?
And why should they all blame whiplash? Could it have something
to do with the fact that no medical test has yet been devised
that can confirm or deny whether or not someone is actually
suffering pain from this condition? All that medical legal
companies typically earn a fee of £200 for confirming that, in
their opinion, the claimant is in fact a genuine sufferer?
It has been estimated that every pound which is paid out by an
insurance company in the form of compensation to 'injured'
drivers and passengers actually costs £1.87; the extra 87 p is
for fees paid to lawyers and claims firms. This is big business;
the average claim generates legal fees of more than £2000 a case
and where a vehicle which was involved in an accident held
several passengers this can mean a seriously good piece of
business for someone. It is not in the least bit surprising that
the number of claims firms has mushroomed, and they not only
find their business by paying commissions to all and sundry but
even cold call people on their telephones in the evening, or
stop them in the street to ask whether or not they have had an
accident within the last three years. No doubt a number of
injuries that are brought to their attention are genuine and the
sufferers involved are truly deserving of the compensation that
they walk away with but a huge number and not. Even allowing for
the phoney cases that have slipped through the net, insurance
company investigators discovered more than 120,000 fraudulent
claims last year, with savings of more than £400 million which
would otherwise have had to have been paid out.
No doubt the people who work for these claims companies are
staunch, upright citizens who do a job that they are proud of
and which they believe is to the benefit of mankind. One
sometimes cannot help thinking that there are a number of their
fellow workers however who encourage greedy people to claim
illegally for injuries that they have never received.
Many people who have received compensation in this way have
bragged about it and wear their guilt like a badge of honour,
happy that they have put one over on the insurance companies.
They haven't. They have put one over on people like you and I
who have to pay their ill gotten gains out of our insurance
premiums.
