Personally Causing Injury to Insurance Premiums

By Saurav Dutt

The number of personal injury claims has been going up steadily and so to the number of payouts, this in turn is leading to a rise in insurance premiums as the number people claiming compensation after being involved in an accident is rising. These are the findings of a new report which claims that personal injury claims will push the cost of insurance up by 28 per cent over the next five years.

The report comes from market analyst Datamonitor who predict that between now and 2015, the amount insurers pay out in claims will rise by £2.4 billion, estimating that in 2015 £10.9 billion will be paid out by insurers over accident claims.

The research also reveals that payouts in the wake of compensation claims have continued to rise and show no sign of abating. The average payout to someone injured in a road accident has risen from £4,277 to £5,331. This reflects rising medical and legal costs. It is also a reflection of strong rates of inflation relating to both these factors.

Car Insurance has been the worst hit as a result and the future does not look rosey in terms of low premiums. Car insurance premiums have risen steeply in the last year at a rate of 5.9%, which is almost three times the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Higher medical bills and ongoing care arrangements are costing insurers huge amounts in compensation and this is being reflected in the premiums they charge.

However this is not the only reason. With increasing developments in technology to tackle car accidents, newer safety features in cars cost more to fix and replace. Larger crumple zones and more airbags add to the cost of repairing the vehicle and this cost must be passed on to the drivers.

This would not be a sufficient reason for The Association of British insurers, however. The organisation has long since lobbied for change to sort out the way claims are being processed and to address the exact problem of rising premiums. For small claims under £25,000 it has been suggested that a straight forward streamlined way of handling claims will mean fewer lawyers will need to be involved and bring down the costs of administering the claim.

The ABI has an extremely valid point. Their criticism of the legal costs system is very relevant as legal costs have increased significantly over the years. At present the average claim takes just under a year to settle with some cases being open for up to two years. Two years of legal representation is going to cost a lot of money, which ultimately the insurers will end up paying.

Saurav is an author of several articles pertaining to No Win No Fee, Compensation Claims, Accident Claims, Personal Injury Claims and other legal articles.