A recent study has found that the number of whiplash claims in the UK is among the highest in the world.
According to figures from the insurer LV=, which looked at drivers who have had accidents in the last couple of years, nearly 80 per cent of all injury claims made seek compensation for whiplash.
Whiplash claims common
The number of claims in Britain far surpass the European average and has even surpassed the US, where whiplash accounts for around two-thirds of all injury claims. The study also found that more than half of all those involved in a crash received at least one call or text to encouraging them to make a claim.
In fact, the average driver receives five calls or text messages that offer financial compensation after a crash.
One in eight drivers are contacted by a claims management group before they’ve even reported the car accident they were involved in to their insurer. The report also stated that many drivers felt pressured into making a claim for injuries including whiplash. In most cases the accident victim were unsure how their details had been obtained.
Of those accident victims who went to hospital after a crash, two thirds of them were found to have been approached by someone who said they could claim compensation.
Tackling UK whiplash claims
The Government has recently introduced measures to make it more difficult to make claims for non-existent whiplash more difficult. These measures include removing the right to general damages for soft tissue injuries and increased the upper limit for small claims court for personal injury claims from £1,000 to £5,000.
However the recent report looking into injury claims in Britain says that more could be done to curb the number of minor injury claims made which affect insurance premiums for all motorists.
The report calls for better data sharing about fraudulent claims and for insurers to defend more claims and be wary of how fraud risks may evolve when new measures are enforced.