Crackdown on car insurance fraud

The motor insurance industry is cracking down on false claims after instances of fraud rose by 70% in the last three years, a law firm has said.

According to Dolmans Solicitors, claims amounting to £5 million turn out to be fraudulent each week, and insurance firms are stepping up efforts to combat this.

Simon Evans, partner at Dolmans, said: "There are claimants out there who are trying to squeeze compensation from what they see as ‘soft targets’ and there is a need for such claims to be forcibly dealt with."

A survey by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) revealed that 24,000 fraudulent motor insurance claims - worth £260 million - were made during the last year.

Mr Evans said: "The cases of fraud range from exaggerating how bad an injury is, to claiming an injury happened in a road accident when it was a pre-existing condition. Then there are the shocking occasions where the entire accident is staged which regrettably are still occurring."

"Insurers are making extensive efforts to detect fraud and while it has to be accepted that fraud will occur, the current levels are excessive and as such the fight must go on to combat it."

"However, we are starting to see cogent evidence of a successful fight back against fraud being supported by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary through a series of well publicised claims such as the prosecution of the ’crash for cash’ gang."

Copyright © Press Association 2008

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